[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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Bonnaroo 2008 Thursday (Day 1): Festies Ain’t Easy, But They Sure Are Fun

Going to a festival is not all fun and games. The live concert experience is never assured bliss. There are so many external factors that could go sour. A huge fest like Bonnaroo has an army of these possible setbacks. But sometimes overcoming the odds and the elements can be the recipe for an unforgettable weekend.

So after hanging out in Manchester a little bit Wednesday night, I rode back into town in the morning to pick up my press credentials. I then went to my hotel to await the arrival of my caravan of ATLiens. One of the cars in our group had a road cone fly up and crack their windshield in Chattanooga, forcing them to abandon their vehicle to repair and then squeeze their gear and bodies in other folks’ already tightly packed rides. The slight travel delay here would seem insignificant compared to the traffic jam we would wait in shortly after.

Now I’m from Atlanta so traffic isn’t new to me, but sitting still on the side of the interstate for 5+ hours is just never that fun. This would actually be the longest I’ve ever waited to get into the ‘roo. As is typical, everyone gets out of their cars and socializes on the side of the road to pass the time, and then as soon as the line starts moving a bit, everyone scrambles into their rides to grab another 50 feet.


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The Serendipitous Hottness: Royal Bangs

Long before I started doing this blog thing, I was booking bands at house parties and other disreputable venues on the westside. Even a bunch of Tech kids getting drunk in a backyard can be valuable exposure to young bands just starting out, so I’ve always done everything I can to help bands that I thought had potential. The whole point behind both this blog and those parties was to give art an audience. Connect people to good music. You know, “Those who can’t do, teach.”

So recently one of the local outfits that I’ve been rallying for reached out to me for help in booking another band. The band needing some help turned out to be Royal Bangs, and has been one of my favourite discoveries of this year. It is mind boggling to me that none of the very talented booking agents around this city didn’t nab a band of this caliber (I mean they’re playing at Bonnaroo) before me, but I hadn’t heard of them before this either, so I guess I just got really lucky. It’s so nice to have great music just dropped in your lap.

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Ohmpark’s Guide To Bonnaroo 2008

Less than a week away and I’m ready to go! If you’re going to Bonnaroo this year, the following post will give you what I think is the crucial info and best acts. If you’re not going, you might want to rethink that and buy a ticket. You can read up on some of my stories from the first 5 Bonnaroos here. You can read my review of last year’s fest here. If you want to really obsess about Bonnaroo for endless hours, I highly recommend checking out Inforoo, the Bonnaroo message board. You can get pretty much every single bit of information you could ever imagine about the fest there. I’m going to give you a couple of nuggets that I think are particularly educational for first timers:

Currently, the Weather.com forecast calls for scattered t-storms all weekend right now (up to 60% chance of rain Saturday) and highs in the ’80s. I recommend you get some good mud boots just in case, because even a little bit of rain is going to make that place a big muddy mess. The mud will literally eat flip flops off of your feet, so beware. All my hippier friends swear by wearing crocs during regular conditions, but I always feel more comfortable in socks and tennis shoes. Also on the rainy weather tip, I’ve seen the thunderstorms decimate some campsites, so prepare accordingly. Put tarps under/over your tents. Bring a poncho.

The gates usually open early Wednesday night, but ever since the 3rd ‘roo (when they finally found the best way to deal with traffic), they send all of the first arrivals to the very, very far away Southeastern camping outpost. I’ve been the victim of this several times, and it was annoying. The more you walk, the more energy you’re going to exert, and this will hinder your ability to all out party for 4 days. And don’t expect to get a bunch of sleep, because usually by 8am it is too hot to sleep in your tent. It seems like if you get there late Thursday morning or early Thursday afternoon you can get a spot closer to Centeroo (the area where the stages are), especially if you are coming from the east (like us ATLiens). The downside, less time at the party and longer waits in the line to get in. Think about it.

Speaking of the party, this is a big-ass music fest with circa 75,000 people, so there is gonna be some craziness going on. BUT, this is not the Bonnaroo of your older cousin’s. There will be police sparsely around inside the fest grounds looking to bust folks for illegal activities. The ban on unofficial vendors is heavily enforced now, so “Skakedown Street” is not what it used to be. If you’re smart and just a tad bit careful, you are almost assured have a fun-filled week, just don’t be too stupid.

Ok, so let’s dig into the line-up. The first night has me really excited:

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