On Stage: Tim Sköld brings the post industrial

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

Tim Sköld is one of the best and most respected musicians in the world of industrial/techno/post-industrial music.

His latest project is a solo album “The Undoing” on Metropolis Records and a support tour for the disc – a tour that touches down in the area on November 17 at Asylum 13 (1706 Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-746-2213, facebook.com/asylum13).

“The album was released on April 22,” said Sköld, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon during a tour break “somewhere in New Jersey.”

“I have a history of records coming out around that date.

“It was recorded back over a long period of time. I had accumulated a collection of songs – a secret vault of goodies. It was actually completed about two years ago. My original plan was to do a soft release on the internet but it didn’t really pan out. So, I asked Metropolis of they’d take me back. Obviously, they did.

“I just let the album sit for two years.  I could have gone in and meddled with the finished tracks so I tried my darndest not to go there. I think I’m a perfectionist – but I know how to balance it.”

Sköld’s musical resume includes stints with Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM, MDFMK, OhGr and Marilyn Manson plus numerous remixes. Tim Sköld as SKOLD released his legendary self-titled debut in 1996 and his long-awaited follow-up “Anomie” in 2011. In addition, he added his production credits to Motionless in White’s albums “Infamous and Reincarnate.”

He also has worked a lot with Marilyn Manson was involved in the making and production of several Manson albums including “Eat Me, Drink Me” and #1 Billboard charting album “The Golden Age of Grotesque” (featuring the song “mOBSCENE” which was Grammy-nominated for Best Metal Performance. In 2009, SKOLD collaborated with KMFDM on the appropriately titled album “SKOLD vs. KMFDM” album.

After a short-lived solo career, Sköld joined KMFDM in 1997. His first involvement with KMFDM was on the album “Symbols.” He wrote and sang the song “Anarchy,” which became a hit in clubs, and spawned subsequent remixes of the track done by Sköld himself. His next album with KMFDM “Adios” was released in 1999. Sköld took a more prominent role in the band, not only as co-vocalist, co-writer, and bassist, but also as producer, engineer, and programmer, alongside KMFDMs founder Sascha Konietzko.

“Sascha and I met in Seattle when I was recording for RCA,” said Sköld. “We met for a drink and it snowballed from there. After my record (“Skold”) came out, I was released by the label. I told Sascha I was available and he said – get right up here to Seattle. Me and Sascha and Bill (Rieflin) – we work together well. We even produced an EP for Peter Murphy.”

Because of internal problems with the band, Konietzko and Sköld ended KMFDM in 1999, and restarted as MDFMK the following year. They released one album, “MDFMK” on Universal Records. The band, including Lucia Cifarelli (formerly of Drill), took a different direction and added a mix of drum & bass, trance and Europop. MDFMK featured all three members sharing vocal duties.

“MDFMK was an interesting project,” said Sköld. “The original concept was a lot darker. Sascha wanted to involve Lucia more. The project started one way and ended up the other way.”

In 2002, the trio reformed KMFDM along with Raymond Watts, and released “Attak.” Afterwards, Sköld departed the band. Due to a commitment to produce Marilyn Manson’s album “The Golden Age of Grotesque,” Sköld was unable to join KMFDM’s 2002 Sturm & Drang tour.”

Sköld officially joined Marilyn Manson in 2002 after the departure of bassist Twiggy Ramirez. Sköld was more than just he the bassist for the band, He was also producing, editing, creating artwork, electronics, programming drums and beats, playing guitar, keyboards, accordion and synthesizer bass for the album on “The Golden Age of Grotesque.” Sköld played guitar on the band’s 2007 world tour and then parted ways with Manson in 2008.

“After my time with Marilyn Manson, Sascha and I reconnected,” said Sköld. “We’ve done many albums and projects together. At one point, I was living in L.A. and Sascha was living in Germany. We made the ‘SKOLD vs. KMFDM’ album without ever coming together in person.”

When Sköld was making “The Undoing.” He was focused on his work in the studio.

