Cool Cover: Cosmic Kitten‘s Lobotomy
Details: Downey, California’s Cosmic Kitten keeps the cat theme going on their third album cover, featuring a purple cat performing a lobotomy on a person. Scary. Look at all those tubes. Could be fodder for nightmares, but cute cat.
Swedish singer Tove Styrke recently played at the Tractor Tavern in support of her third studio album, Sway, released earlier this year. It was the last show for Tove and her two-member backing band during the US leg of the Sway Tour, which is continuing now in Europe. It was an elaborate stage for the venue with hundreds of individually lit white roses – and Tove passed out fresh red roses to the audience near the end of her set. Young singer-songwriter Au/Ra opened.
Tove Styrke
Au/Ra
Christine and the Queens @ Showbox SoDo – 10/23
Photos by Casey Brevig
Christine and the Queens
Christine and the Queens, the French musician Héloïse Letissier, just retweeted festive gay tweets‘ post on Twitter: “She could sing the end of the world and make it entertaining.” Sounds about right. Letissier, a singer-songwriter, sings in French and English and dances during her shows. She even has a dance troupe! Primarily singing in her native French, Christine and the Queens released her second album, Chris, in September. Thank you to photographer Casey Brevig for getting snaps of Christine and the Queens with the dancers. Loads of great action photos ahead:
Christine and the Queens
Gwar & Hatebreed @ Showbox SoDo – 10/15
Photos by Casey Brevig
Gwar
Your self-described Lords and Masters, Gwar, pumped their “blood” all over Showbox SoDo in October. The metal band is still popular, even after losing their previous lead singer, Oderus Urungus. Now with a being called Blothar as their vocalist (who made his debut on last year’s Gwar album, The Blood of Gods), Gwar’s got a super fan base, known as Bohabs. It’s always admirable when groups can make it through such a loss and transition. And hey, do you like graphic novels? Gwar’s got a new one: The Enormogantic Fail. Connecticut metal quintet Hatebreed, who recently shared a video of cats who “Destroy Everything,” started the night.
Gwar
The Smashing Pumpkins & Metric @ KeyArena – 8/24
Photos by Alex Crick
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins’ The Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, named after the band’s 2018 album Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun., made an August stop in Seattle on August 24th. The tour’s shows included drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and singer-guitarist Billy Corgan, which made a rare lineup to experience. Iha’s on the new release, a welcome back after having no involvement with the Smashing Pumpkins for 18 years. Keep their new album on your radar; the Rick Rubin-produced record has a November 16th release date. Canadian band Metric opened the Seattle show. They just had a fall album release for Art of Doubt, with a world tour in progress right now.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Metric