Heroes of Toolik to Celebrate Release of Sophomore Record, LIKE NIGHT, in Brooklyn

NYC's avant-garde band, Heroes of Toolik, featuring guitarist Arad Evans (Glenn Branca Ensemble); bassist Ernie Brooks (Modern Lovers); guitarist Robert Poss (Band of Susans); drummer Billy Ficca (Television); trombonist John Speck; and vocalist/violinist Jennifer Coates, released its sophomore full-length album, Like Night, on August 26th.

To celebrate the record's release, Heroes of Toolik will be performing a special release event on October 12th at St. Vitus in Brooklyn (1120 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint) in which they will draw from the deep and widely varied content of Like Night, and show flashes of the band's next directions. Follow this link for info on the October 12th show.

Also on the bill are Greg Fox, The Wharton Tiers Ensemble, and Kevin Shea's Popejoy/Seabrook/Shea.

Although frequently described as "super group", Heroes of Toolik first banded together in 2012, a confederation of old friends with storied musical pasts, and is in fact a band that is a cohesive and integrated ensemble. That the musicians' more prominent projects have overshadowed this band makes it the more attractive. As "Aquarium Drunkard" called them, "lords of the underground hiding in plain sight."

Like Night was produced by the legendary Wharton Tiers (Helmet, Sonic Youth, New York Dolls, etc.), and was recorded at Seaside Lounge and The Silent Barn in Brooklyn. Upon its release, the album received an enthusiastic response. "Aquarium Drunkard"'s C. DePasquale proclaimed, "A rollicking carnivalesque experience, Heroes of Toolik stretch out into the horizon without sacrificing a tight grooving grip - an explorative scat of minimalist blues, rock & roll, psychedelic pop, orchestral folk, gothic bluegrass, and theatrical art-punk. Piercing moments of noise and pillows of rustic jazz find home on the same disc, existing in bountiful harmony....the record captures strange magic in a bottle."

You can check out the video for "Perfect" below!

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Guitarist Arad Evans and bass player Ernie Brooks met while touring in Rhys Chatham's Donnergotter band in the 1980's. Brooks had played with Billy Ficca in Gods and Monsters (Ficca helped transform rock forever as a member of the seminal avant-rock outfit Television, which he still tours with). Robert Poss - an acquaintance of Arad's from the Chatham ensemble (who went on to form Band of Susans) --contributed guitar as a guest to Like Night and then joined as a regular member. On trombone is the Latin session player John Speck who was recommended to the band by their original trombonist Peter Zuommo. To complete the band, Arad met painter and art-critic Jennifer Coates via Kevin Bud Jones of Collapsible Shoulder. After seeing her play with a former band, he was suitably impressed and recruited her to play violin and sing.

Come see the band who Rick Moody from "The Rumpus" raved, "The songs . . . are upbeat and crisp, and they are adventurous and strange....Everywhere there is sterling musicianship, of the original, unexpected sort. If the songs on Like Night are often filled with moments of the wistful or even sad, the project, the musicians playing together and performing together, is the treatment for what ails."

For more, visit www.heroesoftoolik.com or find them on Soundcloud at soundcloud.com/heroes-of-toolik.

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