“When I’m making music, I never think – how will this sound live?,” said Sköld. “My friend Tiffany Lowe, who plays keyboards, suggested we take it on tour as a band. So, here we are. I play guitar and do vocals. Tiffany plays keyboards and we have Eli James on drums.”

Video link for Tim Sköld – https://youtu.be/tcvEF7rSWMk?t=4.

The show at Asylum 13, which has Deathmaschine as the opening act, will start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Nemr, who will headline a show at Helium Comedy Club (2031 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, 215-496-9001, http://philadelphia.heliumcomedy.com/home) on November 17, is a Lebanese/American stand-up comedian – which seems kind of odd. He is a veteran comic who has played to packed houses around the world but is still relatively unknown in Philadelphia – which seems very odd.

“Not only will this be my first time to do a show in Philadelphia, it will be my first tine to ever set foot in Philly,” said Nemr, during a phone interview last week from his home in Los Angeles.”

This may be Nemr ‘s Philadelphia debut but he has been blazing trails in the comedy world – sand in the world in general – for years. He has been credited with establishing and pioneering the stand-up comedy scene throughout the Middle East where he performs in English. Nemr grew up in San Diego and then moved back with his family to Lebanon. He went on to break down barriers and unite people in a region where bombing on stage can have a completely different meaning.

“When I first came to the states, it was a pretty dark time – having to leave my country because of war,” said Nemr. “My parents liked stand-up. Lots of Lebanese people like stand-up. I connected with it from the time I was first exposed to it. I started watching stand-up when I was really young. I’d watch comedians on TV and memorized their sets. Dana Carvey’s set was the first one I memorized.

“Stand-up is so cool. It gives you a positive reaction. I lived in London with my mom for a while and, through her, I got exposed to comedians like Lenny Bruce and Woody Allen on television and cassettes.”

Nemr was still just a teen when he stepped up to the professional level of comedy.

“I was 17 when I first stood on stage,” said Nemr. “Actually, the first time I did stand-up was when I got kicked out of class in elementary school. My first real stage show at 17 was in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut. At the time, stand-up didn’t exist anywhere in the region. I did stand-up between acts of themed concerts.”

Nemr’s experience as a young comic was similar to that of child actors.

“I had to grow up in front of a crowd,” said Nemr. “But, I was able to do it and my act changed as I grew. I always had to do material programmed for a very conservative audience — no bad words.”

“Now, I see myself as a very confident and high-energy material-based comic who is very entertaining as opposed to an entertainer. My stand-up is very topical. This may surprise some people but Arabs have the most powerful sense of humor you’ll ever see.”

Nemr has numerous television credits from major networks in the Middle East, has been seen on CNN and recently appeared on “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.”   He has also released two feature specials as cinematic experiences and his own prime time TV show.  In May of 2014, Nemr was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (Middle East) solidifying his legacy as the biggest name in stand up in the Middle East.

“Now, I see myself as a very confident and high-energy material-based comic who is very entertaining as opposed to an entertainer,” said Nemr. “My stand-up is very topical. This may surprise some people but Arabs have the most powerful sense of humor you’ll ever see.”

Video link for Nemr — https://youtu.be/meZMVVq7sTw?t=13

The show at Helium will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and $35.

If you’re up for some live music on November 17 and you want to hear some fresh acts, consider SiriusXM Presents Alt Nation’s Advanced Placement Tour Philadelphia featuring the Shelters and Night Riots at Fillmore Philadelphia (1100 Canal Street, Philadelphia, 215-309-0150, www.thefillmorephilly.com).

The Shelters are a rock band formed a few years ago in Los Angeles by Chase Simpson, Josh Jove, Sebastian Harris, and Jacob Pillot.

They released “EP” in 2015 and followed with their highly anticipated self-titled debut album, which was released earlier this year on Warner Bros. Records. The band is making a return engagement at the Fillmore after playing there in June on a bill with Guster.

“We’ve been pretty busy since the last time we played Philly,” said Simpson, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from a tour stop in Washington, D.C. “We had the tour with Guster and a tour with Mudcrutch. In September, we started doing a lot of festivals – including Austin City Limits.

