The Blackholicus Hole

Big 4 Hoot night

2011-06-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

Blackholicus will be covering Megadeth and Slayer in August at Red 7! Check it out!

Show at Trailer Space Oct 22

2010-10-15T09:21:00.001-07:00

Hey, we'll be joining our friends Baron Grod once again for an early night show at Trailer Space at 8 p.m. Friday. Make it out if you can.

http://trailerspacerecords.com/
http://www.myspace.com/barongrod

Return to Beerland

2010-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

More blackholicus on the horizon?

2010-08-19T07:32:00.001-07:00

As you can see, we've taken a break from activity to regroup after the unfortunate "falling through" of our London trip to play for the Live Evil fest. Thanks to everyone who bought merch, helped with the now-defunct fundraiser show, and the yard sale.

Besides personal obstacles that kept us from continuing to plan, we also lost confidence in the primary booker for the UK tour we were going to be on during that time, and did not feel that it was worth $5k to find out if he was good for all his promises.

If anyone has leads on a 2011 European tour, let us know. We are down but not out. In the meantime we're working on new material but it's going to be gradual.

Sept. 9 at Emo's

2010-08-19T07:21:00.001-07:00

Join us for a night of fine Austin metal

February 2010 CD Baby newsletter, top seller

2010-03-03T09:23:00.001-08:00

Top seller for February 2010, "Variations in Death Minor"

Back from the sickbed - March 12, 2010

2010-02-15T12:02:00.001-08:00

Our first show back after Margaret's knee surgery is at Club Encore. They've really made this former Spiro's into a cool rock club (mainly I like the lights in there).

Saw Muchos Backflips there a month ago and it sounded great.

We'll be playing with some classic metal cover bands, so come check it out.

Live in Houston

2010-02-15T11:56:00.001-08:00

Check out the first minute and a half of this recap of the Houston skate event we played over the summer. It's clips of the skating to the tune of Nefarious. We were playing live at the park along with Los Skarnales and McRad.

Review of Megaforte in "Rock Hard" German metal mag

2010-02-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

(Translation via Google translator, german then english)

Ich liebe es im Rock und Metal, wenn die Instrumente tatsächlich wie Instrumente klingen - wie in den Siebzigern, bevor die Studios zu sehr mit dem Metal experimentierten. I love the rock and metal, if the instruments actually sound like instruments - such as in the seventies, before the studios have experimented too much with the metal. In den Achtzigern hatten zumindest die kleinen Bands noch einen echten, authentischen Sound, während die größeren in den teuren Studios herumprobierten. In the eighties, at least the small bands still had a genuine, authentic sound, while the larger herumprobierten expensive in the studios. Heute ist es nicht nur einfach, sondern auch billig, diesen experimentellen Plastiksound zu „kreieren“. Today, it is not only easy but also cheap to create these experimental sound sculpture ". Es ist dagegen viel schwerer, authentisch zu klingen. It is much harder, authentic sound too. BLACKHOLICUS haben offensichtlich viel Zeit dafür aufgewendet, den richtigen Sound für ihr „Megaforte“-Album zu finden - und der gefällt mir so gut, dass ich die Scheibe sogar zum Campen in die Wälder mitnehme. BLACKHOLICUS obviously spent a lot of time to find the right sound for their "Mega Forte" album - and does so well that I take with me the disc, even for camping in the woods.

Was also haben wir hier? So what have we here? Wir haben klassischen Heavy Metal - im wörtlichen Sinne. We have classic heavy metal - in the literal sense. Es ist traditioneller Metal mit ein paar originellen, ungewöhnlichen, klassischen Versatzstücken. It is traditional metal with some original, unusual, classic set pieces. Im „professionellen“, modernen Sound klingt so was immer furchtbar, aber bei Maiden oder den English Dogs in den Achtzigern und Hammers Of Misfortune in den Neunzigern klang es wie bei BLACKHOLICUS: einfach klasse. In the "professional", which sounds more modern sound so terrible, but at Maiden or the English Dogs in the eighties and Hammers of Misfortune in the nineties it sounded like BLACKHOLICUS: simply great. Metal mit Seele! Metal with a soul!

