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  • This Is Lorelei & Bleachers Rock The Armory

    MATT NORRIS | Go Venue Magazine

    Opening the September 26th, 2026 show is Nate Amos, known as This Is Lorelei. A keyboardist, bassist and drummer accompany Amos on stage to kick things off with a rock-pop start. The group reminds me of a more refined Dandy Warhols sound, specifically from the New Bohemian era, while Amos himself looks like a young Ben Gibbard. I welcome both of these aspects as they play song after song, some of my favorite moments involving atmospheric swells that took over the space in waves. Though I wish they had spent some time to talk about the songs or group, it didn’t detract from their presence. Before their final act, Amos did briefly announce the group This Is Lorelei, and made mention of the names playing tonight, however it was brief and a bit mumbled.

    It’s clear that Amos and This Is Lorelei is a band that’ll only be more familiar in the years to come. I’d recommend seeing them with Bleachers or on their own in the future without hesitation.

    The house lights are off, and sodium vapor lights began to glow in the fog that had been slowly filling the Armory between acts. The neon-orange glow that once lined streets now lit the crowd in a monochromatic light, a nostalgic feeling from a time not so long ago. On the speakers, Frank Sanatra’s “My Way” had started to take hold. The audience began to sing along part way through. Then it happened — Bleachers came onto the stage to finish out “My Way,” seamlessly with Sinatra’s recording and the crowd.

    The September 26th, 2026, concert transitioned right into Bleacher’s “sideways,” and Antonoff’s appearance was a smidge off. With a quick lean back from the mic, he wobbled slightly. Antonoff’s face looked surprised as the mic nearly fell into him. This happened several times over the course of the first song, and it was apparent that this was a different Jack Antonoff than I’d seen perform previously. Lyrics were somewhat slurred, though understandable, and the sound of the band was perfection. Maybe a little too much celebration before the show? Whatever Antonoff’s state, he continued to give it his all, dancing around the stage, even playing on top of the speakers. I for one am glad to know we have humans performing human-made music in this era.

    This level of excitement continued through the van, and again and again to “Modern Girl,” “Jesus is Dead,” and “Wild Heart.” The audience clearly remained engaged with songs new and old, enjoying Antonoff’s wild dancing around the stage. “Everybody Lost Somebody” had the saxophones out again, Zem Audu and Evan Smith may be some of the best players touring period — both delivering incredible saxophone performances, song after song, let alone all the other instruments they were playing throughout the concert. Mikey Freedom Hart, Sean Hutchinson and Mike Riddleberger also ever-present, their sounds and variety of positions (backing vocals, drums, synthesizers, keyboards, bass guitar) seamlessly build the tapestry of the Bleachers sound. Like a well-oiled machine, players were constantly rotating between instruments and sounds without any friction, save for some of Antonoff’s blurry lead vocals. I hope for the band’s sake (and Antonoff) that this was a one-off in their performances.

    The 21-song long setlist included a snippet version of “Dream of Mickey Mantle” I didn’t see present on other recent set lists. Perhaps this explains why Antonoff seemed to be missing some of the lyrics, though I still found it surprising for a performer of his caliber to present such a way. Things picked up pace again with “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call,” and Antonoff made an attempt to talk about some of his time recording at Paisley Park the last time he’d been to Minnesota. I found it hard to understand what he explained, but alas, it was back in 2021 when Bleachers last hit Minnesota. The performance of “How Dare You Want More” was honestly fantastic, and for a minute here, I started to wonder if Antonoff was starting to come back towards his intended state for performing. Time for another quick story, the Bleachers Sound as Antonoff refers to it, about the note played on a Juno-6 synthesizer that started the Bleachers project. That sounds, played loud and clear for the audience, lead us into the original single “Rollercoaster,” which had the audience dancing and even people riding on shoulders. “Tiny Moves” kept the dancing going — and the whole show rocked to the end with “Don’t Take the Money” into a full-band version of “I Wanna Get Better” (earlier Antonoff sang it acoustic, before Dream of Mickey Mantle) with a little crowd surfing, and finally, “Stop Making This Hurt”.

