It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years since we released Dark Opus but come mid November it will be truth – our first foray into violin, cello and drums string metal will be half a decade old. We have a new record coming out early next year, which means we probably won’t be playing many Dark Opus songs live at our shows anymore. We don’t want to forget about our first record though, so instead or retiring it we’re going give it a proper celebration by posting music videos for every song. We will be releasing a couple of videos a week for the next month or so and they will all be available on our Youtube page and on our blog. We think this is super cool for 2 reasons:

1. Every song will now have sweet visuals by different artists.

2. You will be able to watch the entire record for free on Youtube.

On November 19th, after all of the videos have been posted, we are going to have a big Dark Opus 5th Anniversary and video release party at Annie’s Social Club in San Francisco, where we will play the whole album straight through and project all of the videos as we go. Booya!

Here are the first two videos:

INTERLUDE & INFERNO

An energetic edit of live footage filmed at Cafe Pergolesi in Santa Cruz, CA in 2005
Directed and Edited by Dave Kluger. Shot by Dave Kluger, Sam Bolleto, Andrew Keating.

REVELATIONS

A collage of found video footage, passed through digital filters.
By Luke Judd

We are doing a week-long record release tour to celebrate our new 7″. Spread the word! Come out, bring your friends and party with us. We promise a good time and a great show!

SUNDAY 7/19 – SAN FRANCISCO

Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th st
with Triclops! and The Definite Articles
9 pm / $10 advance, $12 @ the door / All Ages
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

MONDAY, 7/20 – SACRAMENTO

Club Pow (The Press Club)
2030 P Street
9 pm/ $4 / 21+
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

TUESDAY, 7/21 – SANTA CRUZ

The Crepe Place
1134 Soquel Ave.
with The Secret Stolen and Room for a Ghost
9 pm / $8 / All Ages
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

THURSDAY, 7/23 – LOS ANGELES

Bootleg Theater
2220 Beverly Blvd.
with Ninja Academy
10pm / $8 or $10 (under 21) / 18+
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

FRIDAY 7/24 – LONG BEACH

Dipiazza
5205 E Pacific Coast Hwy
w/Ninja Academy
10 pm / $7 / 18+
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

SATURDAY 7/25 – OCEANSIDE

Speakeasy Studios
2403 Industry St
w/The Burning of Rome and more
7pm / $5 / All Ages
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

MONDAY 7/27 – SAN JOSE

Nickel City Arcade
1711 Branham Ln
with Mika Miko, Audacity and more
7pm / $10 / All Ages
Invite friends on FACEBOOK

We haven’t been doing too many shows this month but the ones that we have been doing have been very special. We played at the Crepe Place in Santa Cruz last week. They’ve been doing shows there for a while now but this was my first time there since they started up. Wow! What an amazing venue! The vibe is perfect, the sound is amazing and the food is to die for. Santa Cruz finally has that perfect mid-sized venue that it always needed.

Last night we played in Vacaville to one of the most enthusiastic crowds of music fans that we’ve ever encountered. There’s nothing more fun than players for a bunch of crazy headbangers who are ricking out as hard as we are. We definitely didn’t expect that and we’re definitely going to need to come back there soon.

The big show of the month is this Wednesday at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. It’s a really amazing lineup. Here’s a preview:

Kelli Rudick is a groundbreaking guitarist on tour from New York. She does things with the guitar that I have never seen before:

She also plays this crazy instrument called a Nail Violin. Here’s a beautiful video of her playing it with Kaki King. Watch this. It might make you cry:

and:

Matt Schoening. Literally my oldest friend. We used to chase each other on bikes and make action movies. Now he has a solo project that he does melody, harmony, bass and percussion all with just one cello and a loop station. The way he does the percussion is especially cool.

It’s also our last show before our big spring tour. Details in our next entry. Very exciting.

Oh yes… and we have new T-shirts. There is a secret puzzle on them. Come and get’em!

-anton

Our shows next weekend are not going to be just your average Judgement Day shows. They are very special. We’re very excited to announce that we will be collaborating with the award-winning modern dance company Moving Arts Dance for a show entitled “Beauty from Darkness.”

I’ve always loved ballet. Lewis and I grew up going to the Oakland and San Francisco ballet often because our parents played in the orchestras. My dad told me that when I was 3 years old I loved the Nutcracker so much that one time when I went I stood up in my seat and started pretending to conduct it from the audience. Yes, I was and still am a dork.

