Merauder Tour Dates With Ruckus, Rule of Thumb

New york hardcore strongholders Merauder will spend the month of May not celebrating flowers and their moms. Rather, these New Yawk hawd-core assassins will hit the road. They are set to headline the 5/9 Fest on -- you guessed it -- May 9 in Las Vegas, and they will be filming their set for an upcoming DVD. They will traverse Mexico for five days, return to the US and then head overseas and play Metalliaurinko Festival in Harjavalta, Finland in early June. For this tour, Merauder are doing their best to make it as hardcore as possible, from venue locations to crowd barriers to low ticket prices.

"The thing I'm most excited about with this tour is doing it for the hardcore kids, who are our truest fans," Bobby Blood told Noisecreep. "They're ones who really care about us and to whom our music means something to and also who understand what we're about. Because of our metallic sound, we are primarily marketed as a metal band, and all of our support tours are supporting metal bands."

He continued, "That's great and all and we are grateful to be accepted by the metal fans and bands, but for the hardcore fans to come and see us on tours where we are a support band they are faced with many obstacles like high ticket prices and crowds/venues/security who are unfamiliar with hardcore dancing."

For this tour, Merauder admit to being "very particular about the cities, venues, promoters and supporting bands. Both touring bands, Ruckus and Rule of Thumb, are personal friends of mine. Every promoter is active in the hardcore scene, and most of them are in HC bands themselves. For our fans, by our fans, with our fans, with our friends. These shows are for the fans who keep Merauder motivated to continue doing this, and have always had our backs."

The band chose the newly launching 5/9 Festival in Las Vegas as a filming location for a few reasons. "Area 702 Skate Park is an amazing venue with great sound and lighting which is important for the particular footage we need," Bobby said. "I met with the owner of the venue myself many times, and they are well aware of what to expect from the fans and from us and they are supportive, even removing the crowd barrier. This is a new festival that will happen every year with different bands, which is something this part of the West never gets. All the bands are contributing or sacrificing and as a result the tickets are only $10 and that's for 13 bands. That is something Merauder supports and wants to contribute to."

You can view the tour poster, as well as the video trailer for 5/9 Fest online.

Merauder released 'God is I' in August of 2009 via Regain Records.



Merauder tour dates

5/7 -- 924 Gilman St -- Berkely, CA

5/8 -- Common Grounds -- Riverside, CA

5/9 -- Area 702 Skatepark (5/9 Fest) -- Las Vegas

5/10 -- Skrappy's -- Tucson, AZ

5/11 -- Open Aired -- Yuma, AZ

5/12 -- 1979 Club -- Tijuana, Mexico

5/13 -- Inferno Rock Rar -- Matamoros, Mexico

5/14 -- Ibex Rock Bar -- Monterrey, Mexico

5/15 -- Rock Live Bar -- Gudalajara, Mexico

5/16 -- El Clandestino -- Mexico City, Mexico

5/28 -- Bogies -- Albany, NY w/All Out War

5/29 -- HBNYC -- Brooklyn, NY w/ All Out War

6/5 -- Metalliaurinko Festival -- Harjavalta, Finland