Bilmuri

The rise of the machine was unexpected. vianova vocalist Alexander Kerski is explaining to Revolver that he just wrapped a bizarre string of European shows with his metal, jazz and R B-fusing outfit. The German group just had four drummers weave in and out of their lineup over the past few weeks. Odder still: they were a few limbs and a human heart short of what you might expect out of a quartet of timekeepers — the one that got them out of their biggest jam this June was actually a laptop loaded with backing tracks. When the band showed up to Hamburg, Germany’s Fabrik venue earlier this month, they did so without their full-time drummer, Paul Vogelgesang. This honestly wasn’t a surprise, as the longtime skinsman had booked time off to undergo hernia surgery. Here’s where things went sideways: Vogelgesang’s intended replacement, Nick Oberhäuser, also had to bow out from the show after an undisclosed illness forced him off the kit. “It was a cursed week, to say the least,” Kerski says from his home in Berlin, further reflecting on Oberhäuser’s absence, “We were sure he would smash it, but then he had the bad luck of getting really, really sick to the point where he also had to be hospitalized a day before the show.” vianova were due to open up for mosh-country hog handlers Bilmuri. A big-time appearance at the Download Festival in Donington, U.K., was days away. Most pressingly, vianova didn’t want to disappoint their growing base of passionate fans — some of whom now coming to shows wearing the same fluffy hat and sunglasses Kerski dons onstage. In lieu of their Plan B percussionist, vianova hooked their computer up to the venue’s soundboard, pressed play, held their breath and gave it their all without live drums. While it wasn’t a total catastrophe, Kerski is adamant he never wants to do this again. “I ll be honest, it didn t feel great. I felt really awkward onstage without the drums in the back,” he says. “A big part of the impact is the drummer hitting stuff behind you — you feel a certain energy and excitement if you have somebody behind you drumming. Also, it was very bright in the venue. I felt naked and exposed, not gonna lie.” The conditions were not ideal. Kerski, guitarist Felix Vogelgesang and bassist Raoul Zillani were feeling especially vulnerable, being a man down and forced into using backing tracks as an act of desperation. Curiously, what the set seemed to expose most is vianova s determination to endure. “The feedback from the people in front of the stage was good, Kerski says. And people came up after and told us they enjoyed it, and that they respected the decision of us pulling through.” Nevertheless, following the one-off performance with the laptop, vianova booted their digital drummer out of the lineup in favor of someone who knew the catalog pretty well: Leon Schmidt, the music producer behind the band’s 2025 LP, HIT IT! “He had some time to air drum in the car,” Kerski confirms. “He pretty much learned the set in three days… and then at Download, he joined us and was able to save the day.” Truthfully, that vianova stuck the landing in Hamburg may not be that big a surprise after all. With HIT IT!, the outfit bound through hybridized feats of strength that should not work on paper — whether it’s swinging from lush and sophisticated neo-soul towards demonic breakdowns on “Uh Yaya,” merging glowstick electronics with progressive djent-pop on “Melanchronic,” or Kerski rocket-launching his sinewy tenor through skies-cracking key changes on nu-gospel hybrid “Oh No (Believer).” Yet it s exactly those bewilderingly acrobatic displays that have brought vianova into the heavy-music limelight, recent milestones including a coveted opening spot on Thornhill’s recent “Mercia Tour” — where they also played alongside fellow modern heavy-hitters 156/Silence and Fox Lake. This is all to say: vianova have become a must-see metal act, no matter the lineup. In his conversation with Revolver, Kerski relives the highlights of the recent stateside trek, talks up his iconic headwear and discusses when vianova might hit us with more new music. What were your takeaways from vianova’s first trip to the U.S.?ALEXANDER KERSKI Honestly, now that I had some time to sit with it, the tour was a huge success for us. I would even go as far as saying that we could not have imagined a better first U.S. tour experience, for several reasons. First of all, all of the bands were amazing. Thornhill were the sweetest guys. 156/Silence are really good. Fox Lake are also cool guys. We noticed a lot of sold-out shows, big venues. And the crossover between the fans was really good. We always had a full crowd, even as the opener. We had pits. People were singing along. That continued the whole evening. So, the spirit was there the whole time. There are some things that suck, though — like being away from home for so long or getting sick on tour. Also, sleeping on the bus was new for us. However, hearing what U.S. bands have to go through — touring in a shitty car, or sleeping in a van for five weeks — and not even playing these caps…. We entered at a very high standard, which was obviously granted to us by the main bands — it s not like it was our tour. We re very grateful for that. It didn t happen every night, but you got to perform ‘Nerv’ onstage with Thornhill during that tour. How was it sharing the mic with Jacob Charlton?It s not that deep, getting a guest spot. It s just a fun thing, you know? You get to learn the song, you re kind of nervous about it, and then you go onstage. It wasn t a feeling of, “Wow, I get to [share] the stage with this band.” It just felt like playing another song. But it’s a fun thing. Like, the song s cool! I enjoyed doing the part, and I think the lyrics and the patterns are really sick. It was really cool to get deeper into that and see Jacob do his rhyme schemes. Did anyone on the tour hop on for a guest spot during a vianova set?Not exactly. But Joel Adams, the front of house who mixes Thornhill, also did our audio on this tour, and he’s a vocalist. We tried to get him to do a track on the very last set we did in Seattle. He has a