Latest Posts

Night Slaves – THREE AND A HALF

August 24, 2020

Operating as mysterious as the shadows that lurk after sundown, Night Slaves, a wonderful boogie-rock band with an affinity for ’60’s Brit Pop and psychedelia, have recorded a new album. THREE AND A HALF, released on Buffalo-based label Swimming Faith, appropriately dropping in mid-March during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Regardless of the timing, THREE AND A HALF has definite staying power. Track one, “CAGE,” begins with an eerily familiar drum beat. Some recognize it as a re-imagining of the Rolling Stones hit “Get off My Cloud.” From there Night Slaves steer the track into a well-polished psych-rock groove complete with organ and synthesizer melodies that create an encompassing sound. Vocalist John Toohill cuts through with a command and ease to his vocal delivery. The lyrics tell a narrative about a return to an old form, as Toohill croons, “I’m back on the scene again.” A perfect track to[...]

Tonight: Night Slaves

March 13, 2020

Inventive industrial act Night Slaves will be celebrating the release of their newest LP THREE AND A HALF with a show tonight at Revolution Gallery. Anchored by core members David Kane and John Toohil, the group has recently expanded to include Lucy Bell, Ryan McMullen, and Kelly Mourdant. Their sound is an amalgam of 60s garage rock, psychedelic Brit-pop, darkcore, and just a smattering of sardonic post-punk sensibility. While previous releases, such as 2018’s Night Slaves III, have leaned more heavily towards the darker industrial side, their new album finds the group embracing a new sound. Their new single “ABSOLUTE” is a deeply infectious dance track, much in the spirit of “HandClap” by Fitz and the Tantrums. It will be interesting to see the direction this album takes, but I for one am excited. Providing support will be psych-chamber pop group Parade Chic, and lo-fi dream pop artist Ex-Pat. Revolution[...]

Night Slaves – III

December 3, 2018

Local dark electronica duo Night Slaves have returned with a killer live show and sophomore full length album in Night Slaves III that brims with soaring ambition, darkness, and evil, genre defying grooves that lift it above the noise. From start to finish musical polymath David Kane astonishes on III, bending so much to his will to create varied backdrops for his cohort John Toohill to summon some serious mojo, channeling Bowie, Nick Cave, 90’s Michael Stipe and Paul Banks to impressive effect, while the incredible guest vocals from Lucy Bell throughout kind of echo in your soul like ye old fairy magic… if that fairy magic wore boots and kicked ass. III crushes immediately with a bleak yet defiant drive through a post apocalyptic wasteland on “The Last Elephant” that grooves with menace and a Spectoresque wall of sound, layering haunting vocals among the droning guitars, loops, organ, etc to fill your ears.[...]

Tonight: Night Slaves LP Release Party

November 23, 2018

Recover from Thanksgiving and all of your family by indulging the darkness within tonight at the Mohawk when Night Slaves celebrate the release of their new full length with help frm SKIN SHIT and uncertain. Musical polymath David Kane and Nick Cave channeling vocalist John Toohill are back with some gorgeously dark post industrial pop music on their sophomore LP Night Slaves III, and the duo will be performing it in it’s entirety with a full band featuring friends from around the local scene. Opening the show will be some new noise from SKIN SHIT, aka Nola Ranallo of CAGES and Mark Kedzierski of GOD OF CAPS, and the otherworldly ritual ambient of uncertain. Doors are at 8pm and cover is $10. Night Slaves III by Night Slaves

11 Acts to Catch at Trimania 2018

April 13, 2018

Trimania returns Saturday, April 14th for its every three year take over of the TriMain building.  The multi-faceted program is a hard dive into the local arts and music scenes, allowing the opportunity for the regional creatives to convey their art and the thousands of attendees to consume it. The event will almost overwhelm your senses, with artists, poets, musicians, and DJs performing in various rooms and  corners throughout the six stories of the building. With that, here are 11 musical performances we suggest checking out Saturday night. 8pm Hop Hop @ Insight International (Suite 556) Experimental hip hop artist Jaz Frasier performs under the moniker Hop Hop to deliver smart lyrics with abstract instrumentals Scratch by Hop Hop 9pm Little Cake @ First Floor Stage Avant garde multi-instrumentalist and front woman Little Cake dips her toe into a variety of genres and styles to produce an undoubtedly commanding performance.[...]