    Having experienced multiple performances of Jack Antonoff’s Bleachers in Minneapolis over the years, each show has been memorable. Bleachers consistently brings great showmanship on stage, gorgeous production quality and authentic energy from the presence Antonoff brings to town.

    This year’s performance in Minneapolis hits near the end of the Bleachers Forever USA tour. Antonoff announced the band would leave them playing their absolute best, and that “there was blood on the stage and (he) didn’t even know who’s it was”, that’s how he wanted to leave us. The saxophonists kept playing as they walked off the stage, the crowed continued to cheer. Then, the house lights came up — Bleachers doesn’t do encores. They give the best show they can, front to end. If your city is one of the few remaining stops, hear this: Bleachers delivers a memorable show, and I continue to personally adore them for all they are; but Jack Antonoff’s unusually sloppy vocal performance tonight was a distraction when enjoying the rest of the magic happening.

    Bleachers

    [See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com]

    This is Lorelei

    [See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com] All images © Matt Norris

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    The post This Is Lorelei & Bleachers Rock The Armory appeared first on Go Venue Magazine.

  • SLEEPING WITH SIRENS Announce 2027 Australian Tour

    In 2027, SLEEPING WITH SIRENS will return to Australia for their biggest headline tour to date, set to bring their An Ending In Itself Tour down under next April, joined by special guests STATE CHAMPS (USA) and BOSTON MANOR (UK). Commencing on Saturday 3 April in Brisbane, SLEEPING WITH SIRENS will journey through Sydney, Melbourne […]

  • Combichrist bring fierce energy to The Sanctuary Detroit

    Combichrist blew up the stage on Wednesday evening in Hamtramck at The Sanctuary Detroit. The industrial metal band is out touring behind their eleventh studio album, The Venom in the Mouth of God. Wednesday’s show also featured openers Obs Elite, Dead Animal Assembly Plant and Ludovico Technique, who put on a high-octane set that got the crowd fired up for the main event. In a cloud of smoke, Combichrist erupted onto the stage with the pounding beat of newer track “ODR.” The just over hour…

  • Yelawolf and Highly Suspect Bring The War Within Tour to Waukee, IA

    PAM WHISENHUNT | Go Venue Magazine

    Yelawolf and Highly Suspect brought their co-headlining War Within Tour to Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee, Iowa, on Sunday, September 27, 2026. Before the show I chatted with a couple near the front. One was there for Highly Suspect, the other for Yelawolf. One liked rock, the other liked rap. That turned out to be the theme of the whole night, and this pairing turned out to be a match I didn’t know I needed.

    East Texas rockers Passengers Unknown opened the night with a jolt of energy. They started with their original work and kept the crowd engaged the whole way through. At one point they set up a competition between the guys and the girls: whoever gave the biggest “hell yeah” got a song. The girls won. Lead singer Jobee Bowley’s shirt came off, and the band broke into a cover of Ginuwine’s “Pony.”

    Before wrapping up, the band had one question before they left: do you like girls with tattoos? They closed with their most popular song, “Girls With Tattoos.”

    Yelawolf took a stage bathed in red light, smoke rolling across the floor, with the front end of a classic car with flame detailing doubling as DJ Klever’s turntable. Catfish Billy came out in shades, a yellow jacket, a yellow hat and red shoes, opening with “Outer Space” and “Growin’ Up in the Gutter.” What really won the crowd over was when he leaned back against the car and gave us the rapid-fire flow of “Catfish Billy.” He asked if this was anyone’s first Yelawolf show, and nearly every hand in the room went up.

    His set was a hip hop journey. He told us that putting this tour together with Highly Suspect made perfect sense. He said he’s a little bit hood, trying to find his trailer park, and his 16-song set took us through all of it: “Best Friend,” “Pop the Trunk,” “Billy Crystal,” “Daddy’s Lambo,” “You and Me,” his new single “My Country,” released just this month, and his personal favorite from Love Story, “Empty Bottles.”

