Hello friends,
Welcome back to Speaking in Tongues, a monthly newsletter / interview series from Black Eyes that extends the thread we started with our zine of the same name. If you haven’t checked it out, you can find it here.
In this edition, we share some updates about other activities we are each involved with, and, for our paid subscribers, offer an interview with Astral Spirits boss Nate Cross who also plays with Craig Clouse and King Coffey in USA/Mexico and Mike from this band (and about 10 other folks) in Water Damage.
Dripping this June!
Dripping, the 48 hour camping festival that Daniel co-produces is back with an incredibly stacked line-up. It runs from June 14-16 at a former Girl Scout campground in Sparta, N.J. If you are around and able, we’d suggest you check it out.
Other Black Eyes-involved stuff…
Jacob: Things have been slow but moving along in Earthen Sea land…played my first show of the year in April in Baltimore with 2 of my good friends Paul Jickling (Trooper, Scalpels, etc) and Insect Factory (Jeff Barsky). Currently working on preparing my set for the Dripping 2 hour block at the 24 hour Drone in Hudson that is taking place on May 18-19. Also, it’s been a long time in the works but am putting the finishing touches on a new Earthen Sea LP that will be officially announced in the very near future. Other than that just spending time in the studio playing sax and painting.
Hugh is working with his husband Kevin to reconfigure their home studio, Swim-Two-Birds. The control room is getting a new subfloor in time to move all the recording gear out of the live room, which is also the Black Eyes practice space. The first record Hugh engineered for someone else's band was Parts and Pieces, by The Better Automatic, Mike's band from when they were both like 19. Folks that have recorded on the evolving and migratory collection of Swim-Two-Birds gear since then include Trooper and Hits (check out the tapes on On Repeat), the Rondelles, Videohippos, the Cornel West Theory, Lida Husik and Soma Allpass, Hume, Bazhena/Navies, Laughing Man, Downtown Boys, and Priests.
Mike: The sprawling (in so many ways) group that I play with in Austin released its third album, In E, on April 12. It’s a double LP — that is, four sides each with a 20 minute recording. It can be found here. WD will be on the east coast this June, with stops in Philadelphia, Kingston, N.Y., Brooklyn, and D.C. Sadly, I’ll miss this trip.
With love,
Dan, Daniel, Hugh, Jacob, Mike
An Interview with Nate Cross
Nate Cross was one of the first new friends Mike made when he moved to Austin back in 2008. At the time, Nate was playing in When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. Soon, Nate and Mike began playing with brothers Greg and Jeff Piwonka in what would become Marriage, and then, along with George Dishner (also of Dinos, and then Spray Paint) Thor Harris (Swans, Thor & Friends), Mari Maurice (more eaze), Travis Austin, Danielle Moran, Jonathan Horne, Will Slack, and a revolving cast of guests and pals, Water Damage.
In addition to all that, Nate’s label, Astral Spirits, has produced a steady diet of incredible work since it began in 2014. Nate and Mike chat about all this and more below…
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