MOON TOOTH SLATE FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE FOLLOWING NICK LEE’S RECOVERING FROM LIFE-THREATENING ENCEPHALITIS + RELEASES “GRIP ON THE RIDGE” VIDEO
February 21, 2023
Feb. 21, 2023, Long Island, N.Y. – Moon Tooth, who released their highly-praised album Phototroph (Pure Noise Records) in May of 2022, celebrate both guitar player Nick Lee’s recovery, and the one year anniversary of the 11-song album, with a May 20 outing at The Brooklyn Monarch.
In late July, as the band was slated to play a New York date with Cave In, Nick began experiencing seizures, landing in a medically-induced coma and spending over a month in the hospital. Nick ultimately received the diagnosis of Limbic Encephalitis, his band members, and the music community as a whole, rallying around Nick as he underwent treatment, and thankfully, recovered from the surprise illness.
“The way myself and the rest of Moon Tooth see this situation is we could hide from the mystery brain disease for another six months, a year, six years; or we could face it directly this Spring and do what we do best, which is play a killer live show alongside some of our best friends,”says Nick. “We’ve been working our asses off to get back to tip top shape and I have been fortunate enough to have the most incredible support base a person could hope for in blood, family, and health, so let’s hang May 20th and truly make up for some lost time!”
Moon Tooth is now celebrating not only Nick’s good health, but the Long Island-based band’s return to live performances. Tickets for their May 20 show at The Brooklyn Monarch are on-sale this Friday at 10 am eastern.
The band has also released a video for “Grip on theRidge” (https://lnk.to/MoonToothMusic), once again working with Director Tom Flynn who created The “Goodfellas” inspired clip for “Alpha Howl” (https://youtu.be/SV2CUw2rnWQ), the vampire-infused video for “Carry Me Home” (https://youtu.be/85d48EftwaY), a colorful, psychedelic offering “The Conduit” (https://youtu.be/5bc6mxJYk9U) and the narrative piece for “Nymphaeaceae” (https://youtu.be/R3ZolNyLfN0).
“Conceptually, ‘Grip on the Ridge’ deals with something that will undoubtedly be revisited in future recordings of ours,” vocalist John Carbone explains. “While writing this record, my family was dealing with the sudden and unexpected passing of my Uncle. With my family being as tight-knit as we are, personally experiencing that and especially watching my cousins endure it after having already lost their Mother ten years prior was more terrible than I can convey. The song reflects not only a person having to face that horror, but also the monumental question of ‘Where do we go from here?’ It reflects the desperate grasp for the will TO go on.”
Moon Tooth have been praised for their unique spin on prog/metal, with Rolling Stone saying “not since the early days of The Mars Volta has a rock band managed to sound so wildly adventurous,” Pitchfork noting that the “band bursts with enthusiasm and rabid energy, as if Mastodon’s apocalyptic visions were replaced with cosmic wonder,” and Revolver dubbing them as “awe-inducing.” Metal Injection said of Phototroph: “Moon Tooth has finally fully realized the incredible potential that has been obvious to anyone closely following their already impressive career… if Moon Tooth never cut another track, they could rest assured that they have recorded what is as close to a perfect album as any metal band can hope to lay down.”
Phototroph is available now both via various limited-edition vinyl variants as well as digitally.
Moon Tooth is vocalist John Carbone, guitar player NickLee, drummer Ray Marte, and bass player Vincent Romanelli. The Long Island-based band self-released their debut album, Chromaparagon, in early 2016. MetalInjection, in one of Moon Tooth’s earliest reviews, said the foursome“establish a riveting precedent of what can be created within the wide parameters of modern progressive music.” The band went on to catch the attention of heavy music fans, critics and labels alike, leading to Pure Noise Records signing Moon Tooth and re-releasing their widely-praised album, Crux, in2019. The 11-song collection, co-produced by Machine (King Crimson, Every TimeI Die) and Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, led to the band being championed by Rolling Stone and Pitchfork, earning placements on both outlet’s Best of 2019 year-end lists. The band’s new album, Phototroph, found the NY outfit working with Producer Josh Wilbur (Trivium/Lamb of God). It continued the foursome’s reputation for creating wholly unique heavy music, with MTVNews calling the band a “multidimensional talent,” Bandcamp saying “Phototroph…feels like a tribute to all the weird, forward-thinking music that’s found itself in rotation on alternative rock radio over the past 25 years,” and BrooklynVegan dubbing the collection “equal parts heavy, catchy and complex.”
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