talkback microphone, which he uses to communicate with us through our in-ear monitoring. [The audience usually] can t hear it. However, for the last gig he turned himself up in the main speakers and made comments. He would do an intro like, “Here comes the worst jazz band you have ever seen!” We have this jazzy soul intro [before we play], and he s like, “If you like what you re hearing right now, you will hate the next 25 minutes.” [Laughs] Really funny stuff, because he s a very funny guy. Honestly, when he did that people got very hyped. We were like, “Damn, we should have done that for the whole tour,” just because it was so hilarious and fun. You caught a sinus infection during the U.S. tour, which would have affected your vocal performance. Since you’ve got a lot of range, between those super high notes and your screams, what side of your voice did that affect the most?One thing I have to mention is I have a cyst in my sinuses, which I have to get removed after all the touring [behind HIT IT!] is done. So, I m dealing with chronic inflammation, which I can usually deal with, as long as the inflammation doesn t slip down to the throat. However, on this tour a lot of people got sick. I think there was something going around, because there were multiple people complaining about the same thing, like a runny nose. There was one day where I noticed my throat being a little rough. Usually [your vocal cords] are smooth and vibrate easily. You can feel [an infection affecting] your whole range. It feels like you have a thin layer of dryness on top of everything, and that is something that really messes with your higher register. I just had to try and not put as much force into it as I usually could, because that would make my voice break very easily. One thing that you don t want to do in these states is put more stress than needed on your vocal cords. What s the toughest vianova song to perform, even on your best days?Oof… I would definitely say “Oh No (Believer).” It’s the third song each night, after we play two songs back-to-back. It has a lot of words, the chorus is very high — and then when we have the chorus [come back the] second time, [the key] gets even higher. When I got sick, I was like, “Goddamn, it sucks that I have to sing that song.” [Laughs] I still managed to do it somehow, but I m dreading the day where I wake up and feel even worse, and I have to sing that song [but] won t be able to do it. I’m almost expecting that to happen at one point. The last time you spoke with Revolver, you were telling us about how fans were showing up to shows wearing the same white suits that the band wear onstage. On the U.S. tour people were also wearing the same kind of plush hat that you wear. How does it feel to see those people out in the crowd?It’s very cool, because you can recognize which people are into your band. Every time we play a new city, we don t know what to expect. I want to go onstage and be like, “Do people know us?” Are they aware of the band? Do we have to sway them? Do we have to put in more work? However, if I see a few people with a hat in the crowd, I m like, “OK, I guess we have a few fans here.” Apart from that, it s cool to see people connect with the album and the art direction. Every time I see people that are into it, I feel like I’ve been proven right, in a way. Two years ago, I made this decision of “Hey, I think this is cool,” and then two years later you see people rocking the hat. Maybe that’s a bit surface level, but that s what it is. What are the origins of the hat?For this era, I wanted the band to look really cool and congruent, you know what I mean? Before this, getting everyone to wear something that matched was a struggle. That s why I wanted us to have one coherent band look. I made a mood board — my girlfriend also helped me out with this, I have to give credit to her, too. And for the singer figure, I wanted to [wear] something iconic that stood out. I saw a friend of mine wearing a similar hat in the winter, and I liked it. Then I saw this at a flea market. It s kind of similar to the Jamiroquai fur hat that [their vocalist Jay] also used to wear. We get a lot of comparisons to that — I think it s cool, but it wasn t intentional. It’s just a string of coincidences and inspiration that led us to this place. Kind of like the fans wearing the same style of hat as you, were you ever inspired to try and emulate someone?The album art direction was inspired by Tyler, the Creator. However, it s not that we wanted to rip it off. It’s also about the musical inspiration [from Tyler, the Creator], because there’s a lot of soul and jazz influence there — and also some Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic stuff that I liked. The bigger picture [is] the soul and jazz influences and the whole Seventies and Eighties [fashion aesthetic]. I was looking up the fashion of that time… I guess we were inspired by all of that, but I wouldn t go as far as to pinpoint a single person. It’s just the general vibe. You’re deep into promoting HIT IT!, but are you making any new music behind the scenes? Any new fusions on the horizon?We have a cool concept for what we want to do next. However, with all of the touring that we re doing, we haven t really had any time to properly hit the studio. Like, we have half a demo of something. People ask us all the time at the merch table, “Hey guys, are you working on your music? I hope you are!” However, we re touring heavily. And even if we re at home, we have to work day-job stuff so we can pay rent. We re not at a point where we can be full-time musicians — that would make it easier. And with the way we re touring, it s not like we re in this big, fancy bus where everybody s hanging in a lounge area with their laptops, working on music. We re crammed in a tiny car where we can t do anything. So, right now we don t really have the luxury of working on stuff — which is probably bad, because there are bands that put out an album and also have the next album halfway finished already. We re not that band! That s just what it is. This interview has been edited and condensed for flow and clarity.

