Industrial music pioneer Author & Punisher has announced the official reissues of their classic albums Drone Machines, Ursus Americanus and Women & Children. All three, long-out-of-print albums are available & shipping now via relapse.com. Stream the albums here.

Additionally, Author & Punisher returns to the UK/EU in August 2024 with select co-headlining dates with KEN Mode. Full list of tour dates are available below

Author & Punisher Comments: “Half of Drone Machines was essentially a guitar and drum machine industrial album and I played those songs live from 2005-2008 or so. I was slowly realizing that being stuck within the drum machine and midi click framework was limiting creativity and I could be more organically brutal if I played everything live…so I built everything from the machines, the speakers, the pedals, the tables, my microphone and even completely gutted my 2004 Sprinter so that everything would fit in there including a bed (and a surfboard or two). The sonic path of these albums was the result of time in the machine shop and warehouse, grinding out metal parts, soldering electronics, programming and tuning speakers. I think if you listen to the progression from tracks like Doppler and Burrow Below (on Drone Machines), which I regard as my favorite guitar/drum machine based A&P tracks, to tracks like Terrorbird, Set Flames, Flesh Ants and Women & Children, you can hear things get a bit more loose.  These tracks were all written on the machines, bourne from time on the road honing in on a certain type of heaviness I felt was powerful and meaningful to play.”

Dates:

August
3 – Newcastle, UK – Cluny 2
4 – Glasgow, UK – Core. Fest
5 – Belfast, UK – Voodoo
6 – Dublin, UK – Grand Social
7 – Limerick, UK – Dolan’s Kasbah
9 – Sinzendorf, Germany – Void Fest
10 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Doornroosje*
12 – Brighton, UK – Chalk*
13 – London, UK – New Cross Inn*
14 – Manchester, UK – The Bread Shed*
15 – Bristol, UK – ArcTanGent
16 – Francavilla al Mare, Italy – Frantic Fest
18 – Gyongyos, Hungary – Feketej Zaj

*co-headline with KEN Mode

What started out as the design and build of his Masters thesis at the University of California, San Diego, Drone Machines soon became the subject matter of Tristan Shone's work as the enigmatic Author & Punisher, an industrial doom metal, one man band utilizing primarily custom designed and fabricated machines and speakers.

After developing a cult following for his approach to the genre, Shone's next album Ursus Americanus followed thereafter, receiving praise from both the underground and tastemakers alike; Shone found his footing in a space uniquely his own; his devices drew heavily on aspects of industrial automation and robotics, focusing on tactile, hands-on interaction with machines, which made Author & Punisher an entity needed to be seen and heard. 

Women & Children saw Shone take another step forward into harsher, more robust sonic landscapes.