    Highly Suspect capped off the night with a very different set. They took us back to 2015, opening with four songs from their debut album Mister Asylum: “Bloodfeather,” “23,” “Bath Salts” and “Lost.”

    Frontman Johnny Stevens singled out a kid in the crowd and made him the center of a circle pit. This kid is the one to protect, he told us. Circle around him. He even challenged all the millennials in the room to show them how it’s done. Despite Stevens’ best efforts, it didn’t quite work out.

    When “Lydia” came up, Stevens asked the crowd who wanted to finish the song and brought a couple of guys up on stage to do it. One of them, although out of tune, belted it out like nobody was listening. He was living his best life for sure.

    Then the band left the stage, and Stevens brought out his dog, telling us that dog has saved him more times than he can count. He sat on the stage stairs with his dog and performed “Fly.” When the song ended, he made a plea to the room: if you need to call someone, call them.

    Highly Suspect finished out the set with “The National Anthem,” “Run for Your Death (More Pills),” a “Serotonia”/“Wolf” mix, “My Name Is Human,” “Claudeland” and “Pink Lullabye,” with plenty of jamming and crowd interaction throughout.

    Yelawolf and Highly Suspect put on very different sets, but the same threads ran through both: mental health, personal trauma, struggle and addiction, all wrapped up in blue-collar roots and tattoos. Two very different bands that worked together perfectly. Whichever side of the show you came for, I’m pretty sure you left a fan of the other side too.

    The War Within Tour rolls on to Bismarck, North Dakota, on Tuesday and wraps October 15 in Flagstaff, Arizona. If it comes anywhere near you, go.

    Highly Suspect

    [See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com]

    Passengers Unknown

    [See image gallery at www.govenuemagazine.com] All images © Pam Whisenhunt

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    The post Yelawolf and Highly Suspect Bring The War Within Tour to Waukee, IA appeared first on Go Venue Magazine.

  • “Cold Night, Middle of Winter” — Soft Vein Shares Intimate Tour Rehearsal Video for “Another Summer”

    Cold night, middle of winter
    Bodies in motion, flames burning high
    Now I wake up alone, the air doesn’t move
    No rain on the concrete, no god in the sky

    Soft Vein’s Another Summer walks into the long-held mythology of summer breeziness with a raised eyebrow and a very good synthesizer. Justin Chamberlain treats the season less as paradise than as evidence: proof that time keeps circling back while the people inside it become harder to recognize.

    The title carries its own little cruelty. Another chance, another repetition, another invitation to believe that whatever went wrong might somehow correct itself on the next pass. Chamberlain sounds far too experienced to buy the brochure. His interest lies in the distance between recurrence and recovery, and in the uncomfortable realization that repetition rarely restores what has already changed.

    Soft Vein has been pushing further into new wave and synthpop this year, and Another Summer may be Chamberlain’s sharpest turn in that direction yet. There is plenty of mid-’80s Peter Gabriel and Robert Palmer in its bloodstream, especially in the combination of clipped electronic percussion, broad keyboards, soulful vocal phrasing, and a hook built with enough confidence to survive outside the black-clad electronic underground. Chamberlain has found a sweet spot between pop polish and emotional frostbite.

    The bass is wonderfully round and physical, moving beneath the track with the lazy certainty of something expensive rolling down an empty boulevard. Keyboards spread outward in great glassy planes while Chamberlain’s emotive voice occupies the center with an appealing mixture of restraint, desire, and resignation. He sings like a man who has learned that romantic memory becomes increasingly unreliable the more often you consult it.

    Cameron Noel Dunbar filmed the video during a visit to Soft Vein’s rehearsal studio a couple of weeks ago, capturing Chamberlain and his live band preparing for their upcoming shows. The footage offers an intimate portrait of the musicians together before heading out on the road, preserving the shared concentration and easy familiarity of rehearsal.