Following Beartooth’s recent album announcement, Caleb Shomo and the rest of the group have announced that they’ll also be spreading Pure Ecstasy across the U.S. this fall. The metalcore group have revealed headline tour plans that’ll have them bringing along U.K. nu-rock true believers Don Broco, vampy outfit Magnolia Park and Windwaker. The U.S. leg of Beartooth’s “Pure Ecstasy Tour” was announced today (May 19th). It begins November 11th at Boston, Massachusetts’ MGM Music Hall at Fenway, and the 23-show trip runs across the country before wrapping up December 19th at the Hard Rock Live in Wheatland, California. Various artist pre-sales start going live by noon local today, while the general on-sale begins this Friday (May 22nd). You’ll find more info here, while the U.S. tour dates are down below. As previously reported, Beartooth’s upcoming Pure Ecstasy album will feature the recently delivered title track, which was co-written alongside Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor and expanded upon with producer Jordan Fish (Poppy). The record also includes this year’s “Free” single, and features songwriting contributions from Skyler Accord (Issues, Twenty One Pilots, Bilmuri). Pure Ecstasy is out August 28th through Fearless Records. That said, you can pre-order an exclusive vinyl pressing on Half Blue/Half Purple with Black Splatter” (limited to 500 copies) right now in Revolver’s shop. The group also have European dates in the September and an Australian trip closer to the end of the year. You’ll find those overseas details here. Beartooth U.S. tour dates 2026:11/11 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall at Fenway11/12 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom11/13 Philadelphia, PA Franklin Music Hall11/15 Washington, DC The Theater at MGM National Harbor11/18 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE11/20 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom11/21 St. Paul, MN Myth11/22 Omaha, NE Steelhouse Omaha11/28 Nashville, TN The Truth11/29 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy12/1 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore Charlotte12/2 Charleston, SC The Refinery12/4 St. Augustine, FL The St. Augustine Amphitheatre12/5 Ft. Lauderdale, FL FTL War Memorial Auditorium12/7 New Orleans, LA The Fillmore New Orleans12/9 Austin, TX ACL Live at the Moody Theater12/10 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom12/12 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium12/13 Salt Lake City, UT The Union Event Center12/15 Albuquerque, NM Revel Entertainment Center12/16 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre12/18 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium12/19 Wheatland, CA Hard Rock Live View this post on Instagram

Australian metalcore band OCEAN SLEEPER has signed a new global recording deal with Rise Records/BMG, marking an exciting new chapter in the band's already impressive trajectory. With their new single "Break The Cycle" out now, OCEAN SLEEPER is poised to take its sound to new heights, building on it...

Craig Ericson, the founder of Rise Records, is back. After selling Rise Records to BMG in 2015 and stepping away from the music industry, Ericson has launched Vaux Records, a new independent label named after Portland's famous Vaux's swifts. Ericson founded Rise Records in 1991 at age 18 and built i...

Beartooth are in the throes of “Pure Ecstasy.” Coming off the reflective “Free” single from earlier this year, Caleb Shomo and the rest of the metalcore act have teamed with Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor and producer Jordan Fish to premiere a track called “Pure Ecstasy,” which previews an upcoming full-length of the same name. The intro delivers down-and-dirty low-string chugs as Shomo intensely forewarns of an upcoming explosive personal epiphany (“Waking the demon I was destined to be / Begging the reaper, ‘Won’t you set me free?’”). The song sports a mix of Eighties-grade whammy squeals, skies-cresting chorus melodies and assertive screams from Shomo (“I’m not the battle, I’m the fucking war”). Per a press release, this points to how the new album apparently traffics in “both the chaos and clarity of hard-won personal growth.” “Song one is always a crucial part of an album to me. It’s gotta lock you into the vibe out of the gate,” Shomo explains in a statement. “‘Pure Ecstasy’ was birthed in a studio with Misha Mansoor, ridiculous loudspeakers, and the dumbest heaviest chugs we could chug. Once it was brought home and expanded on with Jordan Fish, there was no question it was the album opener. Play loud and kick ass.” You can set Shomo’s latest anthem free by giving the video — which finds him digging a lil’ napping ditch as the rest of Beartooth chug through the tune — up above. The upcoming, 11-song Pure Ecstasy also features recent single “Free.” In addition to work with Mansoor and Fish, the album includes songwriting contributions from Skyler Accord (Issues, Twenty One Pilots, Bilmuri), while Shomo is joined on record by bassist Oshie Bichar, guitarists Zach Huston and Will Deely, and drummer Connor Denis. The album is Beartooth’s first full-length release for Fearless Records. It’ll be released in full on August 28th, though you can pre-order an exclusive pressing on Half Blue/Half Purple with Black Splatter” vinyl (limited to 500 copies) in Revolver’s shop. Pure Ecstasy tracklisting:Pure EcstasyEyes ClosedBullshitBeautiful AgainStadiumsFreeSorryLose You to Find MeYouFor Me By MeMade It

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