Failure

[caca]

I caught the tour kickoff in Phoenix a couple of nights ago, and they blew the roof off the place, as always. I picked up the new album on 180 vinyl ($70 - ouch) and this gig poster, which I think is pretty fucking badass:

[deadwinterskies]

I picked up the new album on 180 vinyl ($70 - ouch)

Was it signed?

[caca]

Was it signed?

No. I wish.

[deadwinterskies]

No. I wish.

God damn. At that price I probably would have taken a gamble on Pledge eventually getting their shit together (and being able to dispute the charge of they don't).

[caca]

God damn. At that price I probably would have taken a gamble on Pledge eventually getting their shit together (and being able to dispute the charge of they don't).

I’m playing both hands. I haven’t disputed my Pledge charge... yet.

[botley]

Had a great time at the show last night. A few things that struck me:

The opening band Criminal Hygeine was kinda forgettable; entertaining dance rock... average-to-fair songs and pandering stage banter. But Swervedriver was great, I didn't really get a sense from their albums of how well they used those guitars stacked up in weird chordal voicings — reminds me of Keith Richards' observation that two guitars together can sound like an orchestra. They are very old school though, and use quite primitive gear that can be subject to problems in a club stage setting.

Failure's song list was grouped (roughly) by album, which kept things cohesive and provided a good sense of flow over the course of the set: they opened with new songs, did a four song Fantastic Planet mini-set, a couple from Magnified and The Heart Is a Monster, then closed with more new songs followed by a blistering "Heliotropic" then came back for an encore of two tracks off Comfort. So fucking cool!

I noticed this when they last played here, too: their deliberate lack of onstage monitors and amps (everything is mixed in the box for IEMs) frees them up to control the sound better, with far more vocal clarity and less extraneous noise than either of the other two bands had. In addition, they were able to devote stage space to extra gear for really effective light show (like NIN, dropping video content entirely in favour of moving lights swaying and piercing the air in tightly choreographed patterns unique to each song — as well as really cool blinding-backlit moments with flashing full-spectrum colours).

I dug it.

[virushopper]

[armogi]

do they have any of the pledge signed items for sale in the merch?

[botley]

do they have any of the pledge signed items for sale in the merch?

I think I saw signed copies of the new LP for sale, but I never looked at the latest Pledge campaign... so I'm not sure what else you mean?

[armogi]

I think I saw signed copies of the new LP for sale, but I never looked at the latest Pledge campaign... so I'm not sure what else you mean?

I think they said some of the pledge items would be on sale on tour, signed cds and lps included i would guess, im curious if it's true and if there are any chance for us to get these outside the pledgemusic debacle.

[imail724]

I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of their merch table the other day and it had the new record signed for $70. I know someone above said they were selling it for $70, which is pretty ridiculous, but if it was signed it might not be as bad of a deal. Unfortunately I don't remember where I saw the picture.

Edit: It's on the bands ig:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvpecr5l09y/

Only $30 for the last record signed though. Now that's a deal I'd jump on. Wish I didn't have to sit out this tour

[gorny540]

Only $30 for the last record signed though. Now that's a deal I'd jump on. Wish I didn't have to sit out this tour

I bought a vinyl copy of THIAM at the Stone Pony show, it was signed and for a very reasonable $30, the only thing is that some of the corners of the packaging were nicked up, slightly bent so that's why the lower price. Really not a big deal at all.

[ImTheWiseJanitor]

I wanted to pick up one of those signed LPs so badly last night but I just couldn't afford it with RSD happening today. Fingers crossed I have another chance to get one later. Did manage to snag a print though!

And for anyone collecting their show prints, the table had several extra copies of autographed show prints from previous shows on this tour. Might be a good chance to snag some if you want them! I believe they're $50 a piece, or $30 unsigned.

[virushopper]

Question for those who have seen this tour, is Swervedriver worth checking out? I never heard of them and wasn't sure if I should go early and wait for Failure.

[botley]

Question for those who have seen this tour, is Swervedriver worth checking out? I never heard of them and wasn't sure if I should go early and wait for Failure.

I'd say they are definitely worth checking out. Similar vibe to Failure's, but like I said in my review above, a little more old-school in their approach.