    Dunbar layers the rehearsal footage with psychedelic superimpositions, letting faces double, equipment drift through bodies, and colors smear across gestures. The room gradually starts behaving like memory itself: imperfect, cumulative, prone to placing several moments on top of each other. That treatment suits a song preoccupied with desire and repetition, while the footage preserves something more immediate: the pleasure of being in a room together, preparing to bring these songs to an audience.

    Watch the video for Another Summer below:

    Mixed by Chamberlain and mastered by Jason Corbett of ACTORS at Jacknife Sound, Another Summer appears on Soft Vein’s album All We’ve Known of Heaven, out now through Artoffact Records. CD and vinyl preorders are available now through Bandcamp.
    Listen to Another Summer below and order All We’ve Known Of Heaven here.
    Catch Soft Vein this fall on the following dates:
    • September 30 — Dallas, TX — Dada Dallas — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 1 — Austin, TX — Elysium — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 2 — San Antonio, TX — Paper Tiger — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 3 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 6 — New Orleans, LA — The Crypt — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 8 — Tampa, FL — New World Brewery — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 9 — Miami, FL — Las Rosas — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 10 — Orlando, FL — The Abbey — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 12 — Atlanta, GA — The Drunken Unicorn — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 14 — Durham, NC — Stanczyks — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 15 — Richmond, VA — Richmond Music Hall — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 16 — Philadelphia, PA — Johnny Brenda’s — with ULTRA SUNN
    • October 17 — New York, NY — Le Poisson Rouge — with ULTRA SUNN
    • November 3 — Salt Lake City, UT — Quarters Arcade Bar
    • November 4 — Denver, CO — The Crypt
    • November 6 — Seattle, WA — Funhouse
    • November 7 — Portland, OR — The Coffin Club
    • November 11 — Sacramento, CA — The Starlet Room
    • November 12 — Santa Ana, CA — La Santa Modern Cantina
    • November 13 — San Diego, CA — Kensington Club
    • November 15 — Las Vegas, NV — Bizarre Bar
    • November 17 — San Francisco, CA — DNA Lounge
    • November 18 — Fresno, CA — Fulton 55

    Follow Soft Vein:

    The post “Cold Night, Middle of Winter” — Soft Vein Shares Intimate Tour Rehearsal Video for “Another Summer” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

  • New Statue And Memorial Bench Honoring Andy Williams In The Works

    You can currently buy a custom engraved brick to be setup around it.

    The post New Statue And Memorial Bench Honoring Andy Williams In The Works appeared first on Theprp.com.

  • Erasure Share New Single “Wings of Love” — New Album “Radio!! Radio!!” Announced!

    Erasure have spent forty years demonstrating how much emotional information can be smuggled into an immaculate pop song. Synth legend Vince Clarke builds structures with the discipline of an engineer; stratospheric vocalist Andy Bell enters them and immediately complicates their geometry with desire, humour, hurt, and theatrical generosity. On the glorious Wings Of Love, the first single from their twentieth album, Radio!! Radio!!, that familiar exchange sounds newly spacious. The surfaces remain polished, but age has altered what Bell and Clarke choose to place beneath them.

    Wings Of Love draws upon the glassy synthpop language Erasure helped perfect in the 80s, yet its appeal rests in the small frictions inside the arrangement. Clarke’s keyboards are clean without becoming antiseptic, and the rhythm maintains a light, spring-loaded movement beneath Bell’s vocal. The hook rises with classic Erasure efficiency, though Bell sings from a perspective shaped by gratitude as much as romantic appetite. Love, loneliness, and appreciation occupy the same few minutes without requiring grand declarations.

    The title also makes for an intriguing counterweight to Chains of Love, one of Erasure’s defining songs of emotional release. Where Chains of Love treated love as something that might be broken open, escaped into, or finally allowed to breathe, Wings Of Love approaches it from the vantage point of gratitude. The image has changed from bonds to flight, from release toward appreciation, and Bell sings as someone taking stock of the people who have carried him through loneliness and loss. Four decades apart, the two songs suggest different stages of the same emotional vocabulary.

