KEN Mode, Pyrrhon (Record Release!), Fight Amp, Couch Slut

KEN mode (an acronym for Kill Everyone Now) is a Canadian metallic hardcore-influenced noise rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba that was formed in September 1999.

Formed by brothers Jesse (guitar/vocals) and Shane Matthewson (drums) and long-time friend Darryl Laxdal (bass), the group released several demos from 1999 to 2003, leading to the release of their debut full length Mongrel on Escape Artist Records.[2][3]
Several tours followed with the likes of Relapse Records' The End ,[4] Sulaco and American Heritage [5] in addition to regional dates with Mastodon, Burnt By The Sun, Anodyne, Pelican, Harkonen, Breather Resist, The Dream is Dead, Psyopus, Daughters, and Buried Inside across the Midwestern and East Coast United States, and throughout Canada. In 2004 Laxdal left the band,[6] only to rejoin in 2005 to finish the band's follow-up record Reprisal, released in 2006 on CD by Escape Artist Records, and on double-LP by No List Records. After the recording of Reprisal Laxdal and the band parted ways again.[7] Picking up bass duties after Laxdal's departure was Drew Johnston (guitarist in Electro Quarterstaff)[8][9] who also played with Jesse, Shane and Darryl in Hide Your Daughters.
In October 2006 the band took part in the "Exclaim! Magazine Aggressive Tendencies Tour" with Pelican and Daughters across Canada.[10] Bass duties were handled by former Kittens and Projektor member Jahmeel Russell who played with Jesse, Shane and Drew in Hide Your Daughters.[11]
KEN mode went on to work with Jahmeel for the band's third full-length, Mennonite, which was released in July 2008[12] on CD by Jesse Matthewson's own label, Arctodus Records, and on 3x7" vinyl by No List Records.
Prior to releasing Mennonite, Chad Tremblay joined the band as their fourth bassist in two years. The band embarked on a European tour with Welsh rockers Taint.[13] Chad would go on to direct the bands debut music video for the song "Extending Common Courtesy Throughout The Evening" from their Mennonite album.[citation needed]
In 2010 the band announced that Profound Lore Records will release its fourth full length album, titled Venerable, to be recorded August 2010 with Kurt Ballou of Converge. They also announced several North American tours with Gaza, Engineer, Rosetta, Buried Inside, Wolvhammer, Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire, and others.[14]


Fight Amp (Translation Loss / Brutal Panda Records) is a metal band from Williamstown, NJ. According to the Metal Review "Fight Amp have correctly identified the rhythm section as the driving force in their chosen style, and holy hell do these boys bring in the bottom end. Bassist Jon Dehart's über-gravelly bass tone coats even the band's more restrained moments in knee-deep sludge, and Mike Howard's tom-heavy skinsmanship is equally propulsive during both speedy segments and the band's miles-deep grooves. Phil Cope (Baroness, Kylesa) delivers an absolutely perfect sound for Manners and Praise; the guitars sound bristling and barely in control at times, but the band as a whole never gets mired in their own murk.

And that sense of just-barely-holding-it-together is crucial to what Fight Amp are trying to do here. These guys draw just as much from a punk-rock sense of unease as they do from metal's sonic firepower. Their songs are documents of the frustrations regular people face as they go about their lives; Dehart and guitarist Mike McGinnis's everyman vocals spin tales of quiet, grinding desperation and encroaching apathy. If Fight Amp relied on the grandiose and/or cartoonish lyrical themes that pervade so much metal, their messiness might be a drawback. Instead, it's a boon."

They're on their third extended tour this year starts this coming Tuesday, September 6th across the U.S. and Canada.