Farewell Show Scheduled for January 29 

(December 14, 2009) – After nine years together and four studio albums released, New Jersey-based quartet The Number Twelve Looks Like You have decided to split up. Not content to go out quietly, the band has scheduled one last blowout farewell show on Friday, January 29 at School of Rock East in South Hackensack, NJ. 

The show will feature special guests and will include former members of Number 12 joining singer Jesse “Jase” Korman, guitarist Alexis Pareja, bassist Chris Russell-Walker and drummer Jon Karel to perform songs from all four of the band’s albums. 

Tickets go on sale Saturday, December 19 at 10am through http://www.ticketweb.com.The Number Twelve’s most recent album, Worse Than Alone, was released in April 2009 on Eyeball Records and was hailed by Alternative Press as “TNTLLY’s best release to date.” 

Korman commented, “I don’t want to give you a sob story of why we are closing the book. I want this to end on more of a happy note like the end of the movie “Big Fish.” Those of you who’ve been with us these past 9 years know how amazing you are, and know how much we have unconditionally appreciated your love and support. With that said, it’s time to go out with some integrity, dignity and good memories. I can guarantee you that this won’t be the last you hear from all of us, as we will be doing our own music projects beyond #12. But lets keep the #12 legacy living on forever and ever, like its got an Energizer battery in it, it’ll just keep going and going and going and going…” 

Guitarist Alexis Pareja added, “I’m glad to say I had quite a journey with this band (my first and only band). To write music for myself and have others enjoy it was the greatest thing that could ever happen to me. I saw many faces genuinely appreciate what we did, and that’s what kept us going. We may have never reached the pinnacle of what “could have been,” yet we fought hard and brought challenging ideas to those who chose to listen closely. The band was never rich/famous and that was not the goal. We desired to play music we genuinely enjoyed creating, while being able to support our own accumulating responsibilities. But there comes a moment where one takes a step back and reevaluates what has been built. Due to many ongoing issues and the slow deterioration of the band throughout the years, #12 has decided to let this little monster go to sleep. It is best to leave the band with the high standards it set for itself than water down anything good we had. I’m equally sorrowful it had to end in such a manner, however this will hopefully give rise to a new chapter of music and creativity from the members. We all plan to stay active in music in one form or another.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You brought together a ruthless, diehard, demanding fan base that always made every show an adventure. I can guarantee that every show we ever played was priceless to us even when there were only 5 kids. I want to give thanks to all the fans that gave me the opportunity to take my guitar playing to the next level, and to travel the world with such a fine group of gentlemen. It was 9 years of hard work and we saw lots of bands come and go while trudging along with minimal requirements. We shared the stage with many amazing people, and I have innumerable memories that have had a profound impact on me.”

Alexis’s full statement can be found on http://www.myspace.com/tntllu 

http://www.myspace.com/tntllu

http://www.itsnumber12time.com/

That trend continues with Worse Than Alone as the album, tries desperately be a more ecentric and scattershot, but less artistic and complete version of  Between the Buried and Me as the band further combines off the wall prose and jarring, off kilter delivery mixed with moments of introspective melody and clean croons- but it just doesn’t come together fluidly. First off, despite some nice solo work and more prominent sections jazzy noodling, the band simply lacks the dynamics and hooks of BTBAM. Second, when the band descends into one of their caterwauling, spazzy, math core bursts, it also lacks any thing remotely memorable or convincing. And finally, the vocals of Jesse Korman and Justin Pedrick will be the factor that drive non die hard fans away as the high pitched screams grate, the shouts annoy and the clean croons are just flat.

On the positive side, drummer Jon Karel sounds like he has eight arms, but with so much more of the music tempered and dedicated to jazzy, jangly moments of progressive self indulgence, his skills seem a bit wasted as the band hardly lets loose like a barrel full of Pit bulls, as they once did. Where I could find a handful of enjoyable moment on the last two albums, the pickings are slim on Worse Than Alone as the band can’t decide if they want to delve into haughty experimentation and discordant zaniness (“Marvins Jungle”, “The Gardens All Nighters”, “If They Holler Don’t Let Go”) or forced Dillinger -ish histrionics (“Glory Kingdom”, “Given Life”) and simply mix the two forcefully together and shake until the listener tires.

