Follow Friday: Beartooth, Robin Finck, Maleny Morfen, and More.

Beartooth

Formed by ex-Attack Attack! member Caleb Shomo in 2012, Columbus Ohio’s Beartooth has swiftly found a firm place in the post-hardcore/metalcore world and they just keep on growing.

Originally created as a sort of distraction from his other project, Caleb and his new tunes had no plans to be performed live, but after departing from Attack Attack!, Beartooth stepped up to the plate. 

Over the years, Beartooth has evolved musically from a pretty straight-forward metalcore band filled with circle-pit mosh moments on 2013’s Sick EP, to a more polished and crafted approach that blends these metalcore elements with the occasional hook ridden choruses, anthemic bridges, and more classic riff-laden rock moments. Now six years into the band, a handful of member changes, and three studio albums later, Beartooth has settled into their skin both musically and lyrically. With their latest record, Disease, released and fully toured on, Beartooth has their sights set on the next album which may be a whole other animal of an album to digest. 

The easiest way I’ve been trying to explain this record to people without giving too much away is if ‘Disease’ was AC/DC, this record is BLACK SABBATH. It’s a lot more influence in dark stoner rock, heavy power groove. Obviously, there’s still a lot of fast [stuff] and some punk rock and all that, but I’ve really been exploring with the stoner-metal side of guitars and guitar tones and doing different tunings and lots of fuzz and chaos and layering the fuck out of my guitar tracks.

Caleb Shomo to Blabbermouth

For now, Beartooth continues to write and record for the eventual 2021 new music season, but until then, check out the tunes below. 

Beartooth uses Power Slinky, Skinny Top Heavy Bottom, and Mammoth Slinky guitar strings and Super Slinky bass and Regular Slinky 5 String bass strings. 

Robin Finck

From joining Nine Inch Nails as a touring guitarist to touring with Cirque Du Soleil, then getting the call to replace the legendary Slash in Guns N’ Roses for a couple of years, Robin Finck is a guitarist with a story to tell. Always bringing the energy and showmanship live, Robin joined Nine Inch Nails as a touring guitarist in 94-95 for their Self Destruct and Further Down the Spiral tours, Finck found himself playing Woodstock ‘94 and saw his first release with the band in the DVD Closure. When the tour came to an end, Robin took a job playing guitar for Cirque Du Soleil for the original tour of Quidam, where he met his now wife acrobat Bianca Sapetto. Finck then signed a two year deal with Guns N’ Roses in 1997 and began to work on the long delayed album Chinese Democracy. Robin Finck rejoined Nine Inch Nails for the Fragility v1.0 and Fragility v2.0 tours in support of the album The Fragile. After which he returned to Guns N’ Roses playing for a brief tour of Europe and Asia and a live performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. After the dates were cancelled for 2002, alongside then bandmate Buckethead, Robin contributed to the soundtrack of John Carpenter’s movie Ghosts of Mars, playing alongside thrash legends Anthrax and guitar god Steve Vai.

In 2006, Robin toured Europe with Guns N’ Roses playing in front of over 700,000 people, and concluded the year with tours in North America, followed by Mexico, Australia, and Japan in 2007. Robin got credit for contributing to the NIN album The Slip alongside members John Freese and Alessandro Cortini after rejoining as a touring member of the band in 2008. Later that year, Chinese Democracy was officially released, Finck received writing credit for the track “Better” which later would be released as a single as well as 7 other songs on the long-awaited record. Robin played guitar on every track, performed 7 of the guitar solos, and has credits for keyboard, arrangements, and pre-production. Deciding to stay with NIN after the album’s release, Robin went on to continue playing with a revised line up with bassist Justin Johnson, band leader Trent Reznor, and new drummer Ilan Rubin as a four-piece throughout the co-headlining tour with Jane’s Addiction in 2009. Finck would appear in the 2010 album The Lady Killer by CeeLo Green performing on “The Lady Killer Theme (Outro)” ripping a face-melting guitar solo. In 2013, Trent Reznor tweeted the rejoining of Robin Finck to Nine Inch Nails and has continued to perform with the group as a touring guitarist for each subsequent tour. Check out the live footage of Finck from the North American 2018 tour cold and black and infinite in the video above. 

It’s a superpower. It’s an invisible cape. It’s a magic trick. It’s a tenuous operation of unfathomable nuance. It’s an ever-evolving stream of happy accidents. It’s a culture made up of weirdos and rule breakers, and geniuses of design and beach freaks and brainiacs and cavemen and crooked little flowers…and it’s been a huge part of my identity for as long as I can remember.

