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BATTLETORN.....and then there were two... they picked up the axes & clubs and carried on... BATTLETORN, but not to be stopped! The concept is still simple, execution still comes without much warning. BATTLETORN is a hit and run band.
BATTLETORN : version #1 (Feb 2004-Nov 2005). After meeting, finding common ground musically and becoming friends, three thrashers joined forces to form BATTLETORN. The concept was simple, the execution was short and sweet. BATTLETORN is a hit and run band.
See below for the whole Battletorn war story!
The Story So Far... Essentially this is the timeline of what's gone down, the shows we've played and all that for those who care to know: William and I (Omid) met sometime in late '98 in the basement of a seedy Time's Square NYC smut shop (masked as a 'video shop') he was working at. I started asking if they knew about "Stunt Rock" and we became friends. We had talked about doing music, and now 6 years later we are. Sometime in January Beverly came to my place to get a THOR album from me. We were talking about music and I said "why aren't you in a band?!" and that was where another seed was planted. William and I got together and jammed once, wrote a few songs. I called Beverly and asked if she wanted to sing. She said yeah- that she'd never really done it (in a band), but of course she would. So she did, and we became BATTLETORN. Well, actually I wanted to call the band GYPSY because William and I had talked about being totally gypsy style, and never really announcing and planning shows. Just showing up at random places and jamming. Other people's shows, open mics, parks, bathrooms, wherever. But, after the first jam with Beverly we discussed the name again and GYPSY was too hippy in their eyes, so I am saving it for my acoustic side project. 1/31/04 (Saturday): First 'Gypsy' jam, just William and Omid.We play the Last Rights song "Chunks" as a starting point for this whole thing. 2/7/04 (Saturday): First jam with Beverly singing. It's fun, she's down, we're a band. We 'change' the name to BATTLETORN, were we ever really Gypsy?. Write another couple songs (we have six!), and book our first show for 11 days later. We managed to get in one more practice before the show. 2/18/04 (Wednesday): First BATTLETORN show at Plaid in NYC with Powertrip, Grounded, and the Sex Slaves. We got this gig because Theo and Sean rule and they let us just jump on their night there called "Kitten Club". This wasn't unannounced total gypsy style, we did tell our friends to come- but we asked to not be on the flyer or get paid, we just wanted to play. 3/3/04 (Wednesday): Second BATTLETORN show at Lit in NYC with Pearl and Brass, How We Lost The War, and Ready Rockets. This was at Doug from Version City Records night there, fun show. 3/15 & 17/04 (Mon. & Wed.): Another stroke of BATTLETORN luck, we get to record! William's other band How We Lost The War is recording at this SWANNNNK studio in Brooklyn, and the guy who works there Yohei says we can come in and record too! So we lay down the 8 tracks we have written onto real tape in a 147 track studio frequented by serious jazz musicians! Check out the photo where we're trying to look all serious!