Fans der genannten Bands werden ebenso begeistert sein wie Freunde von Brocas Helm oder The Lord Weird Slough Feg. Fans of these bands will be as enthusiastic as friends of Brocas Helm or The Lord Weird Slough Feg. Außerdem erinnert die Eule auf dem Cover an „Fly By Night“ von Rush. Also remember the owl on the cover of "Fly By Night" by Rush. Diese Platte wird meine Sammlung niemals verlassen; sie ist schon jetzt ein Klassiker für mich. This plate will never leave my collection, it is already a classic for me. Mehr über BLACKHOLICUS findet ihr im Netz! More about BLACKHOLICUS be found on the net!

Fenriz

review is here for now

new t-shirts

2009-11-19T21:04:00.001-08:00

We have new t-shirts with the wolf image on them! Also, we are getting orders together for hoodies, so if you want one let me know through myspace or facebook, etc.. We can do green on gray or pink on black, or ... you name it and we can probably do it.

These are our gray shirts with purple image.

Shows in October

2009-09-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

Oct 9 - Beerland (Austin)
Oct 17 - Club Mixx (Austin)
Oct 24 - Rock the Cradle @ Lee and Joe Jamail skatepark in Houston

Contact us on MySpace or ReverbNation for details about any of these!

We were Fenriz's band of the week

2009-09-09T19:24:00.000-07:00

A great boost to the attention paid us on MySpace can be credited to Fenriz from Darkthrone, a classic Norweigan metal band. He wrote the following on his blog and many people around the world were introduced to us as a result:

BAND OF THE WEEK: BLACKHOLICUS (Texas)

nice hand-drawn cover. not flashy at all. no, the album "MEGAFORTE" indeed looks very old, and sounds both old and fresh. so Blackholicus will be BOTH band of the week AND vintage band of the week today.

After i first heard it i was thinking this is for REAL fans of metal, this ain't no instant gratification or easy to like-stuff for rookies. Then i thought i should sleep on it. So, the day after when i put the album on again, i am convinced. this will stay proudly in my collection forever.

- f e n r i z

Megaforte reviewed in Chronicle

2009-08-28T06:57:00.001-07:00

Short review, but at least it was somewhat favorable.

Blackholicus

Megaforte

The image on the back of this metal quartet's latest – four snarling wolves emerging from a screaming face – should have been the cover. Blackholicus excels in late 1970s metal, but frontwoman/bassist Margaret Myrick's squeal on "Werewolf" and "Roquefort" gives it a distinct Texas brand. "Victory I" and "Victory II" are no doubt the soundtrack to some epic werewolf battle.

Bulldog and the one-man band

2009-05-26T16:49:00.001-07:00

When we got to Athens we walked around a little before eating Thai food, meeting the band Marriage and then going to the Little Kings Shuffle Club to play. There was a wedding taking place before the rock show.

Downtown Athens is a lively, cute little place. I can see why it generates more indie than metal, like the black winterlands of Norway and Sweden. For example look at the statue of the bulldog mascot of nearby University of Georgia. It is cute, not mean and menacing.

Opening for us and Marriage was Matt Kurz one the one-man band. He was playing about four instruments at once and singing. Wow!

Mileage

2009-05-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right. 4,340 miles.

Old school gas station in West Virginia

2009-05-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

This is the greyhound truck from 1933 on a drive through the Appalachians.

Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2009-05-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

We couldn't bring cameras inside so we only got limited photos of the R&R Hall of Fame. This is us with the giant guitars and out front, too. The guys have more pictures.

Some stats about the trip

2009-05-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

Blogging while everyone gets ready to go...

In the car yesterday we counted how many states we will have driven through once we get back to Texas. Fifteen. We've gone more than 3,000 miles, filled up about 8 times, stayed in 8 houses of people we didn't know before, 1 hotel room, and 2 houses of people we did know.

Some of the bands we played with and listened to in the van are: BOTD, Colossus, Suzukiton, Red Collar, Kylesa and Goliathon. I can't find the CDs I got in Michigan right now but they are in my stuff somewhere. I'm hoping one has the rap songs on it.

Other stuff we've been listening to: Mastodon (new album), Queen, The Advantage, Tomahawk, Flaming Lips, Bill Hicks and David Cross comedy, Megadeth, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Space Out, B-52s, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Rush, various other classic rock and metal such as Sir Lord Baltimore and Sledgehammer. That's all I can think of right now but much has been played in the 40 hours or so we've been in the van so far.

