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The cover art for Body Flow is complete:

Cover by Vlad McNeally at Kallisti Design. The EP will be released in January - confirmed tracklisting to come soon!

So, the last date of the 2009 tour dates for the band comes to an end in the most curious of places - an in-store performance at the Digital Ferret/Isolation Tank store in Philly. I was intrigued by this night as it was something new to me, and was probably the best low-key way to finish the year's live date schedule.

I had to change things up a little bit as far as the backing band, as all of the other guys ended up coming into other commitments that sprung up after we agreed to play this show, so I ended up putting forth a special treat - the first appearance by one of the original Interface members in over 12 years by Michael Anthony "Angztek" Cummings! Mike's story with the band back in those days is for another day, but I was glad to help an old friend get out on stage again and shake off over a decade of rust.

The other act, Revue Noir, is on Projekt and featured an appearance by the label's Sam Rosenthal (of Black Tape for a Blue Girl fame). Quite the opposite of us musically! My many thanks go out to Dean and Joe of the store for putting this forth and for having the band perform. It was quite a blast to play in an environment like that! I also have to thank Ilyssa aka DJ Totentanz for taking a bunch of photos and video (as well as some fun freestyling during Body Flow). In return I helped put in a good word to get her a guest spot at a club up here in the near future.

The show: 11/20/09 at Digital Ferret Philly

The backing band: Mike Angztek from The Illustrious Weapons of Benevolence on synths and Rachel from Kronik Kondition on guest vocals

- Entry / Voices (Mono)

- Destination

- Transit

- Age of Computers

- City Limits

- Nobody's Hero

- Body Flow

- Faith in Nothing

- Wasted Time

Performing at the store... "Attention shoppers!"

Don't you want your own stuffed animal of a staph infection?

Rachel from Kronik Kondition joined me for "Voices", "Destination", and "City Limits".

Mike had a blast re-appearing on stage with Interface for the first time since the spring of 1998.

Well, after a lengthy drive down from Ithaca that included some of the weirdest fog patterns I've ever seen, we eventually landed in the nation's capital just in time to load in. That is, of course, if the venue owners were on time and the club crew wasn't waiting outside with us! For those who haven't been to Spellbound, it gets converted each night from a bar/restaurant into the club, and it's a lengthy process. We also felt really bad for the promoter who was battling a bad flu/virus and couldn't help as much as usual.

So, we finally set up and soundchecked. Unfortunately half of Rein[Forced] got lost on the way into town and the guys just set up in time to go on, a full hour after doors opened. All said and done though, they still rocked!

We had a fun time playing this show, and it's always fun for Jim from Rein[Forced] to join in on Wasted Time. We had gotten ready to leave but DJ Kangal made us play one more, so I made the decision to try North Star (which people have been asking me online to add to the live show song pool) as the encore. Sorry Kangal, I know you wanted Clear Night...

I also got to re-introduce Angels In Disguise (in its new form) during this show, in dedication to DJ Maschinengel (known to our non-DC fans as the cover model for that album). She was in attendance and caught some good videos of the set, too!

Spellbound, DC 11/14/09
The backing band: Joe Dobise III from VirCon and Jae Leben from Kronik Kondition

- Entry / Voices
- Destination
- Transit
- Age of Computers
- City Limits
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Angels in Disguise
- Body Flow
- Faith in Nothing
- Wasted Time
- Encore: North Star

I must say I was pleasantly surprised to see such a thriving scene so far upstate in a college town such as this! After luckily escaping the lousy weather that came through our area, we headed up through the mountains to Ithaca. We were hit with some nasty wind shears on I-81 that almost blew us off the road a few times - whoa! Anyone who's ever been to the venue, The Haunt, knows how nice it is. We got there a little early, so we locked up our gear in the dressing room and got ready to check into the hotel. ....only to find out we didn't have one thanks to a paperwork mishap. Oops. I called Chris Mazer the promoter and we quickly worked it out. So, we drove over and checked into this palace - um, not. I'll spare details and say it wasn't the greatest of rooms... Given the circumstances though (every hotel in the area was fully booked due to an event at Cornell U.) I won't complain to anyone.

After changing and relaxing for a while, we headed back to the venue, where Jim and company from Rein[Forced] had arrived. We had to wait a long time to soundcheck and set up (Jim didn't even GET one). The Haunt is a typical small-town bar/club that had a Friday happy hour band run rather late.
It was a fetish party called Bound, with a Thanksgiving/holidays themed costume contest going on. After Rein[Forced] got the place moving early on as the opener, we went on and played one of our longest sets ever, with nearly an hour of stage time!! We even got called back out for our first encore in which the band had already left the stage. Wow!

