New Zealand-born / Australian-based Industrial Synth Crust artist SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ, alias Kieren Hills (ATTRITION, S*M*U*T, Dark Horse, Vae Victus, Death Church, Murder Disco X, etc.) returns to Aotearoa, on tour in support of the third SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ LP, Swan Grinder.
Swan Grinder has quickly become the most widely acclaimed SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ release to date, praised by the likes of Louder Than War (UK), CVLT Nation (USA), Orkus! (Germany), Discipline Mag (Australia), Side-Line (Belgium), Vive Le Rock (UK), The Big Takeover (USA), Industrial Complexx (Spain), Humans vs. Robots (Italy), SLAM Magazine (Austria), and many more.
In his own words, Kieren says of the new album:
“I took the name Swan Grinder from a swan-shaped pepper grinder I saw. It is about destruction, and death of all things: taking all that is beautiful and worthwhile in this world, and grinding it into dust. That is the album, but it is also about the mess in my head – the noise, the violence, the chaos that rattles around in my brain, looking for a way out. Swan Grinder is me finding that way out.”
Variously termed “Industrial Synth Crust”, “D-beat Raw Synth Punk”, “Trans-Positive Anti-Fascist Synth Crust”, and “One human and some machines making noise, in the face of it all”, SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ is a mutant post-apocalyptic hybrid: an intersection between harsh, confronting, mechanical noise and the comparatively raw, organic materials of hardcore, crust, and d-beat punk. It is a noise wrought from the Antipodean punk veteran’s anguish and despair, from a cabin that he built in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia.
Since 2020, SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ has released three full-length studio albums: Isolated and Alone (2021), No Life Left (2023), and latest offering Swan Grinder (2025); alongside a raft of singles, videos, EPs, split-releases, compilation tracks, and remix collaborations.
Fresh from extensive touring across the UK and mainland Europe (Sept-Oct 2025), followed by Australian tourdates (Nov-Dec 2025) in support of the new Swan Grinder album, SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ plays at Dead Witch (Ding Dong Lounge) in Tāmaki Makaurau on Friday, 23 January 2026, joined by Waiheke Island post-punk collective TRAUMA PARTY; Whangārei hardcore thrash mongers Death Portal; and Tāmaki dark experimental electronic outfit CREASSAULT; and at Pōneke's Underworld Tavern on Saturday, 24 January 2026, by industrial noise-rock legends LUNG, post-punk duo BREACHES; shiny new emo-core band EURYDICE; and goth DJ VIRAGO (Dark Entries, ex-Dark Eighties).
