Modern Cult Records
Modern Cult Records was a venue & record store in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Though the venue was willing to host bands of any genre, especially local bands in the Kentucky area, Modern Cult has hosted a multitude of bands in the stoner/doom/psychedelic genres over the years. The team behind Modern Cult have also worked to bring bands like Jucifer, Pallbearer, Voivod and Inter Arma (To name a few) to the Kentucky area.
Their slogan was "You're one of us now.".
Background
Original Location on Lexington Road (October 2013 - September 2015)
Modern Cult Records began in the Clifton neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky in October 2013 by Sean Liter and Tyler Chanley, both of whom had previously worked at local music store Underground Sounds with a mindset to create a music store that catered to local bands and was viable as a venue as well.
Along with a huge emphasis on providing a venue for local bands the venue/music store expresses a keen interest in psychedelic rock and doom metal bands, having hosted multiple bands of the genre in the store at the time.
Relocation to Bardstown Road (November 2015 - October 2016)
On 26 August 2015 it was announced that the store was moving out of the Clifton area and relocating to the Highlands, a popular area in Louisville. After a final show on September 15 in the original store, the store would close for the move from 16 September to it's official reopening in the Highlands on 1 November. The now-expanded space hosted a larger selection of music along with a separate section for books and a larger space for performing bands. The venue would maintain ties with the local Louisville scene as a whole including the all-ages crowd.
By August 2016 however, Modern Cult would experience a period of inactivity with the store only sporadically open for (at the time) unknown reasons. Eventually the venue would host a final show on 17 October 2016 and close its doors. In 2022 the Bardstown Road space would be purchased by the owners of Holy Grale and Gralehaus to become Grale Goods. The Clifton location would eventually become a Quill's.
Record Label
Modern Cult also briefly functioned as a short-lived label, intended to be a compliment to the record store. The first release would be the self-titled album by Mimi Von Schnitzl, released on CD and on Vinyl, the latter literally taking the vinyl and putting them in old records with a Mimi Von sticker in the middle.
The other release would come out after the store had closed. Released in April 2017 for Record Store Day, two Louisville bands in New Bravado and Golden Dead would release a split 7" in two different color variations.
Notably a live album by Russian-born guitarist Meisha Feigin would be recorded at Modern Cult and released in 2015 as The Crossing.
Notable Performances at Modern Cult
NOTE: This is not a full list of performances at Modern Cult and it factors in both locations. All shows were originally sourced from Modern Cult's Facebook Events page, which has since been deleted.
- October 13, 2013 - Walker Howell Band (first Official show at Modern Cult.)
- November 23, 2013 - Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, Mimi Von Schnitzl, Lowe Sutherland, Slow Snake
- November 29, 2013 - Andy Matter & Ten Wet Dollars, New Bravado, Adventure (Head Cleaner 2013)
- December 4, 2013 - Suzuki Junzo, Tim Barnes
- March 4, 2014 - Gezan
- April 4, 2014 - Season of Arrows, ALLDEAD
- April 28, 2014 - Nate Hall & The Poison Snake (U.S. Christmas), Dorothia Cottrell (Windhand), The Mighty Auroch
- June 8, 2014 - The Golden Grass, Temple of The Golden Dawn
- July 4, 2014 - Mimi Von Schnitzl (Two Sets), TTG
- November 6, 2014 - Dirtbag, Chigger
- December 5, 2014 - 1200, Bad Star, Black Birds of Paradise (Head Cleaner 2014)
- May 11, 2015 - Killer Moon, Trophy Wives, Golden Dead
- May 30, 2015 - Sweatermeat (Performing The Velvet Underground & Nico), KP & Me, Waves, Insect Policy
- September 15, 2015 - Misha Feigin, Steve Good, Jon Silpayamant, Joee Conroy (Final show at the original location.)
- October 24, 2015 - devils (First show at the Bardstown Road location; Private event.)
- November 1, 2015 - Killer Moon, American Lesions, Golden Dead, Heat Machine (First official show at the Bardstown location.)
- November 18, 2015 - Vile Creature, Shi - 死
- December 11, 2015 - Maiden Radio, The Cut Family Foundation, Bus Hus (Head Cleaner 2015)
- December 12, 2015 - The Winger Brothers, Satellite Twin, Insect Policy (Head Cleaner 2015)
- March 12, 2016 - New Bravado, Satellite Twin, devils
- April 2, 2016 - The Mound Builders, Horseburner
- June 3, 2016 - Rat Ship, RHIN, Day Creeper, Blind Scryer (Live debut)
- June 15, 2016 - Hivelords, Choking, (ohlm)
- June 16, 2016 - Book of Wyrms, Shi - 死, Lung
- July 23, 2016 - A Date With Doodlehound feat. R. Keenan Lawler, Shutaro Noguchi, Andy Matter & Ten Wet Dollars
- August 12, 2016 - Season of Arrows, The Mound Builders, Blind Scryer
- October 17, 2016 - Black God, Birds In Row, Mercy Ties (Final show at the Bardstown Road location.)