11 June 2024 - 0 Comments

Expat NZ punk veteran/Australian-based “Industrial Synth Crust” outfit Schkeuditzer Kreuz, alias Kieren Hills, has today announced dates for their first tour of Japan, between August and September 2024. Kieren says:

“I’ve been to Japan three times with other bands, and every time I have always been totally blown away by the bands I’ve seen or played with. Every show – whether a death metal fest or a small bar full of chaos – has featured incredible and inventive bands, from beginning to end. That’s what I want to throw myself into – to get in there and amongst it all and make my music. I want to delve into the noise scene, into the grind, into the experimental and electronic, and just take it all in, to experience what is happening there. I want to fill myself with everything that Japan has to offer in the world of extreme music.”

The announcement follows Schkeuditzer Kreuz’s most recent single and video, Ratchet // Amerika 24 (April 2024), and a string of Australian tour dates. Premiering the Ratchet video, CVLT Nation’s Meghan MacRae wrote:

“At what point in our lives to we agree to take part in the performance of human society? As Schkeuditzer Kreuz‘s beats rain down on me like hammers from the sky and the buzz and hum of “Ratchet's melody interferes with my brain waves, I think about that point where I lost who I really was to the game of getting along with everyone else so I could grasp at feelings of being safe and cared for. To be honest, it wasn’t a game I was great at, but now I’m starting to understand that this doesn’t indicate some deep flaw in me.”

The tour to Japan rounds off what has been an incredibly busy twelve months for Schkeuditzer Kreuz. August 2023 saw the release of the second full-length LP, No Life Left, featuring the first two video-singles, Joy and Second Life. A crushing slab of dark, abrasive, apocalyptic, post-industrial music, with deep roots in the crust punk, hardcore and d-beat music scenes of Australia, New Zealand, and Germany; No Life Left garnered excellent international press, and was followed by an extensive tour of Europe spanning September-October 2023. The remix release, Second Life: No Life Left Remixed followed in December, bringing together glitched-out breakcore, synth-driven dark electro, and sludgy industrial doom, from guest collaborators Distruster (US), Max Rael (UK), Creassault (NZ), Non-Bio (UK), and Crash-Scan (NZ). January 2024 took Schkeuditzer Kreuz on tour to New Zealand, before returning for shows across Australia between March and June, releasing ‘Ratchet’ along the way.

Now in its second pressing, No Life Left is out now on vinyl LP, Double CD, and Cassette, through Bad Habit Records (Australia),and is available directly from Schkeuditzer Kreuz on Bandcamp., along with digital download versions. The CD version also includes the remixes as a Bonus Disc. The vinyl LP is distributed in the US through Sorry State Records, and both LP and CD in New Zealand by Centennial Conflict.

Following the completion of the tour to Japan, Schkeuditzer Kreuz returns to the studio in late 2024 to record their third album.

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