Fresh off a headlining gig at SF Gay Pride Festival last weekend, Chico’s own Armed For Apocalypse have officially inked a deal with Ironclad / Metal Blade records. Their debut album, DEFEAT, which coincidentally happens to be the heaviest album in the history of mankind, drops September 15th. Check out the Press Release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE….

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Ironclad Recordings Signs ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE: Set To Release Debut Album ‘Defeat’ in the US & Canada!….

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Los Angeles, CA – July 1, 2009 – Ironclad Recordings, founded by Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps, is pleased to announce the signing of Chico California’s ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE; a band featuring the talents of former members of Will Haven, The Abominable Iron Sloth, and Ghostride. Ironclad Recordings is set to release ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE’s debut full-length studio album Defeat in the US and Canada on September 15^th, 2009 with SOAR releasing this behemoth of an album in Europe.  Defeat was recorded during two different sessions in late 2008 at the Pus Cavern in Sacramento, CA and Heirloom Studios in Chico, CA, with Matt Pedri engineering. Mixing and mastering for Defeat was handled by Eric Stenman (Saves The Day, Will Haven, Senses Fail, Far, Forever The Sickest Kids, Dashboard Confessional, Thrice) with cover art being tackled by renowned artist Matt Loomis, who has done cover art for Abominable Iron Sloth and the Makai in addition to merch designs for Mastodon and The Red Chord…..

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Trevor Phipps of Ironclad Recordings comments; “these guys are just ridiculously heavy with one of the darkest and meanest sounds in metal today. Get ready to be crushed.”….

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“We couldn’t be more excited as a band to sign with Ironclad Recording.  They have been loyal and honest with us from the very beginning, which is all too rare in this business. They are the only label that told us to keep getting heavier! What more can you ask for as a metal band?!” comments ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE….

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Derek Kerswill, drummer of Unearth, who recently played dates with ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE after his band finished their US tour with Testament, had this to say about the band;“ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE gave me this dirty, unsettling feeling… that was so emotionally dark that my insides were crawling out of me. I guess they stirred some genuine emotion in me because I FELT IT.”….

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The musical talents of ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE, featuring former members of Will Haven, The Abominable Iron Sloth, and Ghostride, can best be described as a racket akin to the gates of hell opening; mixing the sludgy, down-tuned heavy riffs of Crowbar and Eyehategod with the white noise assault of Cursed, and the death metal groove of Entombed. Guitarist/vocalist Cayle Hunter explains; “we don’t want to be faster or tougher than anybody else. We just want to make heavy music that is UNDENIABLE when you hear it.” ….

ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE’s, or A4A, monstrous new album Defeat will be released September 15^th, 2009 followed by a full touring schedule so be sure to keep up with the band on MySpace and Twitter for dates and other announcements…..

To get a taste of what A4A’s album Defeat will sound like, check out the new song ‘We Fell from the Bottom,’ which is currently up on the band’s MySpace page HERE….

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Current tour dates:….

7/01       Seattle, WA        The Rendezvous/Jewelbox Theater w/ Heiress….

7/02       Portland, OR      Tony V’s Garage….

7/03       Eugene, OR        Epic Space w/ Necryptic Jean Grey….

7/25       Chico, CA             The Senator 10 for $10 Tour w/ Poison the Well, Terror, Bane, and more….

8/07       Chico, CA             La Salles….

8/22       Eugene, OR        Epic Space w/ The Funeral Pyre….

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And so ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE could stay in constant communication with their fans, the band started up a Twitter account so make sure to follow the guys at www.twitter.com/AforA….

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ARMED FOR APOCALYPSE is:….

Kirk Williams - vocals/guitar….

Cayle Hunter - guitar/vocals….

Corey Vaspra - bass/vocals….

Nick Harris - drums

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Regardless of how you morally feel about weed and weather people should or should not smoke it, thanks to Tom Ammiano it is something that will be brought up a lot in the upcoming future. I actually spent a solid 20 minutes reading the proposed AB-390 that assemblymen Ammiano and it sounds pretty interesting. Some of it sounds good and I think it could work, and some of it sounds a little out of reach even for our already weed friendly state. In a nut-shell, if you haven’t heard, will essentially legalize weed and tax it for consumption for anyone over 21. Anyone will be able to sell, grow and transport as long as proper papers are obtained. All morality and religious jargon aside, why not pass this bill? The amount of money that this state will A) make in selling and taxing marijuana B) save in prison and court fees. The projected amount the state will make is anywhere from $1-1.5 billion depeding on the websites you look at, that in addition to the roughly $8 billion a year we spend in court fees for procedurally “dealing” with this problem. I’m not a math major, but that’s almost $10 billion saved per year, and that isn’t even including money saved on locking people up for weed related offenses. In a nut shell it is a way to make and save an almost retarded amount of money for the state. Think of the possibilities if AB-390 went nation wide, I read somewhere last week that almost 46% of our country’s jail population is for pot or pot related offenses. What’s really the worst that happens when you are high? You may get a stomache ache from eating to many oroes, a hand cramp from video games or God forbid you may pass out on the couch? I just don’t think it will tear away at the moral fiber of our society like everyone thinks it will. People who smoke will still smoke, maybe a little more but who cares, and the people who don’t smoke won’t smoke it’s that easy.

This is seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. I mean is there anything more masculine, more reflective of man’s roots as a carnivorous, senseless being than selling part of your family of for some steaks and ale? FUCK YEA!

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Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, of Greenfield, California, was arrested Monday and booked into the Monterey County Jail, Greenfield police said in a statement. He faces felony charges of receiving money for causing a person to cohabitate, police said.

Martinez had arranged through a third party to have his daughter marry the older teenager, identified by authorities as Margarito de Jesus Galindo, of Gonzales, California. In exchange, Galindo was to pay Martinez $16,000 and provide him with 160 cases of beer, 100 cases of soda, 50 cases of Gatorade, two cases of wine, and six cases of meat, Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told CNN.

All those involved in the case are from the western Mexican state of Oaxaca, the police chief said. In the Oaxacan community, such an agreement is “normal and honorable,” he said. “In California, it’s against the law.”

In Oaxacan culture, the food and beverages are provided by a prospective bridegroom for the wedding, Grebmeier said.

Authorities believe the young girl went with Galindo willingly, and no coercion was involved, he said. However, the girl is four years younger than California’s age of consent, although the law does allow 16-year-olds to marry with parental consent.

Seriously, I think people are making way too big a deal over this whole thing. Dowries have been a staple of many countries and traditions since pre-biblical ages. I understand that ignorance of the law does not constitute illegal behavior, but when you boil this down it’s merely a direct reflection of the individual’s culture.

What’s weird is I have some form of reverence for the fact that this is symbolic of their culture, yet I’m disgusted when I hear that the daughter and the 18 year old had ’sexual relations’, when it’s probably the same situation as the original predicament, a reflection of their culture.

But hell, who am I to say what’s right? Everyone knows when white people hear the word ‘culture’ we start pretending that it’s automatically something sacred. Silly white people…

Photos by Aaron Seals

Photos by Aaron Seals

Show fucking rocked.

The Black Keys

Dr. Dog