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We’re giving away tickets to the Halloween weekend Ty Segall + Nobunny show at Brick and Mortar Music Hall. Read more details here.

Grab this ridiculously catchy cut off debut LP, No Future, out October 25th on . If you’re interested in helping their upcoming tour with Terry Malts, the bands are jointly operating a set up where donations are being accepted to help defray touring costs + earn some band swag. Dates below.

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Wax Idols + Terry Malts 2011 tour:

Thu 10/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ 5 Star Bar w/ Raw Geronimo & Dead Angle
Fri 10/21 - San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar
Sat 10/22 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush
Sun 10/23 - Marfa, TX @ Padre’s Marfa
Mon 10/24 - Austin, TX @ 29th St. Ballroom at Spiderhouse w/ Rayon Beach & Hidden Ritual
Tue 10/25 - New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
Wed 10/26 - Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone w/ Kruxe & Bake Sale
Thu 10/27 - Atlanta, GA @ 529 w/ Places
Fri 10/28 - Raleigh, NC @ The Layabout
Sat 10/29 - Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong
Sun 10/30 - Baltimore, MD @ Golden West Cafe
Mon 10/31 - Philadelphia, PA @ Little Bar w/ Pack A. D.
Tue 11/1 - New York, NY @ Cake Shop
Wed 11/2 - Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium w/ DIVE & Sundelles
Thu 11/3 - Youngstown, OH @ Cedars Lounge
Fri 11/4 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Cafe
Sun 11/6 - Chicago, IL w/ RADAR EYES @ COLE’S
Mon 11/7 - Milwaukee, WI @ Quarters RocknRoll Palace w/ Radar Eyes
Tue 11/8 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Thu 11/10 - Seattle, WA @ Funhouse
Sat 11/12 - Portlant, OR @ East End

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After releasing the eminently enjoyable Play it Strange LP back in 2010, ‘s famously prolific employees Tim Cohen and Shayde Sartin of brought their listeners to a lowered state with this year’s EP release Secret Walls back in April. Apart from contributions of two previously-unreleased tracks for the , the band recently released a new 7″ single via British DIY label SEXBEAT. ”I Would Not Know the Devil” was debuted shortly before the group left for a one-month long European tour. We caught up with Shayde for an update as the F&O wrap up their face-melting jaunt across the old continent.

put together a that includes a new track from , taken from No Future, the band’s debut full-length on due out sometime in October. Download it below.

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Wax Idols play an at Great American Music Hall Friday, October 7th in support of co-headliners and (who currently are ). Tickets .

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[Terry Malts @ Brick and Mortar]

are a three-piece power-pop band that fuses a wad of bubblegum on top of aggressive guitar playing that rivals the freneticism of the Buzzcocks. In the short time the band has been in existence, they have released a six-song tape and .

Playing dive bars across San Francisco and Oakland, Terry Malts have drummed up a local following, including praise from ‘ guitarist Wymond Miles. They are also mentioned in lockstep with a former project, San Francisco pop-outfit . Terry did not fire off the magic bullet that “ended” the Bay Area five-piece (college is putting the band on hold, for now) — who’s original members included Philip Benson, Corey Cunningham, and Nathan Sweatt, three long-time friends and bandmates — the timing just worked right. We sat down with singer/bassist Philip Benson and talked about the Ramones and Jerry Seinfeld:

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What’s the best part of starting over?

PB: Initially it started as something to do on a Friday night and then we ended up liking it a lot and doing it. It’s just refreshing to make a different noise. We were going to do it simultaneously (Magic Bullets) - but it just so happens to be funny timing. It’s definitely not conscious. (laughs) We didn’t start Terry Malts to sabotage Magic Bullets. We were just bored. We were bored and we were drunk.

When people first listen to Terry Malts there is the instinctual reaction to compare it to your former project, Magic Bullets.

PB: It’s the same people. I’m playing bass. I’m not a bassist. Corey [Cunningham] plays guitar. Our dummer Nathan [Sweatt] plays bass in Magic Bullets, he’s not a drummer per se - but he’s had a drum set for awhile but he’s never been in a full-on band playing drums. And the way Corey plays guitar is completely different with how he plays (in Magic Bullets).

How would you describe your sound?

PB: Obviously lates 70′s punk, early 80′s hardcore music. Fuzz pop kind of stuff. I guess that would be like late 80′s and early 90′s. Everything we listen to. People want to say that we sound like Ramones meets The Jesus and Mary Chain - it’s not supposed to be intentional but it makes sense to me. I hate to limit ourselves to that aesthetic too, because I feel like we like to mess around with song structure and stuff.

Who’s Terry?