“I haven’t gotten any new writing done. I don’t write too often on the road. It’s too hard – especially when we’re in tour mode. On the way back from Austin City Limits, our tour bus broke down and it got bizarre. We ended up getting towed by this crazy Native American – a crazy Mohawk guys. I’m definitely going to write a song about that guy.

“Once we finally get hone after this tour, I’ll sit down and take a break. That’s when the songwriting urge will come back.”

Both the Shelters’ EP and the new album were co-produced by one of the band’s musical heroes, Tom Petty, with all

They released “EP” in 2015 and followed with their highly anticipated self-titled debut album, which was just released on Warner Bros. Records. Both the EP and the album were co-produced by one of the band’s musical heroes, Tom Petty, with all songs written by band members Simpson and Jove.

“I was good friends with Tom Petty’s son,” said Simpson. “We went to Malibu High School together.

I always loved music when I was growing up and, when I started playing in bands, I would pick his brain. I wasn’t a die-hard Heartbreakers’ fan. I listened a lot more to the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

“I had played in a previous band — Automatik Slim — with Josh and Sebastian. When that band fell apart in 2013, I called Josh and said — let’s keep playing music together because our guitars worked together so well. So, we just kept writing music together.

“We made some demos and I asked Tom (Petty) to listen to them. He liked them and invited us over to his studio to cut a track with him. That song was ‘Rebel Hearts.’ After that, we used his studio to make our records. It was great to learn the craft of recording on such legendary gear. Kids my age don’t know much about analog (recording). We used tape machines, a vintage console, tube amps. We used everything we could before it was time to put the music into the computer.”

The Shelters’ new album shows a band that has learned the knack for making traditional kick-ass Los Angeles rock and roll — a band that has learned from and incorporated the influences of legendary L.A. bands such as Spirit, the Byrds and Love.

“Those bands and bands like the Beatles and the Kinks are the bands we love,” said Simpson. “We definitely have an eclectic group of influences. They are our musical heroes. That’s the stuff we grew up on.

“Take our love for that and push it forward is how I’d describe our music. Some of the things were mixing together may not have been done before — surf with grunge and punk or sing-alongs with music styles from spaghetti westerns.

“It really is an organic, natural thing. We’re always looking to explore and experiment. We love the studio and we love experimenting. I’d love it if we were thought of as a classic L.A. band. The main thing — I just want people to hear our music.”

The Shelters will have the opportunity to have close to 30,000 people hear their music live on June 17 when they perform at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware.

Video link for The Shelters — https://youtu.be/w1G_5cDlWeM.

Night Riots — Travis Hawley – Vocals; Nick Fotinakes – Guitar; Mikel Van Kranenburg – Bass; Matt DePauw – Guitar; Rico Rodriguez – Drums — is a band from Southern California. But, the group doesn’t fit any stereotypes – nor does its hometown.

The quintet hails from Templeton, a small inland town northeast of L.A. near San Luis Obispo and not far from Paso Robles, best known as the place where actor James Dean died in a car crash. Templeton is also the hometown of baseball legend Sandy Koufax and actor Josh Brolin.

“We all grew up in Templeton,” said Hawley, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon from a tour stop in Washington, D.C. “We still live there. We’ve been friends since middle school and we’ve always played music together.

“Our music does have gloomy feeling. People think we’re from England or Eastern Europe not sunny L.A. We grew up on punk but we listen to all kinds of music – modern hip hop, pop, country, old hip hop, rick, heavy metal. We try to be influenced by everybody but we never try to be anybody else. If I had to describe our music, I’d say alternative rock and roll – or gloom pop.”

Night Riots released its debut album “Into the Roaring” in 2011 and followed with “Love Gloom,” which was released on October 21 on Sumerian Records.

“We recorded the new album at Sunset Sound in L.A.,” said Hawley. “It’s inspiring there. We did a lot of pre-production before we went and then we were there for about two weeks. We recorded it live to get more of a real feel. We didn’t Frankenstein it with parts added and taken away or with layering of tracks.

“This was a lot more us in the room facing each other. We recorded digitally and then put it through a lot of amazing analog gear. We made sure everybody’s instrument had a distinct personality.