    That balance may prove central to Radio!! Radio!!. Six years have passed since Erasure’s previous studio album, and Clarke describes the new material as having developed with relatively little discussion. “Some of the songs are quite reflective of stuff that’s been going on in my life, but not all of them,” he says. “We didn’t have to think about it or talk about it – it just happened that way.”

    More intriguing is Clarke’s decision to expand his instrumental vocabulary. Piano, prompted partly by Erik Satie, and acoustic guitar appear throughout the record, introducing irregularities of touch into music historically associated with sequencers and synthesizers. “I found techniques – ways to use piano that sounded really organic, and same with guitar.”

    For Clarke, whose greatest strength has often been the reduction of pop music to remarkably efficient components, these instruments offer another set of pressures: sustain, decay, fingers against keys and strings, small variations that resist perfect replication. They also give Bell different surroundings in which to sing. His voice has always carried far more physical force than Clarke’s arrangements strictly require, one reason the duo’s records can feel simultaneously intimate and enormous. On this material, that scale appears useful for songs involving grief, affection, injustice, and the strange emotional accounting that comes with getting older alongside someone.

    “When you’re a songwriting partnership for so long, it’s very deep, kind of like a soul connection,” Bell says. “You trust that person with your life, and because of the nature of songwriting, you just lay bare your soul. That becomes a sacred space.”

    The sentiment could sound extravagant from another duo. With Erasure, it describes a practical musical relationship. Clarke leaves openings; Bell fills them with personality. Bell pushes toward emotional excess; Clarke supplies form. Four decades of repetition have sharpened rather than erased that division of labour.

    Listen to Wings Of Love below:

    Radio!! Radio!! consequently carries an interesting question for a band entering its fifth decade: how much can a partnership change while its fundamental chemistry remains recognizable? “Wings Of Love” offers an encouraging answer. Erasure’s machinery is still precise, Bell’s heart remains gloriously oversized, and the space between those two qualities continues to produce excellent pop.

    Radio!! Radio!! will be released by Mute on vinyl, CD, and digitally on March 12th, 2027. Pre-order the album HERE.

    Their forthcoming tour even extends the principle. Clarke will serve as musical director from California while Bell performs onstage. “I’m so pleased that we were able to find a way for the tour to work for Vince. He’s always too modest but he’s so much more than the Musical Director, Vince is one of the great loves of my life and everything we do as Erasure we decide together.”

    General sale from 10am on Friday October 2nd –  Get tickets here!

    2027 Radio!! Radio!! Tour 

    • April 25 – Cardiff (UK), Utilita Arena*
    • April 26 – Bournemouth (UK), International Centre*
    • April 28 – Liverpool (UK), M&S Bank Arena*
    • April 30 – Birmingham (UK), Utilita Arena*
    • May 1 – Manchester (UK), AO Arena*
    • May 3 – Dublin (IE), 3Arena*
    • May 5 – Nottingham (UK), Motorpoint Arena*
    • May 6 – Hull (UK), Connexin Live*
    • May 8 – Leeds (UK). First Direct Bank Arena*
    • May 9 – Glasgow (UK), OVO Hydro*
    • May 11 – Brighton (UK), Brighton Centre*
    • May 12  – London (UK), The O2*
    • May 15 – Cologne (DE), Palladium
    • May 16 – Hamburg ( DE), Inselparkhalle
    • May 18 – Leipzig (DE), Haus Auensee
    • May 21 – Frankfurt (DE),  Jahrhunderthalle
    • May 22 – Hannover (DE),  Swiss Live Hall
    • May 24 – Berlin (DE), Uber Eats Music Hall
    • May 26 – Copenhagen (DK), Royal Arena
    • May 28 – Stockholm (SE),  Avicii Arena

    *with special guests Ladytron

    Follow Erasure:

    The post Erasure Share New Single “Wings of Love” — New Album “Radio!! Radio!!” Announced! appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

  • How Eddie Vedder came to the rescue when a young Irish band had all their equipment stolen on their US tour

    When, back in June, Florence Road announced dates for their first ever North American headline tour, it was something of a dream come for the young Irish quartet, who only graduated from school in County Wicklow three years ago. But that dream turned into a nightmare just two dates into the tour when, following their show at the legendary Troubador club in Los Angeles on September 23, the band had all their equipment stolen from their van, forcing them to cancel their scheduled appearance at Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival on Friday, September 25.