Honestly, they are two words that sounded good together. We were juggling around the idea for awhile of making up a persona for “Terry”, we’d write books as “Terry” - thought that it would be cool, then after awhile we realized it was kind of hokey so we stopped. Honestly, it doesn’t mean anything.

What is your songwriting process like?

There are a bunch of different ways - somebody might have a bar, or we all go to practice and start playing and see what happens. It’s what exciting and refreshing about playing in Terry Malts - we really have no expectations for ourselves at all. We just kind of go with whatever sounds good.

What do you think of the idea that’s been tossed around about artists in San Francisco — that the City is good for incubating talent, but perhaps not for drawing as wide of an audience as playing in Los Angeles or New York would.

Totally. I feel like San Francisco has a lot of cool bands and stuff, but I definitely don’t feel like there’s a really cohesive scene or anything. What always blew my mind is when all these bands would be touring through [California] that I’d have liked to see and then I’d check out their itinerary and there would be no stops in San Francisco. And I’d always ask “What’s wrong with it?” Playing here long enough I see why. I don’t want to sound like I’m talking shit on San Francisco. Me and Corey live here. Nathan lives in San Carlos. I’m from Redwood City, Corey’s from Tennessee. We’re not really a “San Francisco” band — and I don’t want to sound pretentious. We just happen to be here now. I just feel like that it’s something to live up to, that people will say “That’s what San Francisco sounds like.” There’s a bunch of cool bands in this city. That’s what journalists define it as.

That’s another thing about Terry Malts - we’re not trying to appeal to anything in particular. We’re just playing because its fun and we are goofballs and the three of us get along super well. We write some songs, and people like it. That’s not a breaking point, it’s just that having people like your songs is encouraging.

Will a full length be released soon?

We are recording a full length. We also have 7″ coming out and the release date is October 11th. “Something About You” is the name of the track on the A side. The B side is two songs — “No Sir I’m Not a Christian”, and the middle song is called “Fun Night”, a song we play near the end of our sets. (laughs) It’s kind of like a call to arms. You know, all of this is really simple. There’s no mystery. When you read what I’m actually saying - I’m talking about hamburgers, you know.

Are there advantages to working with Slumberland, which is based in the East Bay, as opposed to a geographically distant label?

Yes, because we get to actually see him [label owner Mike Schulman]. I think the interpersonal interaction is pretty important. It is your art, you’re putting money into it, and it is a label. Seriously, Mike is one of the coolest persons. He’s easy to talk to, one, and he knows what we’re talking about. Everything so far — and I’m not trying to sound cutesy or anything — has been perfect. We’re all on the same page.

Slumberland seems to be the ideal place for a band like Terry Malts.

We’ve been fans of Slumberland for fucking years! Corey used to send Slumberland demos when he was a teenager.

Whats your concept of the perfect pop song?

Has to be a song alone?

No.

The Ramones. Pretty much their entire catalog, to be honest.

Will there be another tour to accompany your full length?

We’re just solidifying the end of our October tour [with Wax Idols]. We haven’t even done anything. Like I said, the first time we left this area was for Los Angeles and San Diego (with Grass Widow and The Fresh and Onlys, respectively). It’s totally different from Magic Bullets. Have you seen the movie with Jerry Seinfeld? In the movie he throws away all of his materials, starts completely over, and decides to do a standup comedy tour. And people show up because its Seinfeld. It’s kind of interesting. He finds a lot of obstacles along the way. He’s been doing the same jokes for years and years.

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Terry Malts are going on an extensive US tour with friends in October/November - dates reprinted below via . Check out our interview with singer Hether Fortune here. Together, the bands have set up a to help with their expenses, which may score you some band swag depending on amount donated. Before they leave in October, they are playing a few Bay Area gigs, including September 12th at the with and at with and .

Terry Malts’ second 7″, entitled ““, drops 10/11 and can be pre-ordered (digital download available 10/3). You can listen to the B-sides of the release on the band’s .

Thu 10/20 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA
Fri 10/21 - San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar
Sat 10/22 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush ^
Sun 10/23 - Marfa, TX @ Padre’s Marfa
Mon 10/24 - Austin, TX @ 29th St. Ballroom at Spiderhouse
Tue 10/25 - New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
Wed 10/26 - Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone $
Thu 10/27 - Atlanta, GA @ 529
Fri 10/28 - Raleigh, NC @ The Layabout
Sat 10/29 - Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong #
Sun 10/30 - Baltimore, MD @ Golden West Cafe
Mon 10/31 - Philadelphia, PA @ TBA
Tue 11/1 - New York, NY @ Cake Shop
Wed 11/2 - Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium
Thu 11/3 - Youngstown, OH @ Cedars Lounge
Fri 11/4 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Cafe
Sun 11/6 - Chicago, IL @ Cole’s *
Mon 11/7 - Milwaukee, WI @ Quarters RocknRoll Palace
Tue 11/8 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Fri 11/11 - Seattle, WA @ TBA
Sat 11/12 - Portland, OR @ East End