2009-05-24T23:28:00.001-07:00

Here we are our last night on the tour. We played Athens Georgia last night and Hattiesburg Mississippi tonight. Huge turnout for a Sunday night so we were happy. We're at Chips from the Horselords house, talking about recording and shredding.

Tired....

Ready for home.....

North Carolina

2009-05-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

This is Margaret writing from (my sister) Mary Beth's house in Durham, North Carolina. Last night in Charlottesville was really fun. We got to see two great bands - Suzukiton and Kylesa just off their tour with Mastodon.

The drive through the Appalachians to Virginia was beautiful, and we found a gas station with an old greyhound from 1933 at a stop off the highway.

Our show was at Outback Lodge. Afterwards I convinced the guys to stay in a hotel. It was our first hotel stay of the tour. I was getting a cold and feeling weak and exhausted. In the morning we saw Kylesa walk in to the Waffle House where we were eating multiple helpings of covered hash browns. I guess Spencer is right about the reputation of that place being some type of touring band heaven.

We play with the great Colossus tonight at the Reservoir, and a band called Gollum that we haven't seen yet. Should be fun.

Cleveland rocks?

2009-05-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

We got to Now That's Class but no one was in there, so Spencer and Domenic went next door to a gay bar called The Hawk and met some of the locals. Our bar was in the "gayborhood" they said. We didn't realize there was such a scene in Cleveland but apparently it rivals San Francisco's.

Anyway, our show kind of sucked. Not many people, an aloof soundperson, the worst merch sales we've had since we started. But it was a Tuesday. We spent the night drinking Cleveland beer in the basement with the other band, Album (awesome band) and Domenic and Michael practiced boxing on a big punching bag.

We were saved at at the end by a young woman named Bobbi who let us stay at her house, since the arrangements we had made through the Better than the Van website were 40 minutes away. We are headed off right now to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and then playing Columbus tonight.

Pictures: quarter pipe inside bar, michael and domenic box, us with owner of NTC Paul. He was great.

Historic Vollrath

2009-05-19T16:25:00.001-07:00

We are in Cleveland sitting at the bar of Now That's Class, reflecting on last night's show. Vollrath Tavern in Indianapolis is a historic bar.

It used to be a speakeasy and brothel, and has numbered rooms in its labyrinthine basement. (Photos are of us exploring the basement, including bricks stamped with a 1920s date.)

Our show there was really fun. Am I saying that about every show? Because we haven't had a boring one yet. We didn't expect much on a Monday night but the response was great.

Indianapolis Graffiti

2009-05-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Night Moves

2009-05-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Domenic demonstrates his martial arts prowess at 5 a.m. in the front yard of Zuul's house

Mac's Bar crowd in Lansing

2009-05-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Lansing. Us in front of the bar, the chair throwing during Harbinger's set, and an impromptu (was it? not sure) rap song by Harbinger and company. Hilarious.

Soon enough we will see Satyrasis, not pictured, in Austin when they come down during their enormous 24 show tour. phew!

Sand Dunes

2009-05-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Michigan and other

2009-05-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we drove into Lansing, not before stopping to see the dunes near Lake Michigan.

When we got to Lansing we only had time to go straight to Mac's. The bar wasn't very crowded, but then we soon enough met the other bands Satyrasis and Harbinger and some of the people there to see us. They all were funny and really into metal.

In fact, the crowd in Lansing was the most enthusiastic and engaged (sorry other cities) that we have run into so far. When Michael said I was in a Queen tribute band the whole crowd (about two dozen?) started singing the middle of the Prophet Song at us. We were all like "what the hell!" Despite the conditions of the bar, evidence of a shitty economy with all the taps empty and only Pabst in cans, they were yelling jokes, screwing around, rocking out to each other's bands, rocking out to us, and then dancing, throwing chairs and drinking more Pabst--in general enjoying themselves and making their own fun.

We will have Lansing on our list if we ever go back up this far north.

Pictures later.

-- Margaret

Windy City

2009-05-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

We started feeling the weather change yesterday when we got out of the van for the first time after a few hours of driving. The wind was blowing like crazy.

So we got in our long sleeves and got ready for our Chicago stay.

