“New Blood” is our weekly feature spotlighting new bands from around the world! See below for info on how to submit. Now, check out some killer new shit…

Band name:
DRUJ

Date & location formed:
Fall 2016.

Reason for forming:
Our bassist Ross was wanting to do a dbeat gig, we all really liked the idea so we jumped on board and got together. We all share a lot of the same views on ideas involving music, so we moved swiftly with writing out first demo.

What are your lyrics about?
War, torture, psychosis, loss, creeps.

How would you describe your sound?
Pulling a small brown pissed off locust’s wings off.

What’s in the future for this band?
We have an east coast tour in the works with our friends in Crutch, mid April or so. We’re stoked.

DRUJ (photo by Jill Seright)

Links and contact info:

drujokc.bandcamp.com

Band name:
PREENING

Date & location formed:
Oakland, CA. May 2016.

Reason for forming:
Sam: If I remember right, Max and I talked about playing music together three or four years ago when I worked at a record store. I think he was attracted to my homemade DNA shirt. I was attracted to the uninhibited, madcap spirit of his music-making. I still am. It took a while, but when we revisited the idea, he pitched bringing in Alejandra, who was kind enough to agree to join. The sense of spontaneity and possibility, along with the naturally egalitarian atmosphere of practices, feels energizing.

Alejandra: Someone found out I could play a bass on a Saturday and told Max, who then hit me up two days later asking if I wanted to play some time. I was flattered and jumped at the opportunity. Didn’t know Sam was involved in the project initially but was psyched when I heard.

What are your lyrics about?
Sam: One song began as a paean to my PO Box, an old brass one with masonic-looking engravings in Berkeley, and morphed into something unrecognizable. Another one is about the collapse of digital news organizations in the wake of an event such as a solar flare, which would cripple the internet. Some of them have been collaborative, written jointly in as little as fifteen minutes.

Max: Body horror, classism, the privilege of self censorship, Giorgio Di Chirico, the temporal nature of art, mercy/grace in the natural world.

Alejandra: Distorted(?) perceptions of the world around you, communication, misinformation, the perfect double taper.

How would you describe your sound?
Alejandra: Give it a listen and make up your own mind.

Sam: For shorthand, I tend to tell people it sounds “pretty busted,” which might seem negative but to me captures the skronk and abrasion, negative space and hardscrabble grooves.

Max: Herky jerky, caddywhompus, asymmetrical punk.

What’s in the future for this band?
Alejandra: In the near future -getting our demo out and going on tour. In general -creative and personal growth. To share and facilitate experiences with strangers and friends through our music, and hopefully have fun while doing it.

Sam: We’re recording a demo on a handheld tape recorder, which a small label is interested in pressing in a tiny edition. And then we’ll tour up to Olympia, Washington to record more of a proper title. Also, abstaining as a band from Facebook, Bandcamp, and the like (though we do intend to hand-code our own website instead).

Max: Record, tour, write. Use Punk to expand our vision. Make friends and be allies. Challenge ourselves to mine the grist of inspiration without slumping to puerile regurgitation. Provide free access to our music and band info without relying on proxies.

Preening (photo by Kevin Brown)

Links and contact info:
preeningoakland.com (still under construction).

Band name:
PROWLER

Date & location formed:
2017 in the east bay CA.

Reason for forming:
To party and make new friends and annoy my bandmates on tour with my collection of U2 CDs.

What are your lyrics about?
The lyrics are about how I feel about the world and things and people around me.

How would you describe your sound?
Very rude very sexy and very loud.

What’s in the future for this band?
We are officially releasing the demo on March 1st on Bandcamp and we will have physical copies of it on tape as well by then and we have a small run in April headed to Fresno, L.A and San Diego.

Links and contact info:

prowlerband.bandcamp.com

Band name:

SNAKE CHURCH

Date & location formed:
June 2015, Birmingham, AL.