[armogi]

Looks like it's fucked for good with pledge music, time to file a claim with the credit card company.

[EndlessLoveless]

I have to say, after living with "in the future..." for a while now, it is BY FAR the best album I've heard in a long long time. Fantastic planet has it beat for me probably due to nostalgia and my youth. But take that away and this is just as good if not better. It's a fucking shame most of the world will never know. But I like having it for just myself as well.

[imail724]

New album now available on vinyl, signed or unsigned

[armogi]

FINALLY!!!
thanks for the heads up, CD purchased (they are also available now, signed).

[dvdglss]

Whoa... what are these additional unreleased digital goodies if you purchase?

The band would like to give a full throated apology to all our fans who were ripped off by pledgemusic when trying to order our new album. Just so everybody knows pledgemusic took all the money from the album’s preorders and stole it. The band are owed around $70k that we will never see and many of our fans were ripped off for hundreds of dollars. If you were not able to get a refund from your bank or credit card company, we feel horrible. While we were able to manufacture the Vinyl and CDs, we are currently not in a financial position to ship them out to people who ordered through pledgemusic. Also, there is the problem that many people were refunded. So instead of trying to figure out who is owed what, we thought we would simply offer some unreleased material to anyone who buys the new album from our new Merch store as a way of saying thank you for having to deal with the pledgemusic fiasco. If you already bought the new album from our old Merch store, or bought it from us at a show, just email us a pic of you holding the album and we will reply with a link to download these goodies. Again, we know this whole thing with pledge has been very frustrating, so we hope you’ll enjoy a few these items. Some are things you’ve already heard and seen, and some are new. Enjoy.



-Failure
YOUR BONUS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD LINK WILL BE EMAILED ONCE YOUR ORDER SHIPS! THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ALBUM IN DIGITAL FORMAT, JUST THE BONUS MATERIAL PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON A STRONG INTERNET CONNECTION BEFORE DOWNLOADING!

[innerturmoil]

Whoa... what are these additional unreleased digital goodies if you purchase?

The band would like to give a full throated apology to all our fans who were ripped off by pledgemusic when trying to order our new album. Just so everybody knows pledgemusic took all the money from the album’s preorders and stole it. The band are owed around $70k that we will never see and many of our fans were ripped off for hundreds of dollars. If you were not able to get a refund from your bank or credit card company, we feel horrible. While we were able to manufacture the Vinyl and CDs, we are currently not in a financial position to ship them out to people who ordered through pledgemusic. Also, there is the problem that many people were refunded. So instead of trying to figure out who is owed what, we thought we would simply offer some unreleased material to anyone who buys the new album from our new Merch store as a way of saying thank you for having to deal with the pledgemusic fiasco. If you already bought the new album from our old Merch store, or bought it from us at a show, just email us a pic of you holding the album and we will reply with a link to download these goodies. Again, we know this whole thing with pledge has been very frustrating, so we hope you’ll enjoy a few these items. Some are things you’ve already heard and seen, and some are new. Enjoy.



-Failure
YOUR BONUS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD LINK WILL BE EMAILED ONCE YOUR ORDER SHIPS! THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ALBUM IN DIGITAL FORMAT, JUST THE BONUS MATERIAL PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE ON A STRONG INTERNET CONNECTION BEFORE DOWNLOADING!

Spoiler: Digital version of 2014 reunion show Solaris/Shrine single, Stems of a few songs, photos, 3 live videos and the music videos from the last 2 albums

[imail724]

Received my record today already. Can't believe how quick it got here.

[armogi]

they were not kidding about the strong connection, thing kept crashing for me, though it could be comcast fucking with me too...

