New Metroschifter CD out now!
Pat McClimans, Chris Reinstatler, and Scott Ritcher have teamed up again as The Metroschifter to record the group's sixth long-playing release.
Louisville label Noise Pollution issued our new CD this summer. Carbonistas contains over 30 minutes of music that we recorded in Louisville in January 2009.
Alternative Press used words like "inconceivable" and "surprising" and said we "explore a maddening array of musical genres. while treading the familiar dense, melodic-rock terrain of their past. No song in the band's back catalog approximates the sheer audacity of it."
LEO Weekly describes it as "eight furious tracks built around mathematical precision."
The new material should please Metroschifter fans who have enjoyed our previous work in the area of distorted, thunderous, sometimes precise music, laden with personal and emotional lyrics.
AP wonders "if this is the shape of rock to come or a tragic misstep on the Metroschifter's part." We're used to that kind of confusion. "Either way, they've managed to create a confounding record that demands undivided attention."
We hope you'll grab it now from your choice of these fine vendors:
Compact disc:
Noise Pollution
Amazon
Instant download:
Apple iTunes
Amazon
Think Indie
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All of our records are now available for downloading
Lots of out-of-print stuff that has been gone for years is now available for download from the Store page, including the New Mexico Demos, Party cassette, and our songs from the Picture Disk and the split with Shipping News.
Everything we ever put out is now available, either directly from us or from iTunes.
Many new items and lower prices on the Store page. Price drops on items from our own label including Best Actress (full album now only $5) and Department of Energy (now $3).
The Discography and Lyrics pages have been updated to include our new Carbonistas album which came out July 28, 2009.
Lyrics are available Alphabetically or By Release.
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Metroschifter in briefThe Metroschifter released five full-length albums and several EPs between 1994 and 2000. In its early years, the band included a succession of members from hardcore and indie rock heavyweights such as Rodan, Endpoint, 411, Sunspring, the Rachel's, Falling Forward, Shipping News, Transcend, Eleven Eleven, and Chamberlain.
The Metroschifter has operated in innovative ways starting with their very first record. The band is from Louisville, Kentucky, but their members originally lived in different cities across the United States. Because of this, they learned their first set of songs from demo tapes that singer/songwriter Scott Ritcher mailed out to the other members. As a result, their first tour in 1994 was booked before they had even played together. Regardless, a few intensive practice sessions before the trip solidified their sound and their debut album was recorded the following week.
In a similar fashion, that album, "The Metroschifter Capsule," went on sale before it was even finished. The band members and Ritcher's label, Slamdek, ran advertisements announcing the new group was releasing a record that could be ordered in advance. Fans purchased the album before it was completed, then each copy was personalized with the buyer's name on the cover and home-delivered.
The Metroschifter's sound is loud, distorted, thunderous, and blazing, yet sometimes stops on impossible points to become complete silence, before diving headlong back into a mathematical, emotional storm.
Reviewing the "Fort Saint Metroschifter" album, Toledo Entertainment magazine said the Metroschifter put "more curveball dynamics in 1/3 of an hour than most of their contemporaries would put in a friggin’ box set." Impact Press describes a sound that can "fly from rage to softness to downright discordant. both spacious and gracious." Mega Music said "they almost never look or sound the same way twice" and Over The Shoulder called them "so damn inventive." A reviewer at Ignition chimed, "like nothing I’ve heard before," and Outback Magazine echoed, "One of the most unique and interesting bands." Maybe Punk Planet made Metroschifter proudest: "There are very few bands that are putting out such challenging albums. It's incredible. Three cheers for the Metroschifter!"
Early on, the band decided to stretch their sound, to never make the same record twice, and to make a conscious effort to test their audience. In 1996, they briefly departed from their ultra-distorted, full-throttle sound, and released an even more demanding record, the all-acoustic, country album "Generation Rx." Teleport City observed, "I've always admired Metroschifter's willingness to fuck with people," but Second Nature wasn't as smitten and barked, "After this record, Metroschifter should rename their band to something more suiting, like for instance, Crap!"
Metroschifter released "Encapsulated" in 2000 which pushed the band deeper into uncharted territory. On this unique record, they assembled a cast of some of their favorite bands who each learned and recorded a new, unreleased Metroschifter song. The result was an album of new Metroschifter songs on which each song was performed by a different artist. Participants included Elliott, The Get Up Kids, Ink & Dagger, The Promise Ring, Refused, Burning Airlines, and Rye Coalition. Manatee Bound announced, "this has never been done before," while Pitchfork comically wondered if the aging members of Metroschifter were too lazy to play their own songs.
All three members of Metroschifter have collaborated with each other on a variety of other projects in the time since the band was regularly active. And all members are also currently in other groups; Chris Reinstatler performs in Brett Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Revue and Verktum; Scott Ritcher is in the group Best Actress; Pat McClimans leads Lafayette, Indiana's the PMG. Ritcher also ran in the 1998 election for Louisville mayor and is a 2008 candidate for Kentucky's state senate.
After taking about six years off between 1999 and 2005, they returned to the stage for a series of exciting sold-out shows in Louisville. Always trying to keep it interesting, the opening act for the first return performance was a spelling bee in which audience members competed against bassist Pat McClimans. He lost. Since their return, they have picked tiny, ridiculous ticket prices ranging from $1.79 to $2.44 in their hometown to dispel rumors they were reuniting to make money. They tried to start a new band, but it didn't feel right, so they decided to just be the Metroschifter.
The Metroschifter has played over 200 shows, across 14 countries, including five tours of Europe and five tours in the United States. Scott Ritcher also recorded and toured as a solo artist in the US and Europe.
The bulk of Metroschifter's and Scott Ritcher's music was issued on Doghouse Records and is available from that label or from the Apple iTunes Music Store.
In 2009, the band recorded and released their sixth full-length album. Louisville label Noise Pollution issued Carbonistas in July. Please visit www.metroschifter.com for more details. To coincide with the new record, in November 2009, Metroschifter embarked on their sixth tour of Europe.
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The Metroschifter's first album was released by the Slamdek Record Company in 1994, then re-issued in 1995 by Conversion Records. It has been out of print since Conversion went out of business nearly ten years ago.
Now you can download it and several other releases from our website at www.metroschifter.com.
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Check out Scott's other band Best Actress:myspace.com/bestactress and bestactress.org
Read much more about us at metroschifter.com and slamdek.com.
