**Photo by Brenna Faris**
After releasing their Artoffact Records debut, NULL, on September 23rd last year, KEN MODE announces a West Coast US tour that will see the band bring its pummelling noise-rock to the USA and Canada. The March dates are in advance of KEN mode’s return to Europe where they will perform exclusively for Roadburn Festival.
Supporting KEN mode once again will be Illinois screamo trio Frail Body.
Tickets & Dates: https://linktr.ee/kenmodetour
“We haven’t had a chance to get down to California or the south west section of the US in almost 8 years, so this one is a long time coming. Even the PNW has been 4 years. We had so much fun doing the thing with Frail Body last fall, we decided to do it again! It’s cold where both of us are from, so we figured, let’s go somewhere warm together!” states KEN mode guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson.
West Coast “NULL” Tour:
Fri 3/10 Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt
Sat 3/11 Seattle, WA @ Substation
Sun 3/12 Portland, OR @ The High Water Mark
Mon 3/13 Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s
Tue 3/14 Oakland, CA @ Stork Club
Wed 3/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Resident
Thu 3/16 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
Fri 3/17 Las Vegas, NV @ Dive Bar
Sat 3/18 Mesa, AZ The Nile @ Underground
Sun 3/19 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
Mon 3/20 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
Founded by brothers Jesse and Shane Matthewson, KEN mode has come to define intensity and dedication, via tours with Russian Circles, Torche, and Full of Hell, and releases produced by the likes of Steve Albini, Kurt Ballou, and Matt Bayles. Upcoming new album NULL sees this warhorse of a band emerge from the darkest of times with new energy, evolved and ready to carry on into its next chapter.
KEN mode guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson points to the bleakest days of the COVID-19 pandemic as a well of inspiration for the new album, proclaiming NULL to be “a direct psychological reaction to the collective experience of the last two and a half years.” Having sunk to new lows, Matthewson was instilled with a newfound urgency to make the most authentic and courageous art possible: “We felt like there was really no reason to do anything at all unless we were trying to push this into something new,” he states.
Recorded and mixed by Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Unsane), NULL is KEN mode’s eighth full-length album. NULL is the first KEN mode release to feature collaborator Kathryn Kerr (saxophone, synth, piano, percussion, backing vocals) as a full-fledged member of the band; the album features a new palette of No Wave and industrial-tinged sounds (shades of Swans, John Zorn, Einsturzende Neubauten), infiltrating some of its tracks.
Lineup:
Jesse Matthewson – vocals, guitar, synth, percussion
Shane Matthewson – drums, percusion
Skot Hamilton – bass, backing vocals, percussion
Kathryn Kerr – saxophone, synth, piano, backing vocals
Natanielle Felicitas – cello on “Unresponsive”
Discography:
NULL (Artoffact Records, 2022)
Loved (Season of Mist, 2018)
Nerve EP (Reptilian, 2016)
Success (Season of Mist, 2015)
Entrench (Season of Mist, 2013)
Venerable (Profound Lore/Init/Throatruiner, 2011)
Mennonite (Arctodus/No List, 2008)
Reprisal (Escape Artist/No List, 2006)
Mongrel (Escape Artist, 2003)
PURCHASE NULL HERE!
PURCHASE NULL ON ITUNES HERE!
LISTEN TO NULL ON BANDCAMP HERE!
LISTEN TO NULL ON SPOTIFY HERE!
KEN MODE ONLINE:
Website // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
ARTOFFACT RECORDS ONLINE:
Bandcamp // Facebook // Instagram // Twitter
