Bob Vylan had U.S. visas revoked after the duo played Glastonbury and lead a “death, death to the IDF” chant; the performance was livestreamed by the BBC. The band has a U.S. tour booked. Cheyanne M. Daniels has more of the story at Politico.
Zohran Mamdani, the New York State Assembly member running for mayor, that has the Democratic establishment clutching its pearls and falling towards the fainting couch at the moment, had a “past life as a C-list rapper,” Ethan Beck writes at The Washington Post.
And Justin Brannan, a New York councilman running for city comptroller, used to play in hardcore bands. Paying your dues playing music “gives you this sense of ‘fuck it,’ ” he said, Dan Greene writes for The New Yorker.
The Metal Blade Records Museum has moved a brick and mortar memorabilia store into the museum, with out-of-print and rare items featured. There’s a couple of video tours of the museum online.
“World’s smallest violin” is used to describe an incredibly small image physicists created at Loughborough University using nanotechnology. Metalhead scientist Matt Taylor has more details about the violin image at BBC.
This reminds me of the “nanoguitar” created at Cornell University that scientists can actually pluck.
Orchid, the classic screamo band from Massachusetts, got back together for some touring and put out a record of some 20-year-old unreleased music, which is available on Bandcamp.
Rest In Peace
Mick Ralphs co-founded Bad Company and Mott the Hoople and died at the age of 81 last month. He wrote and played guitar in the bands and had a string of hits over the years. Jem Aswad has more info at Variety.
Marcia Resnick was a photographer who among other things captured punk rock in the ’70s and ’80s and published the book Punks, Poets & Provocateurs. She died in NYC at 74 last month. Anusha Mathur has the story at The Washington Post.
Douglas McCarthy was the singer and co-founder of U.K. band Nitzer Ebb. He passed away at 58 in June. McCarthy worked on other music as well, but Nitzer Ebb was a pioneer of “electronic body music,” Matthew Strauss writes at Pitchfork.
Brian Wilson was the world-famous co-founder and producer of The Beach Boys. He died in June at the age of 82. There was a biopic, Love and Mercy, and a documentary, I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, about Wilson, amongst much other material.
Victor Garcia was the vocalist of the underground, seminal band Excruciating Terror as well as other groups. He passed away in June and the tributes from the circles in which the band moved have poured in on social media. Like many others, I was musically influenced by Excruciating Terror.
Timothy Leo worked at Relapse Records, played guitar in some bands, and co-founded an architectural metal works company. He passed on in June. An online obituary has more information.
Colin Jerwood, the vocalist of the U.K. band Conflict, died in June, the band announced on Facebook. He was 63. Javier Cabral has more info at L.A. Taco.
Further reading here at the blog:
Interview with Indecision, one of Justin Brannan’s old bands
Interview with the bassist of Excruciating Terror
Interview with Orchid
I wrote briefly about Matt Taylor in a post about Brian May
Orchid photo: from the band’s Bandcamp; same for the Bob Vylan photo