The end result is a non committal mix of the two. Moments of “The League of Endangered Oddities” and the rangy closer  “I’ll Make my Own Hours” show the band’s musical maturation and undeniable skill, but with this evolution the band simply sounds like a BTBAM wanna be act like What’s he Building In There? Exotic Animal Petting Zoo and Last Chance to Reason rather than the once promising group of brutal kids that made death metal fans angry.

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU announce a new March 10, 2009 release date for their third full-length release, Worse Than Alone (Eyeball Records). The Bergen County, NJ five-piece self-produced the disc at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ and brought in acclaimed producer/mixer Steve Evetts (Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan) to handle mixing duties.

“We’re incorporating every style from classical to death metal to jazz on this new record,” says lyricist and co-vocalist Jesse Korman. “We want this to be the style of heavy music that bridges all those worlds so that they can all live in harmony and rock under the same tune.”

The band is currently on tour with The Fall of Troy and Warship. See all remaining dates below.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You is: Jesse Korman (vocals), Justin Pedrick (vocals), Alexis Pareja (guitar), Chris Russell-Walker (bass) and Jon Karel (drums).

WORSE THAN ALONE track listing:
1. Glory Kingdom
2. Given Life
3. To Catch A Tiger
4. Marvin’s Jungle
5. The Garden’s All Nighters
6. If They Holler, Don’t Let Go
7. Retort, Rebuild, Remind
8. The League of Endangered Oddities
9. Serpentine
10. I’ll Make My Own Hours

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU on tour:
Dec 4 – Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
Dec 5 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brew
Dec 6 – Bakersfield, CA @ The Dome
Dec 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
Dec 9 – Reno, NV @ The Underground
Dec 10 – Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
Dec 12 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
Dec 13 – Spokane, WA @ The Big Dipper
Dec 14 – Tacoma, WA @ Hell’s Kitchen
All dates opening for Fall of Troy, with Warship, Black Houses

“Heart, body, soul and mind: the epitome of the #12 experience; A conflict of body and soul but a collective mind, ” commented vocalist Justin Pedrick, who also described it as, “Italian sausage and cubes of chicken breast meld into a soup with wild rice, baby carrots, onion and brussel sprouts with chicken stock and spices to make the perfect NJ gumbo soup. Served with whole grain bread. (Tomatoes and onions on the side with balsamic).”

The Number Twelve also announce a main support slot on the upcoming Fall of Troy tour (see all dates below). Vocalist Jesse Korman said, “Going on tour with buddy-bands is more fun than swimming in the ocean for the first time at 24 years old. We have a new instrument that we use live called a sword, it brings power and hope to the local townspeople. If you come join us in this harmonious ritual, you can feel the mojo as well. Its been a long, long time since we have been out on the west coast, so it’s exciting to be out there with such a solid package, The Fall of Troy and Warship… dangity dangity dang. Hope everyone is awake enough to come out, those chemstreams the government is using on us are ridiculous.”

The Number Twelve Looks Like You is: Jesse Korman (vocals), Justin Pedrick (vocals), Alexis Pareja (guitar), Chris Russell-Walker (bass) and Jon Karel (drums).

THE NUMBER TWELVE LOOKS LIKE YOU on tour:
Nov 28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Avalon Theater
Nov 29 – Grand Junction, CO @ VFW Hall
Nov 30 – Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
Dec 1 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
Dec 2 – Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse
Dec 3 – San Diego, CA @ Soma
Dec 4 – Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
Dec 5 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brew
Dec 6 – Bakersfield, CA @ The Dome
Dec 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
Dec 9 – Reno, NV @ The Underground
Dec 10 – Orangevale, CA @ The Boardwalk
Dec 12 – Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
Dec 13 – Spokane, WA @ The Big Dipper
Dec 14 – Tacoma, WA @ Hell’s Kitchen
All dates opening for Fall of Troy, with Warship, Black Houses

http://www.myspace.com/tntllu
http://www.itsnumber12time.com
http://www.eyeballrecords.com

