Converge’s expanded “Bloodmoon” lineup — featuring goth-rock chanteuse Chelsea Wolfe, multi-instrumentalist Ben Chisholm and Cave In frontman Stephen Brodsky — has only played a handful of live shows, so when they do perform together, it’s not just any ol’ concert, it’s a bona fide event. 

On Tuesday, June 28th, such an event took place in London, England, where the Alexandra Palace Theatre was reimagined as a place of mystical worship both by the supergroup and its transcendent post-metal musing, and by the transformative stage lighting by John Michael Schaub. Visual artist Thomas Hooper was on hand with his camera to capture the moment — see some of his standout shots HERE

Chelsea Wolfe and Jacob Bannon join today’s Zoom call from opposite sides of the US, in opposite situations. She is in her house in California. Everything in it looks white, modern and pristine. He is 3,000 miles away in rural Massachusetts, in his front garden, which is bordered by monolithic red maple trees. His kids are full of beans, and his dog is nipping at his heels. 

“I just brought home my five- and seven-year-old,” he explains apologetically. “Their rabbits just had bunnies for the second time this year, and they just found all the tiny little bunnies waiting for them. That’s why they keep running over here.” 

The dissonance is strikingly appropriate, since the pair could not be further apart musically, either. Bannon is the frontman of New England brutes Converge: on stage, he’s a screaming maverick – a stark difference from the soft-spoken bunny dad currently on Zoom. The quartet rose through the underground in the 1990s, their blend of hardcore punk’s incessant aggro and thrash metal’s pummelling, technical guitar playing making them one of the heaviest bands in the world. 

Their fourth album, 2001’s Jane Doe, is not only considered their scene-alerting breakthrough moment; it’s also frequently hailed as among the finest extreme albums of the 21st century. It was fundamental to the development of an entirely new style: “metalcore”. Its acolytes today include names such as Killswitch Engage and Architects, who are among the most commercially successful metal acts this millennium. Without Converge, heavy music today would arguably sound very different.

Wolfe, on the other hand, has been producing darkly alluring music since 2010. Her six studio albums run the gamut from folk to prog, yet they’re all tethered by their slow-burning songs and the singer-songwriter’s delicate vocals. To cast her against Converge is, on paper, to cast the dulcet sounds of a songbird against the apoplectic roars of a grizzly bear.

Full interview via theguardian.com

The horror film fandom has been on the edge of its seat for X, director Ti West’s first full-length feature since his 2016 Western In a Valley of Violence. The A24 film is more than a love letter to the greatest horror films of all time — it paves a creative, innovative, and shocking path all of its own. 

The same can be said of its score, which was created in a collaboration between legendary horror composer Tyler Bates and goth rock queen Chelsea Wolfe, alongside composer/producer Ben Chisholm. X’s accompanying lush score is perfect for the envelope-pushing, star-studded film. 

Set in 1979, X tells the story of a group of aspiring filmmakers and stars (including Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, and Kid Cudi) who head deep into rural Texas to create the ultimate porn film. Things take a sinister turn when the owners of their rental home discover their plans.

As the X Original Motion Picture Soundtrack arrives on vinyl today (May 3rd), Bates and Wolfe have answered all of our questions about the origins of the score and their creative process. 

Full interview via consequence.net

Four didn’t seem like enough and six seemed like too many and so five it was. Specifically, The Live Five, a place in WONGDOODY space where we drag in figures of note and blast them with five questions about creativity. In the hopes that if you look at something long enough it might change how you understand it. For the better. 

There’s a magical thing that happens some times when your awareness of something lines up just so with that something becoming everyone is suddenly aware of. Not sure how the juju really works but Chelsea Wolfe’s been weaving it. Repo Man style — “[Y]ou’re thinkin’ about a plate o’ shrimp. Suddenly someone’ll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o’ shrimp out of the blue, no explanation….It’s all part of a cosmic unconsciousness.” — Wolfe, from a small town in Northern California is now, officially, everywhere. 

Records, festivals, fashion designs, film scores and collaborations with a bevy of fellow travelers has Wolfe in that cool cool-lady space and even better than that: it all sounds/looks/feels…great. Well thought out, carefully constructed and with an eye toward perfectly plumbing her soul to make magic for whoever has the ears to hear or the eyes to see. 

Do we have a creative crush on Wolfe? How could we absolutely not? 

So having her in on The Live Five is the best kind of delightful. You have been warned.