“We’re on the road a lot. Every time we come home, we sit down and start writing. We still have songs left over from ‘Love Gloom’ and from earlier times – maybe 10-15 songs. I’m ready to start writing again ASAP. This tour we’re on now is a good one. We’ll be home for the holidays and get some writing done. Then, we have a U.K. tour followed by a U.S. tour from March to May.”

Video link for Night Riots – https://youtu.be/LMIRrDhk5Pg?t=10.

The show at Fillmore Philadelphia, which also features The Hunna, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18.

On November 18, Fillmore Philadelphia will have a show featuring Jim James as the headliner and Twin Limb as the opener. Twin Limb will be not only be the opening act for Jim James but will also serve as his backup band.

Twin Limb, which is based in Louisville, Kentucky, features Lacey Guthrie on accordion, keys, and vocals; Maryliz Bender on drums, percussion, and vocals; and Kevin Ratterman on guitar and sampled sounds. On November 4, the band released its debut album “Haplo” on Suretone Records.

Twin Limb is self­-described as “dream pop”— only in their variation, it’s a dream pop that combines the “pop” of Warhol’s Chelsea Girls with the jagged dream states of Surrealism. “Haplo” is like the musical equivalent of the paintings or automatic poetry of the early Surrealists. The album sets forth its darker elements with a markedly pop ease.

“I was born and raised in Louisville,” said Ratterman, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from a tour stop in Boston. “I met the girls about eight years ago. They were a duo before I joined the band. They had met through friends and started writing music together the next day. They became Twin Limb.”

After a while, they crossed paths with Ratterman, a veteran musician who has engineered and produced records for artists such as Ray Lamontagne, Andrew Bird, and Jim James from My Morning Jacket.

“I have a recording studio in Louisville,” said Ratterman. “They asked me to produce their album. They just had accordion, drums and vocals and they wanted a bigger sound. It all came together really easily. Then, they asked me to come play a show with them so I did. It was great. That was two years ago this month at a gay bar in Louisville called Play.

“We realized that night that we should continue playing together as a trio. I knew we’d be friends for the rest of our lives. We all felt it immediately. We started playing live and going on tour. And, we started sending our record out to people in the music business.

“As we were doing that, we were playing a lot of live shows and we moved to a different sonic level and actually became a band. So, we went back and made an EP featuring some of the girls’ older songs. We did that so we’d have something to sell at our shows. We did the EP live.”

For twin Limb, something in the present caused the band to alter the past.

“Right after we made that EP, we re-recorded the original records live as a three-piece,” said Ratterman. “Then, we made this collage piece with new stuff along with original performances that had a lot of energy. That record became ‘Haplo.’ We recorded it about a year ago and then mixed it in February. We did it at a studio in L.A. called LaLaLand.

“More than anything, we’re a live band. We’ve been touring heavily for the last two years – three full U.S. tours, SXSW and a lot of regional stuff. The last time we played Philly was in April at Boot and Saddle with Basia Bulat.

“And, we’re writing all the time. We have so much material for another record it’s daunting. We’ve been recording jams on our iPhones. We have five or six finished new songs and 30-40 snippets. We’ve been playing a couple of the new songs in our live shows now. We’ve been road-testing them.”

Video link for Twin Limb – https://youtu.be/kTEc4cgLsco?t=7.

The show at Fillmore Philadelphia will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $31.

Also on November 18, The Foundry at Fillmore Philadelphia will host “BBC Presents Sundara Karma, Spring King and Izzy Bizu USA Tour.”

Sundara Karma released a new EP titled “Loveblood” exclusively in America via Bee & El/Sony RAL before co-headlining the first ever BBC Music Presents US tour with Spring King and Izzy Bizu. 

Sundara Karma means “beautiful karma” in Sanskrit. The band, which features Oscar Pollock (vocals/guitar), Haydn Evans (drums), Dom Cordell (bass) and Ally Baty (guitar), is based in Reading, England.

“We all grew up together in Reading,” said Poillock, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from a tour stop in Washington, D.C.

“It’s been very organic. We started when we were 13 and became Sundara Karma when we were 14. When we were 15, we were working on our first recording.”