So I’m really excited about this collaboration. I have always felt that our music is very dramatic and suited to a dance interpretation and these dancers are really amazing. We had our first rehearsal with them today and it was just so awesome to have these amazing, beautiful dancers performing to our music. The choreographer Anandha Ray really gets what we’re all about. She appreciates the darker side of the world just like we do. You can from these photos from their website. She’s actually been trying to make this collaboration happen for a few years since she found us playing on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley.

As for us, we will be playing songs from Dark Opus, Opus 3: Acoustic and the upcoming Peacocks/Pink Monsters – all with live dancers. If you are anywhere near the bay area next weekend, don’t miss this show!

A public service announcement from Judgement Day

We’re very excited to announce that we will be touring the US for 2 months this fall supporting first Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s and then Dredg. So if you’ve been waiting for us to come to your town, this is it. Help us spread the word!

Tour Dates

We’re really excited to announce that in two weeks we will be touring the Northeast US and Canada!

We’ve never played in any of these towns before so if you live nearby or know anyone who does we need your help spreading the word! You can help by telling your friends and posting this banner on your page and as many other places on the web as you can:

You can find the html code to post the banner on our myspace page on the left side under “Members”.

Other news: Our 2nd full length record is totally done being tracked and is being mixed now. The album cover has is also finished. It’s a painting by Shawn Harris, Emilee Seymours and Ryan Noble and it looks amazing. We can’t wait to finish it all and share it with you.

Last piece of news: we have a Facebook page. Facebook.com/judgementday

Lewis and I are finishing up the last week of tour with The Mates of State now and getting ready to jump back into Judgement Day at the end of the month. We’re going to be kicking it off with another northwest tour and this time we’re going to be doing it right:

June 25 – Eugene, OR
June 26 – Corvallis, OR
June 27 – Salem, OR
June 28 – Portland, OR
June 29 – Seattle, WA

We really need helping getting the word out for these shows so here is the deal that we’ve come up with: If you want to help us promote for these northwest shows we will send you 5 free posters to put up wherever you want. The only rule is that you have to live close to where the show is happening.
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If you want free posters this is what you should do:

-Send us a myspace message or email us at judgementdayband@yahoo.com with the subject “Free Posters”.

-Be sure to include in the message your name, mailing address and which show you’ll be going to.

-That’s it! Get the message to us by Tuesday, June 17th and we’ll send you 5 free posters.
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For anyone who really wants a poster but doesn’t live in Oregon or Washington, we’re sorry this time. We won’t be able to get you any posters for these northwest shows. If this goes well though, we’ll start doing it for most of our future shows so you can help us out and get posters when we come to your town.
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June ‘08 Northwest Tour Dates:

Wednesday, June 25th
EUGENE, OR
@ The Indigo District
1290 Oak Street
9pm, 21+ $5
with Happy Bastards and more

Thursday, June 26th
CORVALLIS, OR
@ The Fireworks Venue
1115 SE 3rd
$5 suggested donation, All Ages
Acoustic set @ 9pm
Full band set @ 10pm

Friday, June 27th
Salem, OR
@ The Ikebox
299 Cottage St. 97301
7 pm, All Ages
$5 at the door. $3 in advance (pay at the coffee shop before the day of the concert.)
with Love Machine, Fuzzy Thunder, +more.

Saturday, June 28th
PORTLAND, OR
@ A Sweet House
25 NE Failing between ne cleveland and ne williams
6 pm, $4, All Ages
with 57 Octaves, Cull and
EARLY HOUSE SHOW!

Sunday, June 29th
Seattle, WA
@ The Ska House
9014 1st Ave NE
FREE! All Ages, 6pm
“HOUSE PARTY” with: THE EXTINCT, OUTCLASSED, GLADIATORS EAT FIRE, READY REVOLT, KAMIKAZI SEX PILOTS and MISTER BUCKET

We made a sweet animated flier for our show at Thee Parkside on Thursday. Thanks to Ting for the concept. Check it out:

If you want to see it with sound and music by the main support band Wendy Darling watch the youtube version:

January was a fun month of acoustic shows for us. They were a little bit different from what we’re used to but it was nice for a change and it totally whipped us into shape on the string parts. Our last one was at Cal State Sacramento on Wednesday and this guy Mikhail did a cool video article about it. It was kind of a funny show. I think it was in a classroom or something and everyone was sitting down in chairs quietly and politely listening to us play acoustic metal songs. You can see what it was like in this video: