United II Tour

Free dope and porking in the streets! Well, not quite. But the second installment of the United Tour, the inspiration of Pigface and Invisible Records founder Martin Atkins, serves up the next best thing in the form of heaping helpings of chaos and apocalyptic release, not to mention noise. A kind of traveling circus for underground bang-and-clang enthusiasts who need a place to get their freak on, the tour slots Pigface with Dope (pictured), Professional Murder Music, Rachel Stamp, and Diablo Syndrome. Though all these bands may seem easily lumped together under a convenient industrial-goth-counterculture tag, Atkins is careful not to send bands of the same stripe on the road together. “It’s like having five bowls of chocolate ice cream,” he told The Onion. “It just doesn’t work.” By this point, Atkins should know. An alumnus of PIL, Killing Joke and Ministry, the expatriate Englishman (now based in Chicago) has channeled his efforts into refreshing his enthusiasm for music. That means a perpetual search for fresh sounds. With an ever-shifting lineup, one never knows what (or who) a Pigface show will entail. This time out, members of Pitchshifter, Hate Dept., Chemlab, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and others bring the noise.