On November 4, Sundara Karma’s “Loveblood” EP was officially released here and in the U.K.

According to Pollock, “Loveblood” is “inspired by Oscar Wilde’s short story ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.’ The story is a mystery about the unexplainable, and that theme has a huge inspiration in our music.”

Dealing in anthemic guitar music with soaring choruses, brooding romanticism and a sense of euphoric uplift, Sundara Karma has already established a dedicated cult fan base, sold-out shows up and down the UK and opened the main stage at Reading Festival in 2016.

“Our album has been done for a while,” said Pollock. “We’ve been sitting on it for a little bit. It will come out next year. We didn’t want to rush things. We had been writing songs for a few years prior to the album. I tend to do most of the writing.

“We recorded it six months ago. Most of the album was done in Berlin. We went there because we heard it was a very creative hub. We wanted to get that feeling with our recording. Some of the album was also done in England – Oxford, London and Brixton. And, we did one track on a boat – a big red boat.”

Sundara Karma’s music has a spacey, euphoric feel in many of the songs – not surprising considering the band’s influences.

“Some of our main influences are Pink Floyd, the Doors, The Smiths, The Cure and Joy Division,” said Pollock. “We like spacey, psychedelic music.

“In our live show, we play the songs pretty much as they were recorded. They haven’t really gone through any changes on stage. Thins will be our first time to come to the U.S. I’m looking forward to eating some yams.”

The show at The Foundry, which also features Spring King and Izzy Bazu, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Other shows over the next week at Fillmore Philadelphia are Elle King on November 17, Jim James on November 18, kiiara on November 19, Two Door Cinema Club on November 19, Party Next Door & Jeremith on November 20, K. Flay on November 22 and The Wonder Years and Real Friends on November 23.

Girls Guns & Glory, which is headlining a show November 18 at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808, www.st94.com) on Thursday night, plays music that the band describes as “a blend of early rock ’n’ roll, true country, raw blues and pretty much any kind of authentic American music.”

Girls Guns & Glory — Ward Hayden – Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals; Josh Kiggans – Drum Kit; Paul Dilley – Upright and Electric Bass, Vocals; Cody Nilsen – Lead Guitar, Vocals — has a new album, “Love And Protest,” which was released on November 4. Now, the band is taking its new music on the road.

“This is only a five-day tour,” said Hayden, during a phone interview Wednesday morning as the band traveled from Boston to a tour stop in Fairfield, Connecticut.

“We just came out with our new album a week ago so we’re doing a CD release circuit – mostly in the Northeast. We’ll be doing a bigger tour after the New Year’s. Tonight, we’re opening for Los Lobos in Fairfield and that should be a lot of fun.”

Like Los Lobos, Girls Guns & Glory play music with a lot of rock and roll and American roots music in the DNA.

“When we started playing around Boston around eight years ago, we were an anomaly,” said Hayden. “We were too country for rock clubs and too electrified for roots folky clubs. We didn’t give up. Eventually, some of the clubs gave us a chance.

“Josh and Paul have been in the band for six years. They met through the Boston rock music scene. Paul and I met in Texas – even though we were both from the Boston area. He was in another band there. We got talking and realized how close we had lived to each other in Massachusetts.

“It took a while for the band to get serious. About five years ago, I realized that if I’m going to do music, now is the time. The was no Plan B or Plan C. Music is Plan A. ‘Sweet Nothings,’ which came out in 2011, was our first album with a steady line-up. We started to really feel like a band.”

Fortunately for GG&G, the veteran musicians were able to stray the course with their sound while Boston went through changes.

“Over the years, we’ve seen Boston become a roots hub,” said Hayden. “There is also a lot of influence from Berklee (College of Music).”

Girls Guns & Glory took time from the road to get in the studio over the summer and the result was “Love And Power.”

According to Hayden, “A lot of times I have difficulty naming our records. With this one, I had the title almost immediately. ‘Love and Protest’ is the name of the album because its songs explore the emotion of love. And, when love is faced with opposition, it’s the protest of that emotion. When love isn’t happening, we protest its absence – that’s the overall idea this record captures It’s alpha and omega — love and protest. There’s a lot of ground to cover between those two extremes.”