3/20/04 (Saturday): Play at Boogaloo in Brooklyn with The Dying Light and Miracle of Birth at Mike Troubleman's night called Aerosal Burns (this is the 13th installment!). Totally fun and killer late night show, TDL and BATTLETORN bond and everyone is fucking wasted. Here's a couple pictures Carissa took-
3/27/04 (Saturday): Play at Sin-e in Manhattan with BAD WIZARD and THE WITNESSES. It was time to pull the first TRUE gypsy style BATTLETORN show... I had casually 'mentioned' to Curtis from Bad Wizard that we'd like to open for them at this show- do a quick 5 minute set right before they went on. We didn't talk about it again and we just showed up at the show and did it. Bad Wizard were totally cool, I don't know if anyone in the crowd knew what was going on. We didn't even say our name, we just played and walked off making way for the masters- BAD WIZARD, who destroyed. Besides our few friends who happened to be there and Lauren (Beverly's best friend- who has seen all the shows), the crowd seemed kinda confused, but some were into it. Gypsy style mission accomplished! 3/31/04 (Wed) @ THE PYRAMID in Manhattan w/ THE DYING LIGHT, UNEARTHLY TRANCE, and THE DEATH CYCLE. This was an awesome show- we were friends with all the bands and it was just a fun night all around! The Death Cycle (Metal Ron's band!) totally blew me away! 4/8/04 (Thurs) @ THE CORAL ROOM in Manhattan w/ Alabama Black Snake, Formula One, and The Compulsions. Steve and Pedro from SHOUT did this night, and it was the 13th and last instalment of it at this venue! It was an awesome show, there was even a mermaid in a tank for everyone's viewing pleasure! 5/2/04 (Sun)- At Knitting Factory in NYC w/ IRON LUNG, UNEARTHLY TRANCE, and SKELETAL ABOMINATION- this was an early matinee show at 2 PM, old school hardcore style! A lot of fun, especially since I got to play through Rion (Unearthly Trance's) FULL STACK which was so loud that I felt like I was getting a back massage playing in front of it! Pictures coming soon, and all the bands were great, this was a lot of fun! 5/15/04 (Sat)- At Boogaloo in Brooklyn w/ FROST WALK WITH ME, HOW WE LOST THE WAR, and AQUI- originally we'd been asked to play this show but Beverly was going to be away upstate seeing Drop Dead. She didn't end up going so we jumped back on the show last minute, and played. It was cool, but the PA was fucked for our set and I was playing through that full stack again, which was just TOO loud for a room the size of a jail cell! But the other bands ruled, AQUI are totally insane and highly recommened! 5/19/04 (Wed)- At Plaid in NYC w/ THEO, MORNINGWOOD, and BREAKER! BREAKER! -this was so fuckin' awesome- it was probably our best show yet. I walked off stage, turned around, and watched THEO and she killed it! THEN, this DJ Laura from the UK puts on a TRESSPASS song in the other room and it was all over!! Too cool! One of the funnest nights of rockin' ever. 6/7/04 (Mon)- At TRASH in Brooklyn. A fun show, we played with Ronnie's band Atomic #76 and some other band, I think their name was Desolation Radio or something?! 6/11/04 (Fri)- At THE ROCK STAR BAR in Brooklyn, with THE CLICKS and INTERNATIONAL MALE, set up by the one and only Kayrock! 6/25/04 (Fri)- At TRASH in Brooklyn. This was a rager, we played with VALIANT THOR and CROSSBOW. After the rain stopped and our friends came we had a lot of fucking fun. It's hard to believe this was our 12th show already... things keep moving! 7/8/04 (Thur)- with TEAMROBSPIERRE (Ty's band) and at Pete & Stefan's party Top Shelf at Laila in Williamsburg! This show was hilarious, it was the first (and maybe only!) time that William and I decided to play MANOWAR "topless" style! You should have seen Beverly's face when she walked in to get on stage... 7/13/04 (Tues)- we were supposed to play with VOLUPTUOUS HORROR OF KAREN BLACK, A.R.E. WEAPONS, and many other bands at BB King's in fuckin' Times Square, but get this. PRINCE decided to rent out the club to have a private party, so we couldn't do the show! postponed they say.... crazy shit. 7/16/04 (Fri)- at a VICE party at Volume in Greenpoint. This was a 'theme show' at which 10 bands get to play 10 minute sets. We kicked it off, by playing our whole set in about 8 minutes! Was a lot of fun, a huge room though! MORTIS was there and introduced us which was wild, and we finally got to see and meet EARLY MAN, well I did! so that ruled too! 8/17/04 (Tues)- at the Knitting Factory