    “We’ve tried absolutely everything to make it happen,” the quartet posted on Instagram. “We really, really want to play for you.”

    In their darkest hour, however, the group were visited by a guardian angel. Hearing of their misfortune, Pearl Jam frontman Vedder not only carved out a new slot for Florence Road on the middle day of his weekend festival in Dana Point, California, but also gave the band’s vocalist/guitarist Lily Aron his own guitar so that the band could play their hastily rearranged set.

    “What an insane 48 hours!!!” the group posted on Instagram after their show. “We couldn’t be more grateful to @eddievedder and the whole team at @theohanafest ❤️ We were met with such kindness, and the second Eddie heard our guitars were stolen he insisted that I play his. A true gentleman.

    “We have the best team of people around us and this show would not have happened without them!! It does take a village!!!

    “Big love to @fender for the guitars too <3 And everyone who reached out 🥲 We are lucky girls

    “Sliver linings always!!!!!”

    A post shared by florence road (@florence.road)

    A photo posted by

    Florence Road will continue their North American tour tonight, September 28, playing the Bowery Ballroom in New York.

    They will conclude their tour with shows in Boston (September 29, The Sinclair) and Toronto (October 1, Drake Underground).

    The band, who are signed to Warners, have yet to release their debut album.

  • Interview | “It’s about nostalgia, lost futures, forgotten architecture and the beauty that’s still hidden in places people have stopped noticing.” – Helle Bohdanova (IGNEA)

    We had a chat with Helle Bohdanova of Ukrainian metal band IGNEA to discuss their second album, Monumental, out this October, which was recorded during Kyiv’s wartime blackouts. Helle talks about making music during the war, the emotional state the record explores, and her advice for women in the music industry.

    Reuel

    Hello Helle! I’m very excited to be talking with you. How are you doing?

    Helle Bohdanova

    Hi! Thank you for having me. Honestly, I’m barely functioning after another night of drone and missile attacks in Kyiv. But there’s no time to complain, and I’m really excited to talk about our new record.

    Reuel

    This is awful! I hope this aggression against Ukraine will end soon.
    Your new album Monumental will be released next October. How are you feeling right now as you prepare to share this chapter with your fans?

    Helle Bohdanova

    Extremely excited and terrified at the same time. We’ve spent so long on this album, and now it’s almost out of our hands. It’s very diverse, and every song plays its own role and shows the theme from a different angle, so it’s a lot to put out there.
    What I hope for most is that people will listen to it from beginning to end. It’s a journey through different sides of nostalgia, and the songs make the most sense together. If listeners take the time to dive into the theme and go through the ups and downs with us, that would mean the world to me.

    Reuel

    Robert Hayden said, ‘All art is pain suffered and outlived.’ Considering everything you went through while making this album in Kyiv, do you see Monumental as a reflection of that pain, or a way of overcoming it?

    Helle Bohdanova

    It’s the fifth year of the full-scale war in Ukraine, and we’ve never romanticized it and don’t want to. I understand the idea behind the quote, but it’s hard for me when people suggest that we should turn our pain and suffering into art. Those who see the real war and its horrors don’t want to relive them through music. That’s our perspective, at least.
    It’s also hard to be creative when you have to fight for your survival every day. Blackouts, air raid alerts and constant uncertainty take a lot of energy, and that’s energy we’d rather put into music. I’m sure that when the war ends, we’ll be much more productive and have far more room to create.
    Of course, the war shaped how the album was made. We recorded most of it in the winter of 2025-2026, in extreme cold and during long power outages in Kyiv. But I wouldn’t call Monumental a reflection of that pain. It’s about nostalgia, lost futures, forgotten architecture and the beauty that’s still hidden in places people have stopped noticing.

