Play this EP so David Strange can be in a million places at once. Play it tomorrow so it can live in the future, full of ahistorical desire. The psychic texture of these tracks in combination — a deep, jagged, enchanted sense of potentiality — is catching; let it catch you.
The album that I have undertaken is about women survivors from around the world. Each song is written about a specific person who has overcome a situation that has compromised her rights as a human being. In August this year, after listening to a documentary on Victoria Montenegro, I sat down and wrote the first song on this recording. Victoria Montenegro was a disappeared child taken at birth by the Argentine military and raised as someone else. At the age of 21 she discovered the truth. All proceeds from this recording with go to Amnesty International.
The second song is dedicated to Anuradha Koirala.
Anuradha Koirala has created a foundation in Nepal that provides a safe haven for victims of sex slavery, domestic violence, child labour and child prostitution. One of her greatest hopes is that we can embrace victims of sex trafficking and treat every girl as if she were our own daughter. Her words inspired this song. I have chosen a number of stories of women who have undergone injustice and are fighting back in the hope of changing the conditions from which their hardships arose.
During the last three months I have researched and written six such songs. I hope that by lending these women my voice I will be giving them another avenue to bring awareness to their cause.
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“Scott and Scotty joined us in 2012, “ says Swenk. “We had already locked into our style and sound by then, but them coming on board really kicked everything into a higher gear and gave us an extra “punch” in our sound.”Big Daddy Love refers to its intoxicating musical mixture as Appalachian Rock, a sort of catch all phrase to describe its spirited foray into every style imaginable. There’s a blush of bluegrass, a smattering of soul and then there’s the high lonesome whine of an Allmanesque slide guitar. Big Daddy Love has a bold, intrepid spirit woven through their tunes; it’s a mish mash of styles that fits them perfectly. Moss said the band wanted to showcase their varying styles and the talent of each member on this new release.
“We wanted it to be a cross-section … wanted it to sound like an album and not just a collection of songs, As a band, we’re probably at the point where we need to be putting out an album every 18 months or so,” Moss said.
“I think we’ve all had experiences where bringing different styles together comes easily or it just doesn’t flow,” admits banjo player Brian Swenk. “Fortunately, for this group of guys it comes very easily. We could feel it in the very beginning and it’s one of the biggest reasons we’ve been able to go as far as we have with our sound.”
4. Villian Vs. The Kid
"We gave Steve Berlin forty demo tracks that ranged from home demos done by Sean and I (some of which made it on the album), recordings of us practicing/improvising, and songs that we had previously worked out together," recalls Russell. "Steve whittled the list down to his favorite eighteen and we cut a few, and ended up with fifteen."
"A major factor in this album was the inclusion of Steve Berlin as producer," quickly confirms Badders. "In the past, the albums were produced by us and our engineers - and we love how those came out -but this was the first time we really let an outsider really shape what was happening, and honestly it made a lot of things way easier."
"For this album we really went back to our roots and just said f**k it, lets just make the best album we can regardless of what the songs are or how it might be perceived," he says. "I joke that its like the first album we did, only fifty times better due to increased musicianship, songwriting, and the help of Steve Berlin producing. Along with the songs we did with Steve, we have five or six songs I composed by myself on a multitrack program on my iPad that we ended up using on the album, kind of like in an interlude sense like on great hip-hop albums we grew up listening to in the 90s, minus the comedic skits."
He pauses for a minute and continues, "We really wanted to make this a weird, psychedelic rock album that was consistent throughout, but also slightly off in a good way. We really spared no expense as far as keyboards, horns, backing vocals, or anything else."
"With Steve Berlin as the producer there was an attitude of exploration that allowed all members of the band to contribute their musical voice completely," furthers Russell. "In the process of recording we were not stifled by any thoughts of adding too much and thus we incorporated many vocal, guitar, keys, horns, and aux percussion that were contributed by some very talented friends, as well as ourselves."