[virushopper]

Ken Andrews new podcast

[imail724]

Well this is exciting:

We will be plaiyng our first three albums: Comfort, Magnified and Fantastic Planet, in their entirety in a trio of July residencies: July 9 to 11 at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, July 16 to 18 at The Echoplex in Los Angeles and July 23 to 25 at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom.We have also announced an April 7 release of FAILURE 1992-1996, a four-piece vinyl box set featuring the three ‘90s-era albums. With the original masters finally being unearthed, Comfort, Magnified and Fantastic Planet have been meticulously restored, remixed, and remastered by Ken to a new level of sonic fidelity that eclipses all previous iterations of the band’s early work.
“Almost everything people have heard from these albums has been sourced from 16bit digital files made in the ‘90s, which was state of the art at the time,” explains Ken. “But when we found out we were getting our hands on the original analog master tapes, and with all the confusion and lack of quality control on several of the previous iterations, we set out to create the definitive versions of Comfort, Magnified and Fantastic Planet. Everything has been sourced directly from first generation multitrack and stereo master tapes. This is us finally getting to present our early work the way we’ve always wanted to.”
In addition to all the originally released songs from the three albums, we have discovered several unreleased songs which have also been restored and will be included in the box set. “Listening to the b-sides and outtakes from that first year of being a band takes me right back to playing the tiny stage at Jabberjaw in Los Angeles,” added Greg. “It’s always surprising to me how much of the expansiveness and atmosphere of the later records exist in embryonic form on those earliest stripped-down recordings.”
“These new versions have all the magic from the originals, but now, instead of looking through a hazy pane of glass, the window has been completely opened and you can hear all the elements in their full glory,” said Kellii.
FAILURE: 1992 to 1996 is available exclusively via Failure.hellomerch.com with pre-orders available now. Bundled packages, featuring the box set and various VIP or ticketing packages, are available via Failure.soundrink.com.
FAILURE: 1992 – 1996 tracklist:
Comfort
Submission
Macaque
Something
Screen Man
Swallow
Muffled Snaps
Kindred
Pro-Catastrophe
Princess
Salt Wound
Magnified
Let It Drip
Moth
Frogs
Bernie
Magnified
Wonderful Life
Undone
Wet Gravity
Empty Friend
Small Crimes
Fantastic Planet
Saturday Saviour
Sergeant Politeness
Segue 1
Smoking Umbrellas
Pillowhead
Blank
Segue 2
Dirty Blue Balloons
Solaris
Pitiful
Leo
Segue 3
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Another Space Song
Stuck On You
Heliotropic
Daylight
Outtakes (not listed in sequence):
Petting the Carpet
You’re Too Much *
Gone
Lunch *
Pennies *
Rat Sack *
Wake Up
Count My Eyes *
Comfort *
Solaris 2014
* - Previously unreleased
Tour dates:
July 9 Chicago, IL Comfort at Thalia Hall
July 10 Chicago, IL Magnified at Thalia Hall
July 11 Chicago, IL Fantastic Planet at Thalia Hall
July 16 Los Angeles, CA Comfort at The Echoplex
July 17 Los Angeles, CA Magnified at The Echoplex
July 18 Los Angeles, CA Fantastic Planet at The Echoplex
July 23 New York, NY Comfort at Bowery Ballroom
July 24 New York, NY Magnified at Bowery Ballroom
July 25 New York, NY Fantastic Planet at Bowery Ballroom
Tickets for all shows are available this Friday, Dec. 20, at 10 am local time with VIP packages available via Failureband.com.

I'm trying to figure out if this boxset is 5 LPs or only 4. The description says "a four-piece vinyl box set", but looking at the tracklist it looks like it should be 4 LPs for the main albums, and an additional LP of the bonus material.

[theimage13]

I already hate everybody who will get to see any of the Fantastic Planet shows.

[Deadpool]

Wow. This is some unexpected and awesome news!

I think if I could attend any of the shows, it would be one of the Magnified gigs. They'll all be great obviously, but I'm not *huge* Comfort fan and in some ways I feel like I've seen Fantastic Planet live already between all the gigs I've attended.

Besides, I have a huge soft spot for Magnified. In many ways, I think its songwriting easily matches its successor even if the production and ambition isn't as evolved. But it makes up for that with its concise, muscular tracklist.

In any case, I actually think I'm more excited by the remixes/remasters – Ken is gonna CRUSH it and I bet every one of these albums sounds brand new. I absolutely cannot wait to hear them.

[Piko]

Is this a limited release? Either way its a must buy.

[piggy]

I hope this maybe leads to individual reissues that you can buy on other formats. I mean, getting hold of those master tapes and doing all that work... I would hope the albums would find their way into an even wider market.

[fillow]

They totally stole the idea from APC, right? Any other bands did this? Touring with multiple albums at once, I mean.