Greg from Bible met us when we got there, and we went to the rehearsal space and met some of the rest of the guys before going to Quencher's, a historic Chicago bar with good pizza and 300 beers!

Here we are with Greg outside Quencher's.

Michael and Domenic outside Greg's

Us at Quencher's bar about to get food. It was good!
Domenic and Margaret at the rehearsal space

More Zuul at PK's

2009-05-17T09:27:00.001-07:00

Zuul in Carbondale

2009-05-16T16:14:00.001-07:00

Here we are last night at PK's (formerly Pizza King). Zuul performs, we rock out.

How to eat on tour

2009-05-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

We've been saving money by not eating out. We have an ice chest with lunch meat and other goodies, and stop at rest areas. Here's a common scene for us (taken in Forest City Arkansas)

Buy Megaforte on CD Baby

2009-05-16T08:46:00.001-07:00

Carbondale theft and destruction

2009-05-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Domenic has been posting one-line comments on our progress, such as that we lost a laptop in Carbondale, which is true. It wasn't the van, but the house we were staying in that was burgled while we were there. Most of the stuff stolen belonged to the residents. We still have our gear so we are still moving on.

Carbondale experienced winds of up to 100 mph last week and a lot of destruction was evident. We got there in time for the power to be back on.

Besides the negatives of our first day we still had a great show and met some interesting people. Today we are driving to Chicago to play with Zuul and BOTD.

Photos coming later when we get a chance.

- Margaret (now signing entries so you can tell who is posting)

2009-05-15T23:02:00.001-07:00

Lost a laptop in Carbondale but the show went great.

2009-05-15T13:35:00.001-07:00

Missouri is flat.

2009-05-15T09:39:00.001-07:00

Just drove through Little Rock.

2009-05-15T07:27:00.001-07:00

We are out of Texas!

Dallas

2009-05-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Show in Dallas was great! Just kidding. But we did stop there to see Domenic's dad on the way to Texarkana, where we are now. And we stopped to get kolaches.

2009-05-14T09:06:00.001-07:00

Fwd: We are on the road!

The three-eyed owl king poster

2009-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

This flyer was created by an artist in Michigan for our Mac's bar show. His name is Craig from the band Cavalcade. We're playing with Satyrasis there, too, who will come down to Austin in June and do another show with us at our beloved dive Headhunters.

This poster, in case you haven't noticed, is totally awesome. It has the owl king from Snow Chalice on it and a skull, and the smoke coming out of the skull's eyes says Blackholicus. Do I need to describe it further here or are you getting how awesome it is?

2009-05-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is a cool radio station local to our North Carolina gig. The band we are playing with there, Colossus, is one of the favorites on the Chainsaw show. That's the metalhead show. We sent them a CD and hoping they may give us some airtime.

But if not, we are still liking their blog, and hope the NC show goes smoothly.

http://wknc.org/blog/post/category/chainsaw/

Megaforte Tour in Excel (Page 1 only)

2009-05-13T15:25:00.001-07:00

So as you know I've been tying together some last minute details for the trip, printing out maps, talking on the phone, getting the van and getting cleaning supplies for said van.

Yes, cleaning supplies! Wipees!

Here is our schedule -- looks like some doozy drives but splitting them up between four people shouldn't be that bad. It is an average of an hour and forty minutes a day, we have calculated.

First stop, Michael and my hometown of good ole Texarkana. A lot of people say they've never actually been to this city, just driven through it. That's because it's one of the few places to drive through to get out of Texas on that side. And that is the goal here.

Tour Route

2009-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

The sort of giant "M" shape of our tour was incidental only. Here is the route of the Megaforte megatour!

View Larger Map

CD Release Recap

2009-05-10T09:57:00.001-07:00

We released Megaforte to the world Thursday night at Room 710, with Lions of Tsavo and White Rhino accompanying. It was a great time. We got to say goodbye to Austin before leaving on our epic journey across the U.S.

Thanks to our friends, fans and fellow musicians in Invincible Czars, Mostly Dead, Magnifico, Vex and more for supporting us.

Here are some shots made by Trevor Ray.

Starting a blog

2009-04-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends!

We are starting this blog to keep all those who are interested updated as we head on our U.S. tour to promote Megaforte.

Bookmark this and check back starting May 14, when we leave!