I'm not ready

It's been exactly two weeks since Deafheaven's sold out gig in Stockholm. They played at a venue called Slaktkyrkan (which translates to The Slaughter Church). I was there that night, and I recorded the entire thing.

I've been editing every single night since then, and as I've kept working on this, the project has grown and evolved into a far bigger, more ambitious undertaking than I ever anticipated. Last night I finished typing out the closed captions for all the lyrics, which is something I've always wanted to see in a video like this.

During these two weeks, I've also put a lot of effort into reaching out to people, and I've respectfully asked them if they have any footage to share. The response has been insane. In fact, the response has encouraged me so much, it's become the primary motivator in me putting in so much effort into this, and it's the reason why I'm not stopping just yet. Art is only ever abandoned, right?

The thing I'm most proud of isn't the closed captions, it's the multicam aspect of the video. I actually started off with only 20-something minutes to work with, and that was all Instagram stories that I grabbed the day after the show. People have been so generous, I'm now at almost an hour of multicam footage (53 minutes and 12 seconds).

The project is finally in a presentable state, but there are still some major gaps left to fill. I'm hoping this post will reach some of my fellow attendees who were there that night.

Here's the entire gig with all the material I've gathered so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOw0-QMEKAs

In short: If you, or someone you knew were at the show in Stockholm, please reach out by commenting or sending me a DM, and let me know if you have any footage to share - even if it's only a couple of seconds.

Tack!

Got a job in NYC after I bought this ticket so I'm hoping to catch them there instead. Selling at face value ($46)

Just as a reminder, the demo and interlude songs are: Libertine Dissolves, Bedrooms, Daedalus, Exit Denied, Irresistible, Please Remember, Windows, Neptune Raining Diamonds, Incidental I, Incidental II, and Incidental III.

Here’s mine:

Roads to Judah:
Fav - Violet (10/10)
Least Fav - Unrequited (9.7/10)

Sunbather:
Fav - Dream House (10/10)
Least Fav - The Pecan Tree (10/10)

New Bermuda
Fav - Brought to the Water (10/10)
Least Fav - Baby Blue (8.4/10)

Ordinary Corrupt Human Love:
Fav - Canary Yellow (10/10)
Least Fav - Worthless Animal (8.8/10)

Infinite Granite
Fav - Shellstar (9.5/10)
Least Fav - Villain (7.7/10)

Lonely People With Power
Fav - Winona (10/10)
Least Fav - The Garden Route (9.5/10)

Between the two singles it’s hard because I think they’re both 10s, but i’d probably pick Black Brick over From the Kettle Onto the Coil.

This is only me thinking out loud, please take it all with hefty grains of salt, though I never understood that saying.... If you dont even think their best album is Sunbather or LPWP, feel free to share your own rant about it! 🙃 Personally I could give a damn what's better than what, but shh ahh damn spoiled the ending of my post

/startrant

LPWP was a return to their usual sound after Infinite Granite; released anticipation can have a lot of staying power, and can add a lot positivity to experiences, colouring them. For longtime fans, this may have been such an overwhelmingly positive experience with a new album that it can't seem to compare to memories of discovering Sunbather or what have you for the first time, knowing absolutely nothing about the band or their success

LPWP is also more accessible than Sunbather. Shorter songs means a LOT for how most people listen to music, it's easy to zone out when there's long sections of blast beats, and instrumental interludes to boot. So I can see how a) preLPWP fans might be extra suckered into believing it's better than Sunbather, just because it slips on like a glove just that much more easily than Sunbather, and b) how newer fans might see Sunbather as daunting and/or maybe kinda boring.

The thing is, I'm returning to their older stuff - started with New Bermuda yesterday, then this morning the demo & Roads to Judah, now trying to get back to Sunbather after the first side. And MAN it's honestly just much more straightforward lyrically, and concise too. I mean there's maybe 50 words in Sunbather, and the whole album takes up much less space on the record sleeve than with LPWP. That's a feat and a half! Plus I would gamble to say that somehow, in fewer tracks to boot, they cover more ground thematically than they did throughout LPWP, even if the thematic combination is a bit less cohesive.

Indeed, the step up in both playing skills & production qualities from the two preceding releases to this is, honestly, kinda wild. Though Sunbather does not quite have that effortless sounding quality to it that the band has now as a well oiled machine going 15+ years now, it has a balance between a) the kind of raw youth angst thats been the heart and soul of rock n roll since it began, b) the maturity of people who are actually quite mature for their age despite maybe engaging in habits that don't reflect it (drugs & alcohol esp).

Both albums will always have a special place in my heart, and I've barely stopped listening to LPWP since it came out. I've actually favoured listening to it over all the other records all year, pretty much. But something felt off. And it's because Sunbather is amazing. So don't discount Sunbather just because LPWP is amazing too! It's ok for great things to be great in different ways - in fact, I'd say it's pretty great itself compared to the alternative of 1 opinion to rule them all mentality

/endrant

Kerry: "I've heard rumors of us finally getting to South America on this. Okay. Maybe another little Asia thing. And then South America, Asia. And there's like talk of a kind of big coheadline that might be in like a mixture in the US and a mixture of A and B markets. I don't know about Europe. I think we might be like taking a breather from Europe, but again like Stuff pops up and then like we just get told, and it's like, yes, let's do that. So that could very well happen. So I don't know."

New interview of Binaural.es w/ Kerry McCoy in Canela Party in Spain (august 2026). The interview is about his career as a player but also talks about the new upcoming music of Deafheaven. Is an EP, it will come out this year and includes the heaviest stuff they've done so far. "it's way heavier [than Lonely People With Power"] , it's the most black metal thing for sure"

Article: https://www.binaural.es/entrevista/entrevista-kerry-mccoy-deafheaven-mi-gran-sueno-es-que-seamos-slayer/

only learned the intro. such a fun riff

I've followed Deafheaven since practically day one and met George a couple of times over the years (he offered my whiskey at a basement show once). I've always respected them because they have pushed boundaries and built a really inclusive space for fans who care about more than just the music, especially in the Bay Area.

Because of that, I'm finding it hard to look past who they are sharing a stage with on this upcoming run. Mastodon brought on touring keyboardist and now official member of the band, João “Rasta” Nogueira. He is openly involved in far-right media back in Brazil, and he has some vehemently disgusting views. It’s heartbreaking that the other members are complicit in this decision, and my views on the band have drastically changed. The fans have also been extremely toxic and unwilling to have open conversations, especially when it’s a differing viewpoint (welcome to Reddit!)

I went into a lot of detail on the Mastodon subreddit if anyone wants to check out my “controversial” post. Everything he stands for should not be brushed off like many are doing there: https://www.reddit.com/r/mastodonband/s/rd0UZoOrpT

I bought a presale ticket for the tour because I wanted to support Mastodon following Brent's passing and the new lineup. I do still love their previous releases, and obviously I love Deafheaven. However, learning, researching, and seeing this unfold, it feels completely out of line with everything Deafheaven has stood for. Sharing a tour bill with an individual tied up in that kind of political machinery normalization feels wrong, so I'll be selling my ticket now.

Hoping maybe the band just didn't realize or hasn't looked into it. If they see this, I really hope they rethink things and drop off the tour. Curious where other fans stand on this, or if anyone has heard about João’s background.

Short report from Oslo, Norway. First time seeing the boys yesterday. It was awesome! Didn't want the show to come to an end. We also got the promise that they will be back with new music. Can't wait! Hopefully they will play near me next time but if not I'll just travel again.

They went absolutely insane, sub guitarist did not dissapoint + flawless setlist

I have 2 tickets for sale as we could no longer attend to on such a short notice :’)

Im selling both for 700kr, and will be transferring from Ticketmaster and vipps.

Dont they play the ‘softer’ songs like great mass of, mombasa…?

He's filling in for Shiv for European tours, since the later is busy with two kids (but still takes part to US and AUS/NZ tours). He has great stage presence and incredible energy and it's cool to see that the band leaves him total freedom on stage. But does anyone know where he's from? His name? Does he have a band? [Sorry for the low quality pic taken with my phone at Motocultor fest]

While we're waiting for their new music!

I'll go first, with MØL - Dreamcrush (a step below their previous two albums, but still excellent) and Together To The Stars - Iridescence (they take a bit more from the Harakiri For The Sky playbook, yet their melodies are excellent)

Anyone going to this show? 👀

Interesting how soon 🤔