Reason for forming:
I had Big Zit and Tenement booked at my house and I just really wanted to play with those bands.

What are your lyrics about?
Loving drugs, hating God and government.

How would you describe your sound?
Eli blatantly tries to rip off CCR, Liam’s favorite band is My Chemical Romance, Eliot got into butt rock as a joke but accidentally started liking it and BJ exclusively listens to Devo so…

What’s in the future for this band?
Lots of shows here in Birmingham,
we’ve got several new songs to record, there’s talk of a music video, were planning a little tour with Liam’s other band, Backyard Camping, and a trip down to Rotten Fest in Tallahassee with Eli’s other band, Bad Example. Other than that, we’re just gonna keep on chooglin’.

Links and contact info:
snakechurchal.bandcamp.com
Find one of us on Facebook or just text or call 205-612-9496

Band name:
DARK WEB

Date & location formed:
We formed in Philly in the summer of 2016 after me (Sims Hardin) and RJ Gilligan started recording some demos at his house. We didn’t have a drummer at the time, so I played drums first on the recordings, then we would lay down the rest of the music which was something we had to learn how to do successfully, but it worked out.

Reason for forming:
We just formed because we were bored and wanted to do something new. Rj and I liked the way each other played. I wanted to take some hooky Ramones sounding bullshit and have Rj play some crazy solos and riffs over it. It was a bedroom project that turned out well and we formed a band. That was pretty much it.

What are your lyrics about?
Dark Web’s lyrical content narrates tragic characters and violent wasteland cityscapes affected by pollution, alien invasion, government conspiracy, defective artificial intelligence, and severe mental health issues.

How would you describe your sound?
Our music has been described as stompy sewer-punk characterized by driving drums, heavy squealing guitars, and guttural nihilistic vocals.

What’s in the future for this band?
We would like to do another EP early this year, and maybe put a full LP out by the end of the year. I’m aiming to do some shorter tours in the Late summer and Fall.

Links and contact info:
darkweb2.bandcamp.com
suicidebongtapes.bandcamp.com

Band name:
YUPS

Date & location formed:
July 4th, 2016. San Francisco.

Reason for forming:
Too much gross hardcore music in the scene.

What are your lyrics about?
Just livin’ the life of an average joe from the 70s.

How would you describe your sound?
Rock, and roll.

What’s in the future for this band?
The 80’s & 90’s.

YUPS (by Jess Wu)

Links and contact info:

discontinuousinnovationinc.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-baby-butterfly

Band name:
CLAN DOS MORTOS CICATRIZ

Date & location formed:
Curitiba/Paraná, Brazil.

Reason for forming:
I was around 15 y.o. when I decided to record some noise stuff using the moniker of Clan dos Mortos Cicatriz, for no specific reason. I decided to leave Cãos, got bored of my other bands, and still had some bass riffs composed, so I invited Okuyama-san to help me record and eventually join the band.

What are your lyrics about?
About no longer being human and/or failing while being human. Mostly of it is inspired by the eroguro-nonsense literary movement and authors like Osamu Dazai and Junichiro Tanizaki.

How would you describe your sound?
Maybe blackened post-punk? Not sure.

What’s in the future for this band?
We’re already recording new stuff, it’s gonna be called “TOGAWA EP” and it will be a punk hommage to the japanese new wave singer Jun Togawa and her band, Yapoos.

Links and contact info:
clandosmortoscicatriz.bandcamp.com

Do you have or know of an awesome new band*? It’s easy to submit to be in MRR’s New Blood feature — just email us the following info, and keep keeping’ it real…

1) Band name:
2) Date & location formed:
3) Reason for forming:
4) What are your lyrics about?
5) How would you describe your sound?
6) What’s in the future for this band?
7) Links and contact info:

Along with the answers please send a band photo at least 600px on the longest side (with photo credits), and a logo if you have one, to:

*By “new band” we mean a band that formed within the past year or year and a half.