in NYC. This was a krusher, we played with a bunch of bands: X-Possibles, Victims, Kylesa, and another band whose name escapes me.. they jumped on the bill at the last minute. Anyways, it was a blast- Zad rules for putting us on the bill! Thanks Zad! 8/27/04 (Fri)- @ TOMMY’S TAVERN w/ Vizusa, Ghost Exits, 2000 Million 10, Moon to Moon, JAWS (from s.f.). This was a cool show set up by Rebecca and Todd P., and our first in our 'hood - Greenpoint, Brooklyn! We ended up having to play first, because I found out the day before that one of my favorite bands of all time, RIOT, were playing in the city, and I HAD to go! So we played and I split fast to make it! Was fun though! William sat on a folding chair because there was no drum stool! 9/20/04 (Mon)- Sin-e in Manhattan- w/ Roger Human Being, Guns Fire Mayhem, and Thee Eyes. Fun to play the thrash as always, but it possibly our sloppiest show ever, probably could be attributed to a few things...mainly the fact that after playing the same songs in the same order since February and just adding new songs on the end when we wrote them, and dropping a few out of the middle over this time, well we decided to revamp our set and changed the order completely. So, this was our first time playing the "new" set. Also quite amusing was the fact that I broke a string during the set (another first!), so I grabbed Walter's guitar to finish the set real quick, but it had no strap! So I had to pull a Pig Champion and play the last 3 songs sitting down! (For those who care, Pig Champion is the enormous guitarist of Poison Idea who got so big he couldn't stand on stage. He still destroys!) 10/2/04- Knitting Factory Old Office in Manhattan- w/ Wetnurse, The Dying Light, Swarm of the Lotus, and Biolich. We were sloppy as shit, and some equiptment problems, but a good time all around in the end! TDL mach 2 was rippin', Brandon screamed from the grave! 10/13/04 (Wed)- North Sixth in Brooklyn at the Troubleman Unlimited showcase. This was in my opinion the best set we've ever played. Everything was tight and the guitar amp I borrowed ripped heavy! Some of the other bands I caught were Growing (who were total Sunn)) worship so I'm sure they'll be huge!), and King Kobra- a two piece kinda math metalish band. Totally cool night, Mike and Dennis are the rulers of the wasteland! n 10/23/04 (Sat)- Delancey Bar. This was a VICE show, we weren't on the bill but Curtis from BAD WIZARD was cool enough to invite us to rip a quickie before they played, which just once again reminded me why they're my favorite NYC band. He's got the fuckin' spirit. It went ok for a sneak attack show, a little slop here and there, but hey- we're human, and it shows! We laugh a lot on stage when we fuck up, which reminds me of why we do this- for fun! It was our 20th show this year too, which is exciting! Mike Troubleman was there! The best was when Sherman Tank from EARTHRIDE showed up and gave me a hug/kiss in the middle of a song! Then BAD WIZARD destroyed the universe again, they are the reigning champs of NYC rock for so many years now... 10/27/04 (Wed)- Trash in Brooklyn w/ The Shit & Legs Up! The Shit were rockin the first time we played with them- but now they are a FULL on hardcore/punk/thrashin band, totally ripping and fun, they've got their shit together (no pun)! I was totally into it! Then Legs Up played, they were a REALLY tight Black Flag-ish band, I was pleasantly surprised as I'd never heard of them! The funniest was though that Rich and the Shit guys were dancing and broke some dudes' spectacles, and he was PISSED! When I left he was waiting outside for Rich to have a street fight or something, it was comical! I felt bad for the guy and asked him if his glasses alright, but he wasn't having any small talk- he was ready for revenge! I mean shit, SHIT happens right!? 10/28/04 (Thurs)- Lit in Manhattan at Pete & Stefan's party Kalamari Disco- w/ Team Robespierre & The Sense! This started off shakey- Pete (now known on the streets by his new nickname bestowed upon him by the manager of The Sense) said there'd be a house drum kit, but there was none, and the first band was cool enought to let us use theirs (because T.R. doesn't have drums!)