Ceremony got together in Rohnert Park, calling themselves Violent World before changing their name to “Ceremony,” after the song by New Order. Throughout their career, which includes the release of six studio albums, they have changed their sound, using elements of new wave, indie rock, post-punk, garage rock, punk rock, hardcore punk, grindcore, and powerviolence. Their evolution prompted comments from critics, one writing they never make the same recording twice, and another describing them as:
“. . . a very good punk band executing old punk tricks to massive effectiveness.”
The band’s changes are obvious in their recordings. They first released “Ruined,” an EP in 2005, and followed that with their debut album, “Violence Violence,” which won critical praise. In 2008, they dropped “Still Nothing Moves You,” which was described as:
“ . . . hardcore’s equivalent of Hiroshima . . . “
The album charted on both the Top Heatseekers and Top Internet lists, and they released the “softer” sounding “Rohnert Park” in 2010. The next album, “Zoo,” went even further away from their hard style, resembling that of “Pink Flag” by Wire.
The next two albums, 2015’s “The L-Shaped Man” and 2019’s “In the Spirit World Now,” moved them even further into the realm of post-punk.
Ceremony will be live at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood on February 24 at 6.00pm. Organizers of events like this will often promote them using poster printing.