    Reuel

    Between retrofuturism, urban decay, and nostalgia, Monumental explores some really unique concepts. What kind of emotional state do you hope those themes evoke in the listener?

    Helle Bohdanova

    All in all, this album is sort of a dreamscape.
    I’d like listeners to feel something bittersweet, the kind of gentle sadness that nostalgia brings. In Greek, nostalgia combines homecoming and pain, and I wanted the album to hold both. It can bring back beautiful memories, but they’re darkened by the awareness that those moments won’t happen again. That tension between memory and the present, loss and hope, is what I’m trying to capture.
    But I don’t want people to walk away feeling only melancholy. Nostalgia is something every human experiences, so I hope the album feels like a ride with ups and downs, including some anthemic, uplifting moments. The building on our cover is a good picture of it. Its circular shape feels closed and strict, but it leaves the sky open, so you can still look toward a brighter future.
    Ideally, people also come away seeing forgotten places differently. While working on this album, I discovered so many beautiful buildings, architects and monumental artists, and it made me appreciate things I used to overlook. If listeners start noticing the mosaics and modernist buildings in their own cities, I’ll be very happy.

    Reuel

    There are a lot of different musical styles on this record. What was the most fun, or most surprising, track for you to work on musically?

    Helle Bohdanova

    Prefab was probably the most fun to work on. It’s an industrial metal track, and it pulls the record furthest from what people may expect from us. Having Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist on it made it even more exciting, because he brings a completely different and yet, missing energy. The song is about prefabricated housing, uniform spaces where only the tenants change, so the harder, colder, more mechanical sound suits the theme.

    Reuel

    If all the tracks on Monumental came to life and became real people, which one of these songs would be your best friend?

    Helle Bohdanova

    I’d say What Buildings Dream Of. It’s the song that started the whole album. Yevhenii wrote the first demo, and it sent me searching for the concept that became Monumental, so in a way it’s the friend who introduced me to everyone else.
    It would be the friend you can have a deeply philosophical conversation with, the kind that starts with a quiet talk late at night and somehow ends up on the meaning of space, memory and time. But it wouldn’t be all deep thoughts. It would also be the one who pulls you into an adventure, like exploring an abandoned modernist building at sunrise. It can be thoughtful and adventurous, and I like that mix in a friend.

    Reuel

    With the album coming out in October, are there any plans for live shows or a tour soon?

    Helle Bohdanova

    Yes. This November, we’re hopping on an EU/UK tour as special guests to Evergrey. I’m extremely excited about bringing this album on stage.

    Reuel

    That’s great! We have readers from all around the world, including women who still face barriers, and even persecution, in the music industry. What message would you like to share with those who dream of pursuing a music career?

    Helle Bohdanova

    As a Ukrainian who faces challenges every single day, I’d say: find the strength you have inside you and pursue your career if that’s what you truly want. It’s a tough business and a tough world, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But we’re lucky to be alive, and we’re lucky to have other brave women who paved the way into this industry before us. They made it possible for us to be here, and you can be the one who makes it easier for the next generation.

    Reuel

    Thank you for your time, Helle! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

    Helle Bohdanova

    Thank you so much for having me! I invite everyone to pre-order our upcoming album Monumental and/or pre-save it on Spotify and other streaming platforms of your choice. We’ve also put a lot of effort and resources into the music videos for Monumental, and they complement the album, so please check them out too.
    And please keep supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian artists. It means more than you can imagine. All in all, I hope to see you on the road somewhere!

    Follow IGNEA

    The post Interview | “It’s about nostalgia, lost futures, forgotten architecture and the beauty that’s still hidden in places people have stopped noticing.” – Helle Bohdanova (IGNEA) first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.

  • Party Cannon, Internal Bleeding & Guttural Slug book 2027 European tour

    Kicking off February 27 in the Netherlands

    Source