Patti Smith, Ted Leo, Pere Ubu, Black Mountain, Jay Reatard, F*cked Up at Pop Montreal

The annual POP Montreal festival is starting to shape up. Among the 300 artists to participate in the multi-venue fall music fair are punk poet laureate Patti Smith, Touch & Go’s Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Toronto hardcore luminaries Fucked Up, post-punk pioneers Pere Ubu, Vancouver druganauts Black Mountain and prolific Memphis garage punk musician Jay Reatard. They’ll play alongside celebrated acts from a variety of genres, including the National, Sunset Rubdown, Magnolia Electric Co., Fujiya & Miyagi, Final Fantasy, Caribou, Half Japanese, Oakley Hall, A-Trak, Kid Sister, the Cool Kids, Qui, MSTRKRFT, Chromeo, Ron Sexsmith, Born Ruffians, Bobby Conn, DJ/Rupture, Chad VanGaalen, Earlimart, Daedalus,Georgie James, the Watson Twins, Tiga, DJ Mehdi, Cody ChesnuTT and the Federation.

. This is the 6th year of the Quebec festival. The event, which also features a conference and numerous events relating to fashion, film and the indie music lifestyle, will run from October 3rd to the 7th.
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John Stabb out of surgery

John Stabb’s wife Mika has posted an update on the Goverment Issue frontman’s facial reconstruction surgery. She commented:

The surgery itself took about 4 hours, though we were there all day. It was great to get that time to let each step of the process sink in. I would’ve wanted to watch the operation, but I didn’t press the idea after I first brought it up last fri. w/ Dr. S. (I love that kind of stuff & also didn’t relish leaving john’s side. This is the first crisis of our still-nascent marriage, you know! ~an emotional journey, indeed. I must say, I think we’re both handling it w/ panache, don’tcha think? 😉 ). John is now the proud owner of some 5 or 6 titanium metal plates shoring up his “zygomatic tripod” bones (around the eye orbit) and his upper jaw, both of which had been sliding around; a screw (I think) under his right eye; a wide, leathery splint over his nose, SilenceOfTheLambs-style; and temporary braces readjusting his teeth. The jaw alignment came out “better than expected”: so far, they have opted against wiring his jaw shut, although we will reevaluate later this week. He will need to wear clueless-old-guy huge bugeye sunglasses to protect the incision along his right eyebrow, destined to leave a wicked-cool war wound. All in all, a kickass operation.

. Stabb was attacked by a group of five men just a block away from his home on July 17th. To help deal with the mounting medical bills and lost wages, friends of Stabb have pulled together a benefit effort. You can find more info on the cause here. A benefit concert and auction are planned, with details to be announced soon.
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Abacus eaten, digested by Century Media, but feelin’ fine

Abacus Records has been absored by parent/distributor Century Media. The label was home to a diverse range of acts including Narcissus, Glass Casket, Heaven Shall Burn, Burnthe8track, All Else Failed, Devilinside, Caliban, Bleeding Kansas, Maroon, The Goodwill, Turbonegro, Embrace The End, Swarm of the Lotus, Ion Dissonance, Sick of It All, Ignite, Backyard Babies, The Distance, Planes Mistaken for Stars, Faulter and Righteous Jams.

According to sources at the newly merged label, the current roster of Abacus acts including favorites like Sick Of It All will remain with the new company.
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Ferret signs Elysia

Ferret Music is announcing the signing of Elysia to their roster. The California based death-core outfit is composed of Zak Vargas (vocals), Mark Underwood (guitar), Steven Sessler (drums), Danny Lemonsqueeze (guitar) and Jeremy Chavez (bass) and formed four years ago. Despite their experience and history the band members currently average at eighteen years old with guitarist Danny weighing in at just sixteen.

The band, who have just completed a national tour with With Blood Comes Cleansing, Arsonists Get All The Girls and Knights Of The Abyss will enter the studio with Kurt Ballou (Converge) this December to record their Ferret debut for a 2008 release.

You can check out some material from their previous album, Masochist, on their myspace page.
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Annihilation Time

We’ve decided to team with VBS.tv because they’re pretty cool guys and they like the same music as us. They have more money, but they don’t rub it in our faces or anything.

Anyway, the first product of our little partnership is a feature on Oakland, California-based Skate punk act Annihilation Time. This past Tuesday, July 17th Annihilation Time descended on The Charleston in Brooklyn, NY. If you haven’t heard the band, they play classic street thrash / hardcore in the vein of Black Flag & Suicidal Tendencies. Like their bio says “If you don’t like this band, you don’t like drugs and/or fun.

We’re going to feature six episodes and we’ve got the first two today. It was produced by our pal Jake Burghart who was also responsible for the Against Me! DVD on Fat, the awesome Transition Video Magazine and the Vice Guide to Travel which will probably scar you for life.

Episode one features “Too High to Die” and “Panic” and it’s here. Episode two has “Imaginary Mirror” and you can check that out.
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Vedera sign to Epic Records

Vedera Vedera has signed to Epic Records. The band, who was formerly known as Veda, made the announcement:

We are happy to say that we will be joining the Epic Records family for our next album. Currently we are at home writing for the new record. We will be recording the record from October 17th through Thanksgiving at Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana. We really appreciate all the support from all of you that have heard some of the new tunes we tried out on our last tour and here at home. We will be playing a few local shows before we ship off to get the record in motion. Keep checking back to the shows page to see when and where we will be playing.

The group released The Weight Of An Empty Room (as Veda) in 2005 via Second Nature.
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