Delta Spirit and Deer Tick

Drummer Brandon Young and bassist Jon Jameson were both in Noise Ratchet before spotting singer Matt Vasquez busking at a trolley station and forming Delta Spirit. They first earned national notice touring with Tokyo Police Club, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and their Monarchy Music labelmates Cold War Kids. Vasquez’s side band Middle Brother includes John McCauley of Deer Tick, a group they’re teaming up with again for their upcoming FriendSHIP Tour. Kicking off October 30 at Observatory North Park, it wraps November 22 and 23 at Webster Hall in New York City. McCauley said in the announcement that “I don’t really know what to say in order to promote a tour after such a tragic year, so I’ll keep it brief. This fall, we’re hitting the road with Delta Spirit, and the theme of the tour is friendship. It’s an easy one because we’re all very grateful for our friendship with one another. We’re looking forward to making memories with them and with you.” Delta Spirit’s Matthew Logan Vasquez added “Deer Tick and us go back over a decade. There are already so many fun memories in so many different cities. We’re all looking forward to this run together. It just makes sense.”

Mystery Machine

Formed from the ashes of the Hedgehogs, Mystery Machine featured members who at various times played with Gravedigger V, the Crawdaddys, and Manual Scan, collectively including four founding members of the Shambles and three founding Tell-Tale Hearts. Though well regarded at the time, the band only played three gigs and a party, with one song showing up on a Voxx Record compilation. They reunited in May, 2012, to record four tunes with Carl Rusk, Ray Brandes, Mark Zadarnowski, David Klowden, and David Fleminger subbing for Bill Calhoun. Another new song debuted on iTunes in summer 2013, “Show Me the Way,” produced by Rusk and engineered by Dave Fleminger. The Mystery Machine EP, featuring “She’s Not Mine” from Bomp’s Battle of the Garage Bands compilation and other tracks, has been remixed by Rusk and is now available on colored vinyl. The reissue features full color postcards, artwork by Darren Grealish, and liner notes by Loons frontman and Ugly Things magazine publisher Mike Stax. The limited edition release is available through Ugly Things and Dralasite Records.

Quor

Originally known as We Are Going To Be Awesome, Quor was formed in 2011 by Doug Smith (Rio) and Brian Corn. The name changed to Quor after Corn spotted a liquor store sign while driving down Pacific Coast Highway on a foggy night and noticed the L and I were out. “The name Quor pokes at the current state of rock labeling everything into ‘core’ genres [like] hardcore, mathcore, and metalcore,” says Corn, “and we also avoided the trends in band-naming that make every band sound the same.” After their first self-titled EP was released under their original name in 2013, they toured the U.S. and then embarked on acoustic tours in Europe and Japan. Changing their name to Quor, they put out Human Paradigm in 2015. That year, a video for their song “Let’s Rise” hit number one for multiple weeks on Loudwire’s Battle Royale, competing against headline acts such as Slayer and Queensryche. The band, which currently has around 936,000 total streams on Spotify, just released a motion video for their Human Paradigm track “Paradise.” They also recently saw their song “Fly Little Bird” covered by Spokane Washington group Snacks at Midnight.

Travis Barker

Occasional Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker recently produced an album by rapper Trippie Redd, guested on the PoorStacy single “Nothing Left,” and played on a single from Atreyu called “Warrior.” In addition, K.Flay released a collaborative single with Barker this month, “Dating My Dad.” According to K.Flay, “As the song was coming together, I asked Travis Barker if he’d be down to play drums, and he absolutely smashed it. To me, the song feels heavy and fresh but also impish in the best way...this is basically six months of therapy condensed into a single song. You spend so much of your life thinking that you’re the exception. But at the end of the day, you’re just like everyone else, becoming a version of your parents or falling in love with one. Or both. I wanted this song to feel playful though, because I was honestly laughing while I wrote that chorus lyric ‘Mom and dad, we love em, either fuck em or become em.’ There are patterns in our lives and in our families that we can either choose to perpetuate, or choose to stop. That’s what growing up feels like, at least to me.” Barker has also been in the headlines for dating media personality Kourtney Kardashian.

Corduroy Institute

The Corduroy Institute features S.A. Morin and W. Ruiz. The group calls itself a “non-profitable institution specializing in sonic research and development. Our mission is to use modern technology to bridge the gap between experimental methodology and digestible product.” According to the band, “In late 2018, we only had a handful of EPs in our discography. Since then, our experimental pop project has released album-length recordings which employ our unique methodology. On June 21, we are going to release Eight/Chance/Meetings, our first new album since 2019. In addition to our use of improvisation and cut-ups, every single piece was made using a random number generator which selected two albums from our collection as a source of inspiration.” Despite the return of live music to local venues, no release event is planned. “We are a studio-only concern, as there are only two members and our project is predicated on using improvisation to make pop songs. Live shows are irreconcilable with our working methodology, but we would like for San Diego to know about us. Letting people know about us, our method, and our recordings is crucial for this.”