^ with Acorn Bcorn
$ with Kruxe & Bake Sale
# with Foul Swoops
* with Radar Eyes

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BLASTED CANYONS are formed by Heather Fedewa (Wax Idols), Matt Jones (Master Slash Slave), and Adam Finken, and recently put out their debut s/t record via after forming over a year ago and playing a series of gigs with the likes of Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, and Fine Steps. For a band that lists “weed” as one of their influences, they are a trio that plays inspired, decidedly nonpassive music that lurches between hardcore and krautrock but, taken together, settles on a self-described “weird ass” amalgam that is one parts garage, one part punk, and three parts synth. Their sound has drawn references to the late Jay Reatard’s epic Tennessee outfit, Lost Sounds. We had a chance to sit with the band one evening and talk about sriracha and OKCupid.

There’s a great Lester Bangs quote where he says that “the first mistake of art is to assume it’s serious.”
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HF: I was going to sum up everything by saying that this band started as a joke. And that’s how it will stay. It continues to be a joke. I mean, we love it, it’s fun, a lot of people like it but we recorded a song today, while I was eating lunch, because I had too much Sriracha. It’s called “Mouth on Fire”. It’s about eating too much Sriracha. That’s what our songs are about. It’s about nothing. Matt’s the only one who writes…

MJ: Good lyrics?

HF: Good lyrics, I guess.

MJ: You guys are making me blush. To be honest, to be able to let go, and not to have complete control over something, is I think what makes this band so good. Cause we’re all kind of like – I mean it sounds stupid to be like, this is more of a “band” band – everyone kind of writes songs, we really try to keep it loose.

HF: Yeah it’s more of a Communist band, cause we all play everything, we’re all responsible for all the gear, we all have to write songs.

AF: It’s the perfect democracy. If somebody says I don’t like this song, and somebody else says I don’t like this song, we don’t do it.

How did you guys initially meet?

HF: Well, our friend Max was doing an artist installation at the MoMa, and I was working for him and for the opening he wanted bands to play. I was just kicked out of Bare Wires, didn’t have a band anymore, actually – no – we met on John’s stoop, and then we met at the Knockout, but we met a couple times. I was working with Jen, [Matt’s] ex-girlfriend. We became friends, and then Jen suggested we start a band together.

AF: I met Matt, 4^th of July, two years ago. A month later, ironically at the Knockout, he approached me and told me to come check out this new thing he was doing with Heather. I had never met Heather, and I saw their set at Amnesia and we ended up getting together and playing a show the next night at a house party. I had one four-hour practice, five songs [before that].

How did you first show go [at their friend's artist's reception at the MoMa]?

MJ: MoMa shut it down. They told us we couldn’t have a reception in here and that we definitely couldn’t have music in here. Then one of our friends pulled it together, and she said she knew someone at Matador bar, the bull-themed bar. Arrow bar? Whatever it’s called. So anyway we moved it over there, and 30 minutes later we were shredding and by 9 o’clock it was done. That was actually really fun.

Do you feel like there’s a need for something like The Smell? A DIY, all-ages venue in San Francisco?

MJ: That’s an interesting question.

HF: Yeah. We are missing something like that here. I have a legitimate teenage fan base that’s bummed they can never see me play. There are some certain warehouses, but they sound like shit and are always organized poorly. I think it’s because a lot of people are just too busy. Or too stoned.

Adam, you are the only classically-trained musician in the band?

AF: (laughs) I took a bunch of theory classes at community college. I don’t really apply too much of it. Just little knowledge of keyboards.

HF: He knows how to transpose key signatures on keyboard, which has been a big help.

Do you guys intend to keep the same set-up where each member rotates and plays a different instrument?
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AF: Yeah. We all have our weaknesses with each instrument. And we definitely don’t write songs to play to our strengths. Whatever we think will be the best combination for this particular song.

HF: We basically forced [Adam] to learn how to play drums.

AF: Basically I just model myself after Fedewa (laughs). I try to rip her off on the drums. On the record, I play drums on one song: “Lasers versus Lizards.”

The new record’s out — is there going to be a digital format besides what’s been released with the Castle Face flexidisc? How has it been working with John Dwyer’s Castle Face Records?

MJ: Well to start out we just wanted to put out the record first. We made CDs for promo but I just think making CDs is dumb. Maybe when we repress it we’ll do digital download cards, people really like those. I didn’t really anticipate quite so much interest right off the bat – which is great. That’s where we want to be.

