Download Those Mockingbirds A Ballad From Hell

Back in December Those Mockingbirds dropped a new video “How To Rob A Bank” which scored a convincing win in the polls on mtvu The Freshmen and was put in full rotation on mtvU in January that gave us a glimpse of the high octane Rock and Roll coming from the band this year.

Featuring artwork drawn by 7-year-old Bella Agnello, daughter of legendary indie producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Kurt Vile, Dinosaur Jr.), the radio-ready track received over 2,100 streams in the first 24 hours of its release.

"'How To Rob A Bank’ is my attempt to write as close to a good old fashioned rock ’n’ roll song as my band mates would let me get away with,” explains vocalist and guitarist Adam Bird. “I even chose the bank robbery theme as my metaphor because it felt somewhat old-timey to me. Lyrically, the entire song is a metaphor for keeping secrets, specifically ones that I was becoming paranoid would be found out. Nothing criminal though, don't worry!”

For their upcoming LP, “Penny the Dreadful,” the band worked with producer Dean Baltulonis (The Hold Steady) and engineer Howard Willing (Smashing Pumpkins, MUTEMATH).

“Dean was fantastic,” says Bird. “He took a role during pre-production, and we rented a cabin up in New Hampshire for two days to track demos live. He was very hands on with us in a comfortable way, and totally kicked my ass on vocals in a way I had never been pushed before. The results are easily the best vocals I've ever laid down.”

“Howard came in after we tracked, and everything he touches sounds amazing. He was working on the Smashing Pumpkins box set around the same time, and being one of my favorite bands ever, I felt like he was sprinkling a touch of Pumpkin dust on our stuff as well.”

“We want to make a dent in the world. However big or small that dent is, does not concern us. We simply want to leave our mark. To put it another way, we don't aspire to be rich or famous. If we did, we wouldn't be playing in a rock ’n’ roll band with classical touches. Because that's just not cool at all right now,” says Bird with a laugh. We want our music to outlast us. That's the goal. Plain and simple.” 

Download the first single 'A Ballad From Hell' from the upcoming LP Penny the Dreadful