Moon Tooth, Netherlands, Irata, Caustic Casanova

"Gut-thumping prog and punk influenced metal that effortlessly blends the high-adrenaline and technical virtuosity of The Dillinger Escape Plan with the snarl of Mastodon." - Good Times Magazine

Moon Tooth is the new project of long-time friends and collaborators Nick Lee & Ray Marte. The band formed after the breakup of their previous endeavor, Exemption, which released several albums and made many friends touring the east coast during their seven year run from 2005 - 2012. Determined not to let that band's dissolve slow them down, they immediately began work on a bigger, bolder, more aggressive project that became known as Moon Tooth.

Moon Tooth finds the pair at a new plateau of focus and energy. They quickly found kinship and camaraderie with vocalist John Carbone (Rice Cultivation Society) and bassist Vin Romanelli (Give Up The Goods) who both a bring a great deal of personality to the band's sound. This band is eager to crush you with some devastating new jams. First EP entitled simply "FREAKS" was released 7/25/13 & recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ray Marte & Moon Tooth at Westfall Recording Co. in Farmingdale, NY from Winter - Summer 2013 but their live show is where the band truly delivers and with many new tunes already in the works for a full-length they will all assure you that you haven't heard anything yet.


NETHERLANDS WERE FORMED IN 2008 IN NYC BY TIMO ELLIS (GUITAR, THROAT), SAM LEVIN (SYNTHBASS, THROAT) AND DAVE BURNETT (DRUMS).

ABOUT TIMO LEAD SINGER AND MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST TIMO ELLIS IS FROM NYC. HE'S RECORDED AND PLAYED WITH YOKO ONO, CIBO MATTO, JOHN ZORN, THE MELVINS, GIBBY HAYNES, WEEN, JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN AND SPACEHOG, AMONG MANY OTHERS, AS WELL AS PUT OUT OVER 30 MUSICALLY WIDELY VARIED SOLO ALBUMS AS TE AND UNDER SEVERAL OTHER PSEUDONYMS.

ON THE PROCESS TIMO ELLIS: "I WANTED TO HAVE A BAND WHERE THE SONGS WERE SUCCINCT, PRIMARILY DRUM/ BEAT DRIVEN. LATELY THE MUSIC HAS BEEN EVOLVING TOWARDS LONGER (AND OCCASIONALLY QUIETER) FORMS, BUT STILL THE MAJORITY OF THE SONGS BLAST LIGHT HEARTED, BRUTAL, ECSTATIC REVERIE. LYRICALLY THE SONGS VARY WIDELY IN TONE AND INTENT, WITH SUBJECT MATTER RANGING FROM MARINE BIOLOGY TO MEXICAN FOOD TO POLITICS TO DMT TO SUDDEN CELEBRITY TO FULL ON GIBBERISH/ NONSENSE."


Modern heavy bands stay interesting not by hashing and rehashing familiar tropes, but by throwing curveballs: Greensboro, NC's Irata is such a band. While the tricky riffing and circular phrases suggest mathy- post-rock a la Don Caballero, there's also hard rock and 90s alt-radio accessibility – replete with impassioned Perry Farrell-reminiscent vocal howls. This isn't metal and this isn't traditional rock. Rather, it's a hybrid that borrows standout elements from both.
The ex-instrumental duo has gone through several lineups since forming in 2008. Now, as the drum and bass duo of Jason Ward and Jon Case – with Ward pulling double duty on synths and both members singing – Irata is that birthing star that sheds its outer layers to live on as a dangerous, dense, and super-heavy core. After all, it's Case and Ward's precise rhythmic lockstep that has always driven the band through serpentine melodies and pounding hard-Kraut. Couple that with the incredible, reckless passion and nearly celebratory energy of Irata's live show, and you have a curveball worth catching.

New EP "Vultures" out Release date Nov 1st. 2012! (Produced by Phillip Cope from Kylesa


Progressive, forward thinking rock music (Subba-Cultcha)

Indie psyche sludge post-punk (The Deli Magazine)

Twisted psychedelic metal (DC Rock Live)

Absurdly muscled über-psych (IndyWeek Raleigh)

Bluesy, sludgy classic rock (Space City Rock)

Literary, political, sci-fi post-punk (Caught In The Carousel)

Full-fledged psychedelic hard rock (KSCR, USC Radio)

Uniquely brainy hard rock, heavy yet clever in a Torche meets Dismemberment Plan kind of way (The Onion AV Club)

Ted Nugent banging away with Jilted John, or Henry Rollins in a sitcom with Emo Philips (Unpeeled)

Smart, intricate and surprisingly complex hard modern rock (LMNOP)