Yeah-that’s a bitter description to swallow, but an accurate reflection of the band’s ADD styled metal that’s bolstered by supreme musicianship but a simply directionless and focusless emphasis on the bizarre end of math metal/grindcore. Musically, the skill of the band is without question and at times, it shines through the squealing, mewling chaos, and often its some form of almost Flamenco on crack inspired guitar play such as the moments that litter opener “Imagine Notion Express”, “Grandfather”, atmospheric “Cradle to the Crater” or even the reigned in and enjoyable start of “Jay Walking Backwards” that show when the band does take their required dose of Ritalin, they are capable of so much more than jarring fits of finger numbing chaos and slightly annoying musical and vocal histrionics (“El Piñata Des Los Muerte”, “I Admit it….it Was a Whore”, “Paper Weight Pigs”) that wear thin particularly in today’s musical climate.

Still the flashes of brilliance make the album worthwhile and I am still rooting for the band to make a defining statement with one of their albums, as the skill is there and so is the desire, but right now Mongrel is just that-a mangy and yappy but lovable mutt of metal.

This short LP/ long EP is only six actual songs with a few interludes, but in those 6 songs this band basically serve notice to the genres reigning champs and massive throng of pretenders that there is a new act in town, and that they are not to be fucked with – even if they look like there are from the 9th grade. The expected chaotic, frenzied jagged chords are present, but are rendered with similar intelligence as Ion Dissonance, and with some suitably screamy emo moments – it makes for a mix that while deftly heavy, has some emotional baggage rather than continual mountainous riffs. At times it sounds like a catfight in a trash can, it’s also shamelessly emotive.

It all starts with the chaotic “Don’t get Blood on my Prada Shoes,” that has usual grind/hardcore lurch and breakdown, lulling the listener into a false sense of familiarity, but as “Jesus & Tori” erupts with haunting emo melodies on top of massive grinding riffs, you just absorb the whole effect in awe. Not nearly as convoluted or mindlessly note heavy as Forever is Forgotten, The Number Twelve’s cleverly placed emo moments arrive amid the carnage of grindcore’s huge bottom end, (both vocally and musically), as well as metalcore’s more expected melodic edge.

As unpredictable as a train wreck, yet as harmonious as birdsong, the Number Twelve are a major Jekyll and Hyde. The bridge from the gigantic riff that ends “Bambi the Hooker & a Case of Beer,” to the delicate passages of “Empty Calm” is one of the most shuddering shifts I’ve ever heard, and it’s pulled off with the class of an act with several albums under tier belt. Just listen to “Civeta Dej,” for a six minute exercise in strenuous binding of musical elements, displaying their melodic side, this track could stand toe to toe with Thursday, Hamartia or With Honor for layered harmonics, but halfway it its transform into a ugly, lumbering, monstrous beast of a song more akin to Cephalic Carnage.

Many vocalists have a scream that carries some emotional weight, but lead singer Jase, while annoying to some, is essentially in fucking agony the whole time, and the hawk-like pitch, while potent, is annoying after a while, luckily he is offset by Justin’s thunderous growls. The vocals are no more prominent than in “If These Bullets Could Talk,” as it has an interlude that has an ear piercing layered screaming section, that while definitely grating, is as painfully rendered as a fight between spouses.

Many of the new wave of extreme hardcore acts are integrating softer moments or acoustics into their chaos, but few of them seem to be the reverse; The Number Twelve seems to be emo with furious grindcore thrown in, it’s like a pit bull thrown into a room of doves. Also the production here has to be mentioned with the huge guitars cranked way up in the mix, and the drums equally as powerful in conveying the orchestrated mayhem. I know this style has become popular, but this New Jersey six piece has me simply stunned with their skill, delivery and conviction. Ion Dissonance may be kings, but these princes bring a willful wide eyed emotive undercurrent with their undulating ferocity. Simply stunning – and this is just an EP.