- but anyways, once we started playing it all got worked out! Pete was fuckin' going nuts and wiped Beverly out along with the moniters and then punched the soundman when he got mad or something, it was pure fucking comedy and fun all around! T.R. played after us and were awesome too, they've gotten so much better than the first show we played with them, and are great folks too! Check them out! Thanks SO much to Pete and Stefan for all their support and enthusiasm, they are truly rulers in the best sense of the word! 10/29/04 (Fri)- Don Hill's in Manhattan w/ Guy from the Toilet Boys' new band! This was a cool show, got to see a lot of old friends and the best part was Debbie Harry (who is a friend of Miss Guy's) was there and saw us. Her review was: "They only play for ten minutes.". True! 10/31/04 (Sun)- Halloween Haunted House Party w/ EARLY MAN! It seemed a little disorganized and weird when we got there, but this ended up being a blast! Early Man kicked ass, these guys take some great cues from the old NWOBHM sounds and add a unique flavor of their own, a touch of the Sab and you've got a good show! Mike bangs, Adam twirls his sticks, and it just gets the fists in the air and the crowd going! We had fun, all in all a great halloween! Thanks to Daniel and Jesse for putting us on this bill! 11/6/04 (Sat)- Knitting Factory in Manhattan w/ DRUGS OF FAITH, Colliseum, Behold the Arctopus, and one other band I already forgot their name. Was great to play with Rich again! We weren't really supposed to be on this bill, but we got on it just so I could play with my old grind brother! Drugs of Faith were awesome! 11/6/04 (Sat- later)- Halloween Extravaganza Party @ 122 W. 27th (b/w 6th & 7th) on the 10th floor w/ Big A Little a, Guignol, Space Robot Scientist, Team Robespierre, Valiant Thor. This show was crazy.. it was a party at a building in the Chelsea area, and by the time we got there it was 2 am and everyone was totally fucked up! Including the rest of our band (besides me!), and since we showed up so late we had to play last- at 3:30 AM!! Beverly took a 'nap' before we played, and I was surprised she came back from it with a vengence, and we ripped a good one! There were only like 20 people left at that point, but they were destroying eachother and having a great time! Cheers! 12/17/04 (Fri)- Another Autonomous Space Party : This was the same place we played our last show, over 6 weeks earlier! Definitely the longest break we'd taken from playing since we started, and it showed! It was a pretty hilarious scene... there was water on the hardwood floor which Beverly took a swan dive on about 15 seconds into the set! Then between William and I we forgot about 3 of the songs or something, so the set was even shorter than ever... but in the end, and as always, still fucking fun, and that's all that matters. I had to literally RUN out the door the minute were done so I didn't really watch anyone else (I had a big test for school the next day). Yeah. Until next time... 12/31/04 (Fri)- we were supposed to play a new years eve show with Bad Wizard and Early Man, but I got really sick so it got cancelled....total fucking bummer but what can you do? I ended up in the hospital and so that was the ending to Battletorn's year! 1/13/05 (Thurs)- Stephan & Pete's birthday bash, which turned into a "rehab party" or something to celebrate these boys getting cleaned up... so that was cool! The first band was Neon Music who I didn't see much of because I was exhausted from my trip to the club. I have mono which has kept me indoors/inactive for the last week so the voyage into the city nearly left me in my grave! Beverly has been sick too, so this was a true test of the Battletorn spirit, but we came through!! Team Robspierre played too, and they were raging as usual- I managed to get up and watch some of them. And Avenue D was supposed to 'play' too (I don't know if you would call what they do 'playing', no instruments involved...) but anyways, they cancelled, so we ended up playing last. It went well, we remembered all the songs and I think we always sound good at LIT so that was killer... and when it was done I left real quick to return to my tomb.... 2/5/05 (Sat) ABC no Rio - 3 pm matinee show w/ GUNS. FIRE. MAYHEM., THE CHALLENGED, & WORLD WAR IX- this was cool to finally plat at this place, and was a fun show! WWIX were very west coast old style punk, did a Black Flag cover and another band from there I forget... and then we played. It was kinda sloppy at first, I mean, we don't have a practice space so... but a few songs in it was cool. That room sounds weird to me. Anyways, then GFM played, and they were much heavier than any of us remembered them being, which was cool! Lastly this band the Challenged played, but they were kinda pop-punk so we split to go eat at San Loco with Dan and some people! 