[Video] Royal Bangs: “War Bells”

This video is a few months old now, but it didn’t get a whole ton of circulation around the hyperazzis when it dropped, so you might not have seen it. If you haven’t gotten hip to Knoxville, TN’s Royal Bangs yet, you are sorely missing out. Those of you going to the ‘roo this weekend should try your best to catch them on the late night Friday after seeing The Flaming Lips. One of these days I really need to finally edit up the interview I did with them at Bonnaroo ’08, because they were hilarious. But for now:


Royal Bangs
“War Bells”
From Let It Beep
Directed by Brandon Blommaert

On The Road: Tennessee

Right now I’m hanging out at a weird cafe in Memphis, Tennessee where This Piano Plays Itself will be playing later tonight. Getting on the road with a band and sharing the experience really helps put perspective on things for me, and if you ever have the chance to do the same, I can’t recommend it enough. Each day and night is a new mysterious adventure for a mostly unknown touring band, wrought with obstacles to be overcome. It is a long, arduous road to travel, booking shows in cities where no one has heard of you, financing the gas and food, finding places to crash each night, there is so much to take on. Of course, there are plenty of upsides to the experience as well.

The first show of this tour in an “anarchist bookstore” in Birmingham, Alabama Monday night ended up getting canceled due to almost nobody showing up. But the band set up their gear anyways and played a set comprised of instrumental jams I’ve never heard them perform before to a couple of friends who came up from Atlanta, myself and the bookstore staff. It was a fun kickoff party and a truly special set, and luckily I caught most of it on video that I’m saving to post up here one rainy day in the future. Last night they ended up playing their first real show in Chattanooga to a decent crowd and then most of us stayed up until dawn talking about silly stuff.

Since I’m in Tennessee, I figured I would talk about a few of my favourite Tennessee bands. Knoxville’s Royal Bangs are getting closer to finishing up a new album to follow up last year’s We Breed Champions (my #17 album of 2008). I was on the fence about the new material when I caught them playing in Atlanta a few months ago, but the recorded versions sound great. Here is one of them that has just hit the blogosphere:

Royal Bangs : My Car Is Haunted
Royal Bangs myspace
Royal Bangs will be at The Earl July 18th and October 16th.

At one of the final shows at the 1084 House last summer, we hosted Nashville’s Jeff The Brotherhood to a packed out crowd on a Monday night. I know the guitar/drummer duo thing is a bit overused at this point, but it is hard for me to recall anybody pull it off better live than these guys. Here’s a track to preview:

Jeff The Brotherhood : I Don’t Nee Your Tas-T
Jeff The Brotherhood myspace
Jeff The Brotherhood will be at The Earl November 12th

My biggest Tennessee crush band right now is Murfreesboro’s Blastoids. Since I’ve been talking about them plenty lately, I’m just going to drop a live video on you:

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Photos: Adron, A Fight to the Death, Lindsay Appel, Royal Bangs @ Star Bar (6/25/09)

Royal Bangs:

Lindsay Appel:

A Fight To The Death:


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Videos: Royal Bangs, Skin Problems @ Capsule (4/13/09)

This show as supposed to be headlined by Atlanta’s Nomen Novum, but unfortunately right after the Royal Bang‘s set some douche robbed a few of the concert goers outside the venue. Nobody got hurt, but a couple of purses got nabbed, and the 45 minute wait for the cops negated time for another set. Skin Problems were loud. Royal Bangs tried out a lot of new material and some of it I liked and some of it I didn’t, but I’m not going to really judge it until I hear it on the new album. Clint already posted photos of this show you can see here if you missed it, but here are a few videos:

Skin Problems:

Royal Bangs:

Photos: Royal Bangs at Capsule in Atlanta, GA (4/13/09)

Royal Bangs

What Up In the ATL?

This week seems to be lacking in shows that interest me, but there are a few really good ones. The Monday night show with two Ohmpark favs, Nomen Novum and Royal Bangs, is going to be incredible. Criminal Records’ Record Store Day celebrations on Saturday are going to be a ton of fun. Also, both 420 Fest in Candler Park and the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park are going down this weekend if you are into that sort of thing.

Best shows in Atlanta April 13- 19:

Monday:

Nomen Novum, Royal Bangs, Skin Problems @ Capsule

Wednesday:

French Kicks, The Long Shadows @ The Earl

Thursday:

Rabbit In The Moon @ Opera

Pree, Merideth Bragg, KChari @ Drunken Unicorn

Friday:

Tiger! Tiger!, Hollow Stars, Lonesome @ The Earl

Stokeswood, 13 Day Mission, Josh Roberts & the Hinges, This Piano Plays Itself @ The Masquerade

Little Tybee, Leisure Seizure, The Killer & The Martyr @ Drunken Unicorn

Saturday:

Thy Mighty Contract, Noot d’ Noot, Judi Chicago, Carnivores, Selmanaires, Ocha La Rocha, more @ Criminal Records

Crippled Black Phoenix (w/ Dominic Aitchison of Mogwai), Ascent of Everest @ 529

Ladytron, The Faint @ Variety Playhouse




Mp3 previews:

Royal Bangs : New Scissors
Crippled Black Phoenix : Sharks And Storms
The Faint : The Geeks Were Right

What Up In The ATL?

Tomorrow night we have three phenomenal bands for you to check out at the awesome new art facility WonderRoot. All proceeds go to benefit the art center. This is going to be something special so don’t miss it.

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Bonnaroo 2008 Friday (Day 2): The Sun, The Fiery Furnaces, The Free Beer Tent; This Is Why I’m Hott

Friday morning started about 4 hours after Thursday night ended for me with the sun making things too uncomfortable for me to sleep late. I grabbed some breakfast and got an early start on the day. I got to the media area to do some blogging and listen to the media orientation speech. They laid out everything we could and couldn’t do, and none of it really seemed to effect what I’m doing. I don’t have all access, but it seems like there are lots of artists in the media area doing interviews and such, so that has been really cool. I gave the guitarist from Minus The Bear some daps before catching some shows.

First up was The Fiery Furnaces. They did a set that was very similar to the set they did at The Variety Playhouse earlier this year, except this time they had a thimble player to make it a 5 piece. It was extremely tight and heavily weighted by Widow City songs, which I love. At some point a cardboard cutout of Eleanor made its way into the crowd, followed by other cardboard cutouts that I thought at first were the rest of the band, but then I saw one of them was Bradford Cox and realized they were from the Converse ad.


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