Grungy local rock quartet Cacaw, whose ferocious live shows are exercises in ear-blasting excellence, will tour the western half of the U.S. with Providence skull fuckers Tinsel Teeth this month. Cacaw just finished recording their forthcoming album, Bat Skin Robes, at Minbal with Cave guitarist and organist Cooper Crain. They’re dubbing some cassette copies of it for the tour, which kicks off Thu 6/9 at Crown Tap Room. Don’t fret if you can’t get your paws on the tape; Permanent Records will release the album on vinyl and digitally in August or September.
New Chicago band Alma Negra are hardly the same flavor of quasi-grunge as Cacaw, but they lay down some tasty garage-stoner spew. The quartet’s lineup is like the ultimate marriage of local garage and metal: Greg Hamilton (Blasted Diplomats) on guitar and Moog, Erin Armstrong (ex-Nones) on guitar and vocals, Geoff Atkinson (the defunct Telenovela) on drums, and Ivan Cruz (Yakuza) on bass. The group recently posted some pummeling demos on their SoundCloud page, just in time for their inaugural gig at Pancho’s on Fri 6/3. Onyou headlines; see Soundboard for more.
Earlier this week local producer Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv moved to LA to open a new studio. Eustis will work on his own material at the unnamed studio in Hollywood Hills, which will also serve as a private sandbox for Maynard James Keenan, front dude of A Perfect Circle and Tool. Eustis tells Gossip Wolf that he and Keenan are psyched about the DIY move: “Corporate studios are great, but we’re a little tired of that.”
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