2/14/05 (Mon) Pianos - we did a rare schoolnight appearance at a FREE show with A.R.E. Weapons!!!! This show was SO much fun, a Valentines extravaganza! Cheeseburger opened the show, they got added to the bill last minute- and were cool party rock! Then we played and it was cool, because Matt from ARE Weapons thrashed to die! He's a total ripper, all those guys are very cool and we're hoping to do more with them!!! After our set, some people asked Beverly to take a picture with her which was a first!! Then ARE Weapons rocked out, and I watched some of them but then I got DINNER from the club, so I went to eat that and hang out with my valentine, she brought me freaking BAKLAVA!!! William got dinner too and we just sat there thinking "shit, I guess we've made it!". We're pretty simple, dinner and a few bucks for a cab home (when possible) is about all we ever wanted!! Thanks so much to Frankie for setting this up and his hospitality! 2/18/05-2/19/05 - a great weekend of thrashing... first we played a basement party in Brooklyn with HIV+ and COP ON FIRE and it was totally ripping, we had a LOT of fun! Next morning it was up and at 'em early to Kenny's Castaways 3 pm matinee show w/ DISASSOCIATE (yes!!!), ANOTHER DYING DEMOCRACY, JLS, GOATAMENTISE, EVERYDAY DOLLARS, & SUNLORD. This was great because we met our Bronx metal bro's GOATAMENTISE who totally kicked our asses! And of course DISASSOCIATE destroyed as usual! 2/24/05 (Thurs) a DOUBLE record release party for our 2 singles that came out, at THE BEAST- absolute insanity! When the blizzard roared in, things weren't looking good, but it all came togeher! It wasn't easy, but the show HAD to go on! Those who did brave the cold raged and for that we thank them! We had open bar for two hours, so everyone was tanked, and then when we played the shit hit the fan, glass broken, tables smashed, and general mayhem! But nobody got hurt, and we all had fun so it was killer! The ELECTRIC BIBLE single sold out in a few minutes, and we got a bunch of MEGA BLADE singles out there, so it was a success! 2/25/05 (Fri) at the "122 Hours of Beer" festival at Trash in Brooklyn, with a bunch of bands including Mob Stereo! Thanks to Jayson and Mark for putting us on this, it was a good time! We ended up playing on the first night, which was mostly with garage bands but there were some ragers who got it, and Jayson was super cool and was wearing a King Diamond shirt so we loved him instantly! 03/18/05 (Friday)- we played at the Knitting Factory with: Riistetyt, To What End?, Stockyard Stoics, Raise the Red Lanternw/ Superstar DJ Sean Ragon. Was an awesome show, RIISTETYT kicked total ass, Beverly loved TO WHAT END?, and the DJ was spinning some hits Though it as a sloppy show for use we had a blast! That room is somewhat cursed for us! haha.. 3/30/05 (Wed) at Pianos in Manhattan and 4/9/05 (Sat) at Local in Brooklyn: These were a couple ripping shows. The Piano's one was weird because we got stuck on the bill with some strange bands, the band right before us had two keyboards and a violin player! But then after us was Parlour Grand who were cool dudes. The Local gig was a total jammer, it was with two bands from Columbus, OH- Dead Sea & Teeth of the Hydra, it was set up by Mahssa. We really hit it off with these guys from Ohio, hopefully we're gonna play with them when we tour! 4/16/05 (Sat) we played at Sine at Joanne's birthday with Guns Fire Mayhem, Stylhophone, Emergency, Gil Manteras Party Dream, Made Out of Babies. GFM were great, really looking forward to the tour with these guys! There was supposedly a SLAYER birthday cake somewhere but I never saw it and I was bummed! 5/14/05 (Sat) at Local in Brooklyn w/ MIDNIGHT, Villains, How We Lost the War, Guns Fire Mayhem. This was a SIKK show! All the bands were great, VILLAINS destroyed, and MIDNIGHT just totally stomped! I wish everyone understood just how good and important this one man band is! We do! We went on a one month tour with our boys GUNSFIREMAYHEM and played these shows! I'll add details about what else happened later!We Battletorn/Guns Fire Mayhem: Summer 2005 June 16th (Thur)–
NYC @ Cake Shop (Federation X, Shellshag, Battletorn, GFM) July 4 (Mon)- Seattle,
WA @ The Firebreathing Kangaroo (6272 Ellis Avenue South.
