Welcome to The Weekly Riff, where every Friday arvo (or in this case, Saturday), BLUNT looks back at five of the sickest and spiciest happenings from the week that was!
THE LINEUP FOR UNIFY 2022 IS HERE
Approximately eight billion years since the last instalment of the UNIFY Gathering (or so it feels), the lineup for next year’s edition – dubbed UNIFY FOREVER – has officially landed. The Amity Affliction and Violent Soho lead the all-Australian lineup, returning for their third and second stints, respectively. The rest of the bill is stacked with soon-to-be legendary acts from all around the country, like BLUNT faves Teenage Joans, Thornhill, WAAX, Short Stack, Ocean Grove, Yours Truly… It really is, in this writer’s own opinion, the festival’s best lineup yet. And there’s still more to be announced!
KEEP READING: 8 bands we’re pretty sure will be on the UNIFY Gathering 2022 lineup
EVERY TIME I DIE FINALLY HAVE A NEW ALBUM ON THE WAY
Five years since they dropped the game-changing Low Teens, Buffalo’s premiere shredlords, Every Time I Die, have finally announced their ninth full-length effort. Aptly titled Radical, the 16-track epic is set to land on October 22nd, featuring previously released gems ‘A Colossal Wreck’, ‘Desperate Pleasures’ and ‘AWOL’, plus the wall-rattling new belter ‘Post-Boredom’ (check that out below).
Upon releasing it, vocalist Keith Buckley admitted that ‘Post-Boredom’ was the first song he’s ever written that gave him the the feeling of ‘real truth’. “I wasn’t hiding any secret confessions in metaphors,” he said. “I was very much fed up with living an unfulfilling life and felt that I needed a death (either figuratively or literally) in order to have a fighting chance at finding new meaning. I see this song from a distance. It’s reflective but also, finally, detached. Not a full ego death, but indicative that the process needed to start immediately in my own life.”
KING STINGRAY PROVE, YET AGAIN, THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE A BAD SONG
After debuting it earlier this year in a downright wonderful live set for Triple J, the Yolŋu surf-rockers have shared the slick and summery ‘Milkumana’. The track is by far their grooviest yet, and just like the other two songs they’ve dropped thus far – ‘Hey Wanhaka’ and ‘Get Me Out’ – it is just inescapably catchy. According to the band, ‘Milkumana’ in Yolŋu Matha means “to show, share or pass on knowledge through stories and song”. In a press release, guitarist Roy Kellaway said: “It’s about leadership and mala wangany – we are all one and in this together. We are all living under the same sun, sailing in the same boat, towards a brighter future. It’s about role models and the importance of setting good examples for the new generation.”
If there’s one thing that could truly redeem 2021, it’s a full-length King Stingray album.
KEEP READING: King Stingray: A celebration of culture
TURNS OUT ALLY SPAZZY IS A NEO-NAZI
Okay, so this bit of news obviously isn’t sick and/or spicy in the sense that it’s good – rather in the sense that it’s truly harrowing, and if you look at the actual posts she made, incredibly unsettling. It’s always weird when it comes out that someone in our own community is secretly a far-right shitbag, but something about this case in particular makes it far more discomforting than usual. Maybe it’s because after The Spazzys broke up, Ally went on to become a music teacher for children, and, per her own admissions, aimed to instil in them fascist beliefs.
What a fucking stain on society she is.
COREY TAYLOR HAS COVID-19
More news that isn’t sick or spicy in a good way – but perhaps in a literal way? If this week has taught us anything, it’s that COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere any time soon. If we aren’t hearing about a new cancellation or postponement, or a new expansion to lockdowns and restrictions, we’re hearing about someone testing positive for COVID-19. The latest in that growing list of infectees? Slipknot and StoneSour legend Corey Taylor. The dude looks absolutely ravaged in a video update he shared, telling fans that he feels “very, very sick”, but stressing that, thanks in no short part to the fact he’s been vaccinated, he is set to make a full recovery.
KEEP READING: Corey Taylor: Through the deepest reaches of rock land
LOCAL BAND OF THE WEEK
It’s blowing all of our minds at BLUNT HQ that Sydney rockers Clay J Gladstone only formed last year, with the six-track Dead Friends landing as their first EP. Sitting somewhere in the venn diagram between Kisschasy, The Used and My Chemical Romance circa Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, the four-piece crank out consistently tight and turbulent slices of emo-punk intensity with the kind of aplomb their contemporaries wish they could muster. As if they weren’t announced on the UNIFY lineup earlier this week!
NEW SONG OF THE WEEK
Spiritbox have swung us another taste of their debut album, Eternal Blue, this time in the form of ‘Hurt You’. Every track the band drop sounds more and more insane – if the album doesn’t end up doing absolutely gangbusters for the Canadian metallers, we’ll be pissed.
In a press release, guitarist Mike Stringer said ‘Hurt You’ was written in the early months of 2020, before the pandemic hit, midway through a snowstorm. “We were stuck inside and couldn’t go anywhere, so this song flowed out of myself, Courtney [LaPlante, vocals], and our producer Dan [Braunstein] pretty quick. The subject matter of the song explores toxic codependency, and the feeling of knowing that something is doomed to fail, but making the choice to go down with the ship.”
ALBUM/EP OF THE WEEK
We’re still a bit confused about why the recent collision of hip-hop of pop-punk has taken off as explosively as it has, but we’re not complaining. The new record from Lil Lotus, Error Boy, is short, sweet and scintillating, not to mention damn spicy. And yes, Travis Barker is involved, because of course he is.
