{"id":25603,"date":"2017-08-27T09:27:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T13:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=25603"},"modified":"2017-08-27T09:27:36","modified_gmt":"2017-08-27T13:27:36","slug":"on-stage-bonus-get-seriously-heavy-with-marduk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=25603","title":{"rendered":"On Stage (Bonus): get seriously heavy with Marduk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Marduk<\/p><\/div>\n

By Denny Dyroff,<\/strong> Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

When Marduk performs on August 27 at Reverb (1402 North Ninth Street, Reading, <\/strong>610-743-3069, www.reverbconcerts.com<\/a>), the band will be playing at a venue that also is a description of the effect of the group\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

Marduk is one of the heaviest metal bands from Scandinavia. When the powerful foursome plays, the sounds it makes rattle the foundation and send reverberations around the building.<\/p>\n

Named after a Babylonian deity, Marduk — Mortuus (Daniel Rost\u00e9n), vocals; Morgan Steinmeyer H\u00e5kansson, guitar; Magnus Andersson, bass;
\nFredrik Widigs, drums \u2013 are Sweden\u2019s premier black metal band.<\/p>\n

The quartet from Norrk\u00f6ping, Sweden has embarked on its \u201cFrontschwein North America Part 2\u201d tour. \u201cFrontschwein,\u201d which is the band\u2019s most recent album, was released in January through Century Media Records.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrontschwein\u201d is German Army slang for \u201cfront pig\u201d — a soldier serving long at the front, often used as an ironic accolade for a soldier with the will to fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a while since we released \u2018Frontschwein\u2019 and these are the final shows of the album cycle,\u201d said H\u00e5kansson, during a phone interview Thursday from a tour stop in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still playing a lot from \u2018Frontschwein.\u2019 You\u2019re never stronger than your latest release. We also believe in our old catalog. We play songs from every album because they are the pillars of the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were supposed to do the final shows back in the spring but we had visa problems. So, we had to cancel some shows and rearrange the schedule. We toured January and February in the western United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marduk released its debut album \u201cDark Endless\u201d in 1992 and H\u00e5kansson is the only remaining member who played on that disc.<\/p>\n

Frontschwein,\u201d which is Marduk\u2019s 13th studio album, is the band\u2019s first solely war-themed album since 1999\u2019s legendary release, \u201cPanzer Division Marduk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a few weeks more of touring and three music festivals to end the cycle,\u201d said H\u00e5kansson. \u201cWe\u2019ve done over 225 shows since we did the album and we\u2019ve played in most areas in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we finish with these shows, we\u2019ll start to work on a new album. I don\u2019t like to write on the road. I get home and let all things fall into the right place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all used to live in Norrk\u00f6ping but now the vocalist and the drummer live in Stockholm. We constantly work on new material but we don\u2019t really focus on it until we\u2019re not touring.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, we did an album every year and not as much touring. We used to do 35 shows a year. Now, we do more than 200 shows every year. But, we never feel any pressure to put an album out.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since 2004, we\u2019ve recorded in our bass player\u2019s studio in Norrk\u00f6ping. We can work three days in a row without a break and then go home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a better way to work. We produce ourselves and our bass player is the engineer. And, it\u2019s nice for me because I live in Norrk\u00f6ping only 15 minutes away from the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right now, Marduk\u2019s 14th<\/sup> album is in the pre-embryonic stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know which way it will go,\u201d said H\u00e5kansson. \u201cI have three different directions in my head \u2013 a lot of ideas, a lot of concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Marduk \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/0yPOqlrCl1I<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The all-ages show at Reverb, which has Incantation and Abysmal Dawn as opening acts, will start at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $22.<\/p>\n

Nashville is loaded with young indie-rock artists \u2013 many of whom are recent graduates of Boston\u2019s Berklee College of Music. Brooklyn is loaded with young indie-rock artists \u2013 from New York and from all over the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gracie and Rachel<\/p><\/div>\n

Gracie and Rachel is an indie-rock duo living in Brooklyn. The long-time friends are from the other Berkeley \u2013 Berkeley, California. Actually, they\u2019re half from Berklee too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up in California and went to school together at Berkeley High School,\u201d said Rachel during a phone interview Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cGracie went to the Berklee College of Music and I went to the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington.\u201d<\/p>\n

On August 29, Gracie and Rachel will co-headline a bill with Henry Jamison at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Gracie and Rachel are a study in duality — light and dark, classical training with a pop sensibility, Californians in New York. The creative pair met in high school in California and reunited in Bushwick, Brooklyn — building out a loft to be their home and studio where they recorded the new album.<\/p>\n

The album plays in a chronological order that represents the duo\u2019s path forged to assemble the musical collection. Their journey through adventurous youth and cohabitation is the focus of the album, which was released on June 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad used to take me to People\u2019s Park protests in Berkeley when I was young,\u201d said Gracie. \u201cBoth our parents moved out there in the \u201970s \u2013 Flower Power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely grew up with that in our lives. You can hear it in our album of love songs and songs of self-empowerment. The free speech movement in Berkeley — look at our song \u2018It\u2019s Time.\u2019 It comes across.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel said, \u201cWe met in high school at dance class. Our dance instructor asked for someone to put together a piece for musical accompaniment for a dance piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cGracie and I raised our hands. That\u2019s when we started together. Gracie likes to call it an arranged marriage. We choreographed a piece with music. It was ballet fused with hip-hop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gracie said, \u201cWe\u2019d go back to my home after school and work on music. It evolved from there. Gracie is classically trained and I\u2019m pop. Even now, it continues to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The partnership has been mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cRachel encouraged me to be more structured,\u201d said Gracie.<\/p>\n

Rachel said, \u201cIn the beginning, my background was strictly classical. So, I was more tentative about coming up with ideas. I think it was a much brighter sound at the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gracie said, \u201cRachel has a darker palette. She wears all black. The contrast was interesting \u2013 and something that we can bring out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all roots in cinematic music where we overlap. We found a common ground \u2013 cinematic and ethereal.\u201d<\/p>\n

That common ground led to the making of an impressive debut album.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were making demos a few years back,\u201d said Gracie. \u201cA year ago, we got back in the studio with a new producer. We had some older songs we used and we wrote some newer songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel said, \u201cAnd, we also worked a lot on our sound development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Gracie and Rachel \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/mqHg9WiH6yU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at World Caf\u00e9 Live, which also features Henry Jamison along with Baby & Shylow, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times When Marduk performs on August 27 at Reverb (1402 North Ninth Street, Reading, 610-743-3069, www.reverbconcerts.com), the band will be playing at a venue that also is a description of the effect of the group\u2019s music. Marduk is one of the heaviest metal bands from Scandinavia. When the powerful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7529],"tags":[6518,9388,9389],"class_list":["post-25603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-gracie-and-rachel","tag-marduk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25604,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25603\/revisions\/25604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}