Tonight: Night Slaves Cassette Release

October 8, 2016

Tonight, local industrial-electronica duo, Night Slaves will be celebrating the release of their second tape, Night Slaves II, at Mohawk Place. The duo has dark and complex beats, with David Kane’s complex compositions accented by singer Johnny Toohill’s chant-singing. Also on the bill is avant garde project Cages, stripped down Be Locust or Alone, and harsh noise act Flesh Trade. Doors are at 8pm with a $5 cover. Bring some extra cash to pick up the limited edition tapes, as there are only a hundred in print.

Tonight: Herd Fest Day Two

June 17, 2016

Tonight we launch into the busy portion of Herd Fest with day two of the festival. Tonight programming spans across five venues. Earliest show starts at 8pm at Mohawk Place with gravelly indie rockers via Syracuse, Bridge Under Fire, dreampop synth artist Daniel Robinson, sunny Bryan Johnson and Family, indie-pop act Comfy, industrial goth duo and the heavily anticipated psych set by Ex-Pat. $5 cover. At about 9:30pm, Milkie’s launches into their set programming, with emo revivalists from Rochester (and formerly of Michigan), Charmer. After that are straight rock band The Soft Love, psych-rock act Deadwolf, stripped down indie original Moody Cosmos, and rounding out the night is comedy act Wood Bois. If you are a fan of Flight of the Conchords or The Cure, then you should mark this set down. $5 cover. If you get there before 9:30pm, you might be able to catch WWE Hall of Famer[...]

Tonight: Night Slaves

February 5, 2016

You may be living under a rock if you aren’t aware of the show that every local media outlet is talking about – Night Slaves release show at Mohawk Place. After much anticipation, the industrial duo, comprising of Johnny Toohill (JOHNS, Alpha Hopper) and David Kane (Them Jazzbeards) is set to release their self-titled debut six-song cassette via Bad Drone Media. Night Slaves makes some dirty industrial pop that sounds like it came out of a grimy basement (in the best way possible). This dark electronica is flavored with a psychedelic sound that has a pretty blatant punk influence. Toohill and Kane deliver on their own name, bringing out a specific yet dark atmosphere. The music is refreshingly produced in the provocative spirit of the avant-grade, and intensely immersive. Also on the bill are locals CAGES, VWLS, and Malaria control, with Flatsitter taking care of the atmosphere. Show starts at[...]

Night Slaves Share Video for “No Blinding Light”

September 17, 2015

After a quick introduction at the beginning of the summer, industrial duo Night Slaves (David Kane and John Toohill) have been making up for lost time. First, the pair dropped its second demo a couple weeks ago for the track  “Into The Nowhere,” and now have a brand new video courtesy of FLATSITTER. The audio/visual head trip for the duo’s latest shared track “No Blinding Light” is best viewed with those old 3-D glasses you have lying around, and should be a nice holdover while the band puts the finishing touches on its debut cassette. FLATSITTER, by the way, has been quietly building a nice collection of local music videos for the likes of Jax Deluca, Nick Gordon and Frankie NP, as well as the trailer for Torn Space Theater’s much buzzed about production of They Kill Things. Catch up on the pair’s growing digital catalog here. Check out the[...]

Night Slaves Share Demo Track “Into the Nowhere”

August 31, 2015

Earlier this spring, Night Slaves, a new industrial duo featuring John Toohill (JOHNS, Alpha Hopper) and Dave Kane (Them Jazzbeards), shared the unnerving first track from a soon-to-be released demo. Now, with summer almost over, the pair has quietly released a second track from the demo upon bandcamp, the dark yet strangely soothing “Into the Nowhere.” Night Slaves are still prepping said demo, but hopes to have it ready to go this fall with a physical cassette release as well as a live performance and a FLATSITTER produced music video. Keep an eye out for the duo’s fall performance and release date, and in the mean time, check out “Into the Nowhere” below. Into the Nowhere by Night Slaves

Night Slaves Release Debut Demo “Crown of Walls”

May 1, 2015

John Toohill (JOHNS, Alpha Hopper, the Hamiltones) and Dave Kane (Them Jazzbeards) just released the first song from the duo’s new group, Night Slaves. The dark, industrial act immediately recalls Nine Inch Nails on the unnerving demo, “Crown of Walls.” The pair will make its debut performance tonight at Nietzsche’s as part of the eighth installment of ElectroRespect, an evening of music dedicated to the late, local musician/artist/visionary, Mark Freeland. The show kicks off around 10pm. In the mean time, listen to “Crown of Walls” below, which, by the way, can be yours for a mere $100.