AF: We just like keeping it simple and working with people we are more or less close to. Matt and Heather are pretty close to John.

MJ: To be honest, to me it was ideal that Castle Face would put it out. All of their stuff has been air-tight so far. And I’ve worked with John on — basically from the beginning with Castle Face on pressing their records, taking on a bit more. John and [Brian Lee Hughes] are both pretty good friends of mine. So it’s pretty natural that it happened that way.

HF: You know we all work at ?

That was my next question.

HF: He [Matt] really works there.

MJ: I’ve worked there for 6 years and then I got these guys jobs. We send stuff to distributors, basically we work with labels. We’re a manufacturing broker. With the exception of flexidiscs, which we manufacture ourselves. That’s what they do and that’s what I’m in charge of now.

AF: Like that flexidisc book. It’s our book.

HF: We worked on that forever.

AF: If I ever saw anybody mistreat one I’d be like “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Comparisons have been made to you and Lost Sounds, Jay Reatard’s former synth-punk group. Is there any special kinship you guys feel there?

HF: I got Matt into Lost Sounds. I was really close with Jay and he was a huge influence on me in many different ways. I met him through friends over the years but we really got close when I was on tour with Bare Wires, and we were in Memphis for four days and Jay was there and he kind of took me hostage and we dated for awhile but mostly we were just friends. He was a genius. So I’ve listened to the Lost Sounds for a long time – it was never my intention to sound like the Lost Sounds but when somebody takes punk, garage, pop, and weird ass synths – that’s what you get. I don’t mind. That is an absolute honor to me, to be compared to Lost Sounds in any way.

Heather what does this project mean to you in relation to Wax Idols?

HF: They basically started the same time. Wax Idols, I had been doing that by myself for years. It was kind of like a secret, personal thing. But both bands came to fruition at the same time. But what’s different for me is that with this band, like we said, we all write songs — it’s a total democracy — whereas Wax Idols is like a regime, everything is up to me. I’m able to have tunnel vision with that, whereas with this I can relax and have fun. But I have fun with Wax Idols too, I do. Its just easy for me to do both because they are so different. And I’m a multi-instrumentalist – so when it comes to playing live, I am able to play drums, synth and guitar. Honestly, [Matt and Adam] would have to call it quits. There might be a period of time in the future where we can’t be as proactive because I’m gone with Wax Idols, but I would never be like, I won’t tour with you guys because Wax Idols is it.

AF: Somehow we ended up as best friends.

HF: I would say more like a dysfunctional family.

AF: We look out for each other. We always end up ganging up on one or the other.

MJ: It’s usually me.

Where do you want to take Blasted Canyons?

HF: Japan.

MJ: Yeah Japan would be sick. I think Japan and Europe would be awesome.

HF: We just want to travel. Finken and I haven’t got to do shit. Matt’s been able to tour [with Jonesin'].

MJ: I think Europe would be possible, I think Japan would be possible. It would be cool.

HF: We’re working on an EP too. It will probably be out in the Spring.

A lot has been made about the current generation of artists that call San Francisco home. What bands are you listening to right now?

HF: is the best band in the world. They are based in Australia but I would tour with them for the rest of my life if I could. They are my favorite band on the planet right now, so good.

AF: There’s a lot of good bands up here right now. I fucking love , they are rad, and rules. And the cool thing about all of these bands is that everyone gets along. Everybody has to be kind of homies, there’s drama here and there, but it seems that everybody gets along pretty well.

MJ: I agree. You know what, four or five years ago, there was nothing. There were the wackest bands playing around here.

AF: I was on OKCupid for a couple weeks, and some chick from New Zealand added me, and her whole profile listed every Bay Area band. And so I was like “hey…check out our band.”(laughs) “We PLAYED with Thee Oh Sees!”

Anything else?

MJ: Come to our show in Oakland. And we didn’t even mention the fucking . Hello? Amazing fucking band.

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is the opening band on a stacked bill that includes Mike Donovan (Sic Alps), Royal Baths (who are moving to New York and will be playing their final show in San Francisco for awhile on August 6th at the Verdi Club), and Thee Oh Sees, at the Uptown in Oakland July 28th. Tickets (21+). They play the following week at Engine Works (17th & Capp) with TMRS and Twin Steps, presented by LEAF (also 21+). Facebook event .

Their self-titled debut album is available through . The holographic Flexidisc book produced by Castle Face featuring exclusive tracks from Blasted Canyons, Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, Thee Oh Sees, Bare Wires, and The Fresh and Onlys can be purchased from . Listen to “Death and a Half,” the fourth track off the new LP, below.

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Check out more on Blasted Canyons.