Full interview via wongdoody.com

If you ever thought that Chelsea Wolfe‘s music would be the perfect soundtrack for an arthouse horror movie, you’re in luck: The goth-rock auteur recently collaborated with composer (and Jerry Cantrell producer and band member) Tyler Bates on the score for the new A24 slasher film X, directed by Ti West (The Sacrament) and starring Kid Cudi, Mia Goth, Jenny Ortega and Brittany Snow. The movie hit screens last week, and the score — which includes Wolfe’s hair-raising cover of Arthur Field’s 1918 “Oui Oui Marie” — dropped today (March 25th). With that in mind, we talked to Wolfe about her favorite horror movies and horror-movie music, and what it was like working with Bates on her first-ever film score.

Full interview via revolvermag.com

The soundtrack of Ti West’s movie X composed by Tyler Bates, Chelsea Wolfe and Ben Chisholm is out today via A24. 

Stream / Download: a24music.ffm.to/xsoundtrack 

X is now playing in theaters.

More info: a24films.com/films/x

Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle New Zealand & Australia tour. The Auckland show has just moved to a bigger venue. Tickets are selling fast: chelseawolfe.net

JUN 09 Wellington, NZ @ San Fran 
JUN 10 Auckland, NZ @ Powerstation 
JUN 12 Brisbane, AU @ The Triffid 
JUN 13 Adelaide, AU @ The Gov 
JUN 14 Perth, AU @ Rosemount Hotel 
JUN 17 Sydney, AU @ Manning Bar 
JUN 18 Melbourne, AU @ ( SOLD OUT ) 
JUN 19 Melbourne, AU @ Max Watts 
JUN 20 Hobart, TZ @ Dark Mofo

Tasmania’s festival Dark Mofo returns on 8–22 June 2022.

Week One highlights include the launch of the festival’s full art program, including influential video and new media artist Bill Viola (USA), as well as the photographer, sculpturist, and multi-channel video artist Doug Aitken (USA). 

There will also be a special ‘Mona Up Late’ opening of three new major exhibitions: Jeremy Shaw (Canada), Fiona Hall (lutruwita/Tasmania) and AJ King (lutruwita/Tasmania bigambul/wakka wakka), and Robert Andrew(Brisbane Yawuru), and this year the event will see the return of its exclusive and infamously debaucherous costume event, this year titled The Blue Rose Ball. 

As for week two, highlights include celebrated musician, composer and producer Nils Frahm (Germany) playing a number of world premiere shows titled ‘Music For Hobart’. He will also perform at the Opera House as part of VIVID Live, with the festivals working together to secure exclusive Australian performances. 

Other major international artists feature as well, including performances by the devastatingly beautiful, classically-trained multi-instrumentalist Lingua Ignota (USA), the visual artist, writer, actor and a founding member of the post-punk experimental rock band Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon and band, performing songs from her 2019 solo release ‘No Home Record’, renowned space rock band Spiritualized^ (England), an exclusive appearance from rock band Deafheaven, plus a full band rock set from Chelsea Wolfe and a solo piano set from Emma Ruth Rundle (USA).

More info: darkmofo.net.au

“Throughout her career, musician Chelsea Wolfe has covered a lot of ground, as her studio albums have blended together neo-folk, doom metal, and industrial sounds with ethereal vocals, earning her a passionate following for these majestic musical landscapes. Her unique artistic sensibilities have seen shows like Utopia, American Horror Story, and The Magicians incorporate her tracks, as well as the Season 4 trailer of Game of Thrones famously using “Feral Love” from her album Pain Is Beauty. Despite how much she has already accomplished in her career, the upcoming A24 Films release from writer/director Ti West X marked a new venture for Wolfe, as she co-composed the film’s score with Tyler Bates.”
 

Read Chelsea Wolfe’s full interview with Comicbook.com HERE

The EU/UK shows to present Bloodmoon have been announced. Tickets are on sale now at convergecult.com 

Bloodmoon is the collaborative project with Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm, Stephen Brodsky and Converge. 

CONVERGE: BLOODMOON LIVE 2022 

April 9 Boston @ Roadrunner 

April 10 NYC @ Brooklyn Steel 

EU/UK 

Special Guests: @HEXVESSEL 

June 25 France Clisson @ Hellfest 

June 27 Germany Wiesbaden @ Schlachthof 

June 28 UK London @ Alexandra Palace Theatre 

June 29 UK Manchester @ Albert Hall 

June 30 Netherlands Haarlem @ Philharmonie 

July 01 Germany Berlin @ Astra 

July 02 Denmark Roskilde @ Roskilde Festival