"We couldn't have asked for a better environment," says Badders. "Isaac was kind enough to let us use all Modest Mouse's basses and guitars and pedals and whatever. It really was the most ideal situation for us."
He continues, "We haven't recorded in Portland in a few years, so it was nice to be in our home town and have friends and people stop by the studio. Isaac dropped by to say hello, and we even had Galactic, a New Orleans funk band, stop by before their gig at the Crystal Ballroom, so it really was just a great place to be and hangout."
"We also each took on more musical responsibilities," recalls Badders on the making of the record. "With the iPad tracks included, I ended up singing lead on thirteen of the fifteen songs, so that was so much fun for me to really go for it and do the lead singer thing. I also did a majority of all the back-up and harmony vocals on this album, so vocally I really stepped my game up and took the load upon myself and I feel like I rose to the challenge. I got to channel my full Harry Nilsson and showcase my chops."
"Having said that," he says, "Jimmy and I also took on a wider range of instruments. I played guitar, bass, flute, percussion, keyboards, and synth, while Jimmy did all the lead guitar as well as keyboards, pianos, bass, and vocals as well. We really got to be free to try new things."
"The lyrics, groove, arrangements, instrumentation, and dynamics are present in every song. All together the songs are a dynamic, psychedelic journey that embodies the attitude of Follow Us Overboard. I'm pretty sure none of us envisioned using demo tracks as part of the completed record, yet they turned out to be some of my favorite parts and added to the dynamic psychedelic journey of the whole record immensely."
Track List
I had almost forgotten about “Never Coming Home To Me.” I wrote it about 7 years ago when my daughter's mother and I separated. We hadn't been together long, were never married, and separated not long after my daughter was born. I had sort of locked it away and forgotten about it. When I started working with [producer Nathan James] Dohse, I started making demos of a bunch of different songs to see what stuck. Nathan immediately brought "Never Coming Home To Me" out of the pile. I think he saw its potential, and we started breathing new life into it. When we got into the studio, it was like I was learning the song for the first time. Megan Palmer was gracious enough to lend her voice and fiddle talents to a few tracks on the record, including this one, even though we recorded the day after she got off the plane from Alaska from a tour with Tim Easton. I'm sure she was very tired and jet-lagged, but she came anyway. A whole group of great talented people helped put this album together, and being a solo performer for the past year, it was such a blast to create music with awesome musicians.Free Single Never Coming Home To Me
we saw Nashville-via-Birmingham, AL group Banditos at one of those fly-by-night, hole-in-the-wall bars that sprout like skunkweed on Sixth Street in Austin, TX during the height of SXSW crazy. The only other patrons were Bud Light-swilling bros watching a blowout college basketball game; the sound system at this place was a painful mix of all treble and reverb; and the noises oozing out of the PA during another band's set were not unlike the distorted echoes of the soundtrack to Suspiria (and not in a good way). We wish we were kidding."
Then the six-piece Banditos took the stage, and even though they themselves were a little intimidating - all hair, denim, and stoic determination - the sounds they managed to conjure from two overworked speakers were fresh, raw, and spectacular. We were instantly blown away and are now thrilled to announce Banditos have signed with Bloodshot Records and will release a new album sometime in early 2015.
With the rugged power of a flashy Super Chief locomotive, the Banditos bodaciously appropriate elements of '60s blues-fused acid rock, ZZ Top's jangly boogie, the Drive-By Truckers' yawp, the populist choogle of CCR, Slim Harpo's hip shake baby groove, gut bucket Fat Possum hill country mojo and the Georgia Motherfucking Satellites. From backwoods bluegrass, to slinky nods to Muscle Shoals soul and unexpected bits of doo-wop sweetness, the Banditos recall many, but sound like no one but themselves.Since then I've been hoping to see a live show, they have about a half a dozen videos up but this is by far the best I've see. This is a band to watch, they got it laid down at the top of thier game with a long way to go.