We hung out for a while and watched the rest of the contests before heading back and trying to sleep and rest up for the next day's trip and show.
-Eric

The show: The Haunt Ithaca 11/13/09
The backing band: Joe Dobise III from VirCon and Jae Leben from Kronik Kondition

- Entry / Voices (Mono)
- Destination
- Transit
- Age of Computers
- City Limits
- Pavilion
- Nobody's Hero
- Body Flow
- Faith in Nothing
- Wasted Time
- Encore: Land of Confusion

The latest release from Lacuna Coil, the single for "I Like It", is now out on Century Media featuring an EBM-themed remix from Interface. This digital release can be found in the Itunes Music Store or at Amazon.

So, after an off day in Chicago where I walked around town and made sure to get my Giordano's fix, it was time for the show in Champaign/Urbana. It's the home of the University of Illinois, so I figure it had to have a passable scene. After arriving a little late thanks to rush-hour traffic in Chicago, I got there and got settled pretty quickly. Chester Street is a cool venue and the host Randall has been a big fan for a while, so I had a good feeling about the night. I caught a little bit of the first band, Critical System Error. They sounded a lot like Hocico, which comes as no surprise since they were warming up for an opening spot with them Wednesday. I went on, using Erich and Cody from Virtual Descent as guest musicians. Let's just say that place puts some big-city venues to shame with the amount of energy they were putting out! After I was done, Virtual Descent took over - I even jumped back on stage to join them for I Vivisect! I'm hoping to get the video of that to upload soon, it was awesome!

It was tough having to part ways with the whole crowd I was with the whole time: Virtual Descent and their entourage, Mark (DJ Noir) and Shay, the rest of crew of the fest like Slash and Ann, Damian the sound guy, and Randall and his crew in Champaign.

The set:
-Entry / Voices
-Destination
-Age of Computers
-Angels in Disguise (haven't done that in a few years, Randall requested it)
-City Limits
-Body Flow
-Faith In Nothing
-Wasted Time

-Eric

Well, I'm here in Chicago... Glad to have met/caught up with several friends and such! Let's see: Kristy/Andreas/Lawrence (The Azoic), Jim/Brittany (I:Scintilla), Andy/Seb/Christian (Icon of Coil), Phil/Eric (PTI), Brian/Kat (Gothsicles), Erich/Scott (V1D3), Daniel (Aesthetic Perfection), Dave (genCAB), Casey/Brian/Fernando (Cyanide Regime), MindFlux Funeral, Bart (Wax Trax II), and last but definitely not least the hardworking crew at Gothtoberfest!

While not being scheduled, after arriving at the venue from the airport, I got to pretty much hang out and catch up with above people. (What else are you going to do when the Genitorturers take an hour to soundcheck?) Lots of fun was had, including many beverages and junk food, and even a little dressing room rapping thanks to Daniel's hip hop collection!

Interface will be on tonight at some point, though I don't know when for sure. Phil from PTI and Eric from V1D3 will be joining me. Hope the Chicago people make it out for this one!

-Eric

Interface has been added to the lineup of this year's Gothtober fest in Chicago, IL.

 

So, with each date we play I'll update everyone with my thoughts and feelings about each stop on our journey this fall...

We were invited to play this show earlier in the summer, and we accepted without question. However, upon arriving there, it seemed somewhat questionable how well the word had gotten out about the performance actually taking place. Also, it turns out that Apoptygma Berzerk was scheduled to play in town on the same night. This meant a horrifically low turnout for us, as well as the incredibly underrated band MIAB... I do give major props to the people who did show up to this event, some of whom went major distances to get there. They easliy made that room feel about 4 times more full that it really was with the energy put forth!

Either way, the people behind the show were great hosts, who took care of us every step of the way. MIAB was a great group of guys, and their music absolutely rocks for those who don't know them yet. Glennlove was also a great guy, who I spent quite a while with, discussing lots of business-related things.

The set:
- Entry/Voices
- Destination
- Age Of Computers
- Transit
- Stranger In A Strange Land
- City Limits
- Body Flow
- Faith In Nothing
- Wasted Time

Thanks again to Joe and Justin for joining me onstage as always! Photos are posted in the profile.

-Eric