Show starts at 6 pm. Other bands on the lineup: The Black
Box and Gods Among Men) July 7 (Thur)- Portland,
OR @ Food Hole (20 NW 3rd Avenue. Show starts at 10ish.
Door: $5. Opening band: Rabbits) July 18th- head home! July 28 (Thur) - NYC, we played this show on the Frying Pan on the BOAT!! It was the anniversary party for Kayrock Screenprinting, playing along with TIGER MOUNTAIN, EX MODELS, and PEOPLE OF THE NORTH! August 5 (Fri) at the Continental w/ THOR!!! This was a hell of a show, other bands were NASTY DISASTER, KING DUST, and GOAT HORN!! It was a night of metal history, if you weren't there- you should have been!! August 25 (Thur) - Red & Black in Brooklyn , this was the first BATTLEPROWL show, where we got to play with one of the only bands in NYC we feel very musically compatible with - the mighty PROWLER!!! They are a totally ripping female fronted metal band... watch out for this shit! August 27 (sat) - M 1-5 in Manhattan - once again, played another show with PROLWER, this one in a venue with a much better sound system and they totally kicked ass! Feb 17th (Fri) Warehouse Next Door , Washington, D.C.- w/ PIG DESTROYER, DRUGS OF FAITH, PROWLER Feb 18th (Sat) Copycat House, Baltimore, MD. w/ TRIAC, DRUGS OF FAITH, PROWLER THIS was the WEEKEND OF TERROR tour, and it was everything it was meant to be! All the bands, all the shows, kicked ass!! Was a BLAST going out with PROWLER, these guys are freakin' good and fun people too!!! I know this section doesn't get updated too much anymore, and that's a result of two things: first was that there's just not time, and second is that with the 'myspace' page and this page, it tends to end up on one or the other, not on both! So I'm gonna try and consolidate what was on there onto here, and make sure I put info in both places from now on, and news write ups.. etc! April 7-14th : BATTLETORN vs. KAMIKAZEE - "UK Thrash War Tour 2006" : april 7th SPALDING Was AMAZING!!! a detailed 'tour report' to follow shortly!
April 26th-May 19th- the "TERMINAL TOUR" US tour Spring 2007 - we've booked a coast to coaster to get out and play stuff from the new LP "Terminal Dawn", which will be out in April -dates below are mostly confirmed, but you know how tours go so anything is subject to change! TERMINAL TOUR - 2007 4/26/07 Richmond, VA -
The Bonezone w/ MIDNIGHT, BATTLEMASTER, FRED GABLE - CONFIRMED 5/5/07 - Saugus, CA -
at private birthday party/jam for Robby from BITCH - w/ BITCH
and other CA metal legends! 6/17/07 Played the farewell to NYC show last night at Rock Star Bar- with some of our best friends in the NYC 'music world'. Jesse (from HWLTW) did his one man band VISHANTI, then ROXY PAIN jammed out which was awesome to see Kayrock, Wolfy, OJ and Mike rock on this eve, next was William's other band HOCKSTEDDER with Dave (ex-HWLTW) and John (ex-GFM)- that was killer too! The highlight was a reunited (for this show only) PROWLER- who destroyed! We love these guys (and gal)- Orin, Rob, Zach, Tom, and Courtney totally killled it! And then it was time for BATTLETORN to play. We hit the 'stage' and did 7 songs as a two piece, and then Beverly came up and we did 5 songs from the first LP which ruled. It was great to play with her again and felt like it brought things back to complete the path. There was total mayhem in the crowd- some people in strange lingere dancing... it was everything we could have wanted for a farewell to NYC show! Thanks to DJ TEETH for spinning the tunes, everyone who came and hung out, and thanks the herds of random and very fashionable ladies who seemed to swarm the place last night for reasons unbeknownst to us! BATTLETORN isn't over, we'll just be separated by 1000 miles and shows will be less frequent. If a cool tour offer or show offer comes in we'll do it, otherwise we'll meet up when we can to play random dive bars wherever and whenever we can, because after all that's what we do best! Until next time......
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