Robin Finck in Ernie Ball String Theory

Make sure to keep up with Robin Finck on his website and if you haven’t yet make sure to check out his episode of Ernie Ball String Theory above.

Robin Finck plays Ernie Ball Regular Slinky electric guitar strings.

Into it. Over it.

If you take anything away from this write-up, please let it be that “emo” has been beyond abused as a genre term for bands in the last 10+ years, and Into It. Over It. has been one of those victimized bands. Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Evan Weiss started performing solo under the moniker Into It. Over It. in 2008 and he quickly released two concept projects; 52 Weeks in which he wrote, recorded, and released one song a week for a whole year, and Twelve Towns, a twelve-song project initially released over six separate splits with several different bands and each song being named after a town.

Musically, early IIOI ranged from fully acoustic singer-songwriter style tracks filled with illustrative lyrics about relationships, traveling, and his experiences as a maturing musician, to straight-ahead indie-rock full-band tracks. In those early years, Evan performed sans-band so viewers only experienced his songs acoustically. Fast forward to his first studio album, Proper, in 2011, and Evan began playing as a full band. Playing shows alongside bands like The Swellers, The Wonder Years, on Warped Tour, and more. 

Aside from the catchiness of demanding vocal deliveries that were offered via Into It. Over It., musicians were attracted to the intricate guitar work that Evan produced, filled with alternate tunings, complex tapped chords, and melodic assemblies of complimenting leads and rhythms that all seem to coincide effortlessly with his singing. To watch these things all assemble in a live setting just adds to the entertainment. After the success of Proper, Weiss released 2013’s Intersections, 2016’s Standards, and soon, 2020’s Figure album. Each time, digging deeper into his musicality of atmospheric harmonies, thick guitar sounds, and melodic vocals, all packaged into a neat catchy box mislabeled as emo. With each album, Weiss has matured as a writer and as an artist.

It’s about trying to make peace with poor decisions that I’ve made,” Weiss says. “And how I can try to reconcile as much as I can, and what I can’t reconcile, how I’m going to cope with that moving forward, and what I can do to be better to the people around me.

Evan Weiss to Alt Press

Into It. Over It.‘s new album officially arrives on September 18th via Triple Crown Records. In the meantime, get familiar with IIOI below.

Into It. Over It. uses Not Even Slinky, Power Slinky, and Skinny Top Heavy Bottom electric guitar strings and Regular Slinky bass strings.

Maleny Morfen

Maleny Morfen has been quietly building a solid career as a guitarist and a writer since she was 13-years-old, and so far, it’s paying off. Originally from Mexico City, Maleny attended college in Mexico where she also worked as a studio musician and performed with various singers around Mexico. 

Eventually, she was able to cut her own EP in 2013 which garnered exposure on Mexican TV networks and more which allowed her to relocate to New York City to continue her career in music. With a playing style that blends her upbringing in classical guitar fingerpicking, and modern metal, blues, and improv, Maleny continues to create a name for herself as a refreshing take on a sometimes tiring guitar style in the hard rock world. Armed with her Ernie Ball Music Man – John Petrucci collection of guitars, Maleny is now in the middle of writing her next album while still based in NYC.

Maleny Morfen uses Super Slinky electric guitar strings and Ernesto Palla Clear and Silver Nylon Classical guitar strings. She also plays an Ernie Ball Music Man – JP15 and JP6 guitar.

Thick

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, punk trio Nikki Sisti, Shari Page, and Kate Black make up the band, THICK. Holding nothing back and full of high energy, and untamed aggression combined with a release of anthemic joy. The trio finds power in their genuine connection and approach to making powerful music that fights injustices and social pressures. On the band’s debut album 5 Years Behind, released on Epitaph Records, THICK tracked in Studio G with producer and engineer Joel Hamilton (Iggy Pop, Jolie Holland).

Using a different approach than the band’s earlier work, THICK reworked songs in the studio to get the most immediate emotion on each track, and it pays off as you dive into 5 Years Behind, from quick stick counts to ripping riffs and an immediate sense of urgency overtakes you. Check out the band’s official music video for the title track of their newest album above, and tune in next Friday, September 19th at 4pm EST to THICK’s Instagram for a live listening party and a chance to win an Ernie Ball prize pack. 

When we play, we want people to feel like they’re part of the experience. We don’t want to be intimidating… we want people to leave feeling like, “I can do this!” and inspired to start their own projects.

Nikki Sisti to New Noise

Make sure to keep up with the latest from THICK on their official website and listen to their latest tracks below.

THICK rips with Ernie Ball Regular Slinky electric guitar strings and Regular Slinky bass strings.