Video link for Girls Guns & Glory – https://youtu.be/wxOZmlb7Fn4?t=4.

The show at Sellersville, which has Tweed and The Sugardaddies as the opening act, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $19.50 and $29.50.

Other shows in Sellersville over the next week are Diamond Head and MindMaze on November 17, Joe Conklin on November 19, Trout Fishing In America on November 20 (1 p.m.), Trinity featuring Geoff Tate (Queensryche), Tim Ripper Owens (Judas Priest) & Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden) on November 20 (7:30 p.m.), King’s X and Kings Of Spade on November 21, Kiss The Sky (Jimi Hendrix Tribute) on November 22, and Enter the Haggis on November 23.

On November 18, Philadelphia’s Mercury Girls will play a hometown show at Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, 215-232-2100, www.utphilly.com).

Mercury Girls features Sarah Schimineck, Kevin Attics, Andrew Hagiwara, Chris Schackerman, and Kevin O’Halloran. The members of the group all have previous experience in bands, including Schimineck (Pet Milk), Attics (Literature, Pitchfork Media) and O’Halloran (Little Big League).

The band recently released a new single titled “Holly” and also had several tracks on a different type of recording project back in the summer.

The mixed-artist album “Continental Drift” featured four talented bands, two respected record labels and two continents meet on a special edition mini-LP. Frequent collaborators Slumberland Records and Fortuna POP! Joined forces to put out an interesting eight-song sampler of some of the finest pop music in 2016.

In addition to Mercury Girls, the artists on the album are Baltimore’s Wildhoney, East London’s Tigercats  and a raucous band from Edinburgh, Scotland called The Spook School.

Mercury Girls are known for their gorgeous, layered sound that combines post-punk dynamics with soaring/jangling guitars, fantastic melodies and expertly-arranged tunes.

The band released its debut single “Ariana” on May 20 and will have its debut album out on Slumberland Records in the fall. Mercury Girls’ sound has been described as “indiepop with bits of shoegaze, post-punk and DIY punk.”

According to Mercury Girls’ Facebook page, the band was founded on June 12, 2014

“I’ve know Kevin for more than 10 years,” said Schimineck, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. “I used to sing in a band called Pet Milk. Later, he asked me to sing in his band. That was three years ago.

“We’ve been working on our first LP and it’s going to come out soon on Slumberland Records.”

Attics said, “We’re really excited for it. But, we can’t really go into much detail about it right now. Officially, we’ve put out four songs so far – ‘Holly,’ ‘Arianna,’ ‘All That Heaven Allows’ and ‘Beverly.’ We all work on the writing. It’s become more of a democratic process.”

Attics, a native of Austin, Texas, said, “I also play in a band called Literature. When the rest of that band went back to Austin, I stayed in Philly. I started working with my friend Adrienne Gold but she didn’t want to be in a band.

“I had all these shows booked already and I didn’t want to not play them. So, I called Sarah. I also called Kevin O. and asked him to play.”

Schimineck, whose main occupation is social work in North Philadelphia, said, “We all got along pretty well. We have a lot of the same music tastes — and we all have our different choices too. I really like Bjork and other strong female leads.”

After a few practices, pursuing Mercury Girls as a working band became a viable option.

“Within a month, we were playing shows,” said Attics. “Actually, we played together two weeks and then played our first show. It was at Comet Ping Pong in Washington, D.C. It was good crowd. We had a great show. About a month later, we went in and recorded ourselves live to make a demo tape”

Schimineck, who grew up in the Lehigh Valley and graduated from Bethlehem Liberty High, said, “It’s all been happening really fast. We’re now practicing two nights a week and we have a show about every other week. It’s definitely become one of the more uplifting things in my life.”

Mercury Girls are now ready to take it to the next level.

Schimineck said, “We have around 15 or 16 songs we can play in our live show.  And, we like to experiment.”

Video link for Mercury Girls — https://youtu.be/-mYRWP_OujI

The show at Union Transfer, which also features Foxing along with Balance and Composure, will start at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.

Deafheaven is a metal band from the San Francisco Bay area that is just past the midway point of its 17-date national co-headlining tour with Carcass. Deafheaven, which features George Clarke, Kerry McCoy, Daniel Tracy, Stephen Clark and Shiv Mehra, performs a full-length set – as does Carcass. Inter Ama has the opening slot.

On November 18, the tour will touch down in the area with a show at Reverb (1402 North Ninth Street, Reading, 610-743-3069, www.reverbconcerts.com).

“This tour has been great fun,” said Clarke, during a phone interview Tuesday as the band traveled to a gig in Asheville, North Carolina. “Both band have been great. All three bands have been making really good music.”

Deafheaven formed in 2010 and has released albums regularly on a two-year cycle ever since. The black metal quintet started with “Roads to Judah” in 2011 and followed with “Sunbather” in 2013. “New Bermuda” was released in 2015 on Epitaph Records.

“We put ‘New Bermuda’ out about a year ago,” said Clarke. “We’ve been really busy touring ever since its release – including a lot of international shows. We have plans to otur some more in the spring. We usually do a one-and-a-half year tour support for each album. This time, by the time our new record comes out. It will have bene three years. Right now, we have some riffs and some ideas but nothing concrete for a new album.”

Sn Francisco is the band’s base but only home to two of the five members of the group.

“Dan and Shiv still live in the Bay Area,” said Clarke. “Kerry and I moved to L.A. and Stephen lives in New York. We’re on the road so often at this point that we don’t even need to practice.

“We recorded ‘New Bermuda’ at Atomic Garden Studio with Jack Shirley in April 2015 and it came out six months later. We record everything to two-inch tape and we do record live. All the songs are single take and we’ll layer after that. We’ve never done pre-production. But, before we make an album, we will do a lot of practicing.

“We like to go into the studio with 90 per cent of the song done and then maybe add something once we’re in the recording room. I think we just like our records to sound natural. Recording the way we do, it comes out more organically. We play live so much, everyone is comfortable in that setting. We do upward of 150 shows a year.”

Deafheaven has a powerful sound that is very polished for a band that is still a relatively new band.

“Kerry and I started the band in 2010,” said Clarke. “We wrote and recorded a demo with just the two of us and then got a friend to play drums We did shows, got attention and got label interest. We’ve had a stable line-up for a few years. When we added Stephen and Shiv, everything clicked.”

Video link for Deafheaven — https://youtu.be/rDET-lov250?t=18

The all-ages show at Reverb, which also includes Divination, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20.

The Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) will present Stand Up at the Flash with Jessa Reed, Marc Huppman, Nick Kupsey, and Michael Kelly on November 17; Billy Penn Burger and Shy Town on November 18; “Back In The 610 Comedy Show” with Chris Haas, Nicholas Karabetsos, Ethan Miller, Marc Huppman, Jillian Chiaro, Gene Meyer on November 19; and Michael Melton on November 20.

The Steel City Coffee House (203 Bridge Street, Phoenixville, 610-933-4043, www.steelcitycoffeehouse.com) will host Craig Bickhardt, Marcia Ramirez & JD Malone on November 18 and Burning Bridget Cleary on November 19.

The Ardmore Music Hall (23 East Lancaster Avenue, Ardmore, 610-649-8389, www.ardmoremusic.com) will host “Back to Black: A 10th Anniversary Tribute to Amy Winehouse” on November 17, Pink Talking Fish on November 18, Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers with special guest Dynagroove on November 19, and Tom Chapin with special guest Skip Denenberg on November 20.

Burlap & Bean Coffeehouse (204 South Newtown Street Road, Newtown Square, 484-427-4547, www.burlapandbean.com) will present Heather Maloney with Ethan Pierce on November 17, Dana Louise and the Glorious Birds with Anna Spackman on November 18, and Robby Hecht and Kate Vargas & The Reckless Daughters on November 19.

The Keswick Theater (291 N. Keswick Avenue, Glenside, 215-572-7650, www.keswicktheatre.com) presents Home Free on November 17 and “Octonauts Live!” on November 18.