Stateside Presents

BAD SUNS

TALK IN TONGUES, WL FPK

Sat, May 16, 2015

Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm

The Pressroom

Phoenix, AZ

$15.00 - $18.00

Sold Out

This event is all ages

BAD SUNS
Southern California rock band Bad Suns formed in 2012 and in the short time since inception, have managed to be musically beyond their years. Made up of Christo Bowman (vocals), Gavin Bennett (bass), Miles Morris (drums) and Ray Libby (guitar) the four piece ranges from ages 19-22 yet has a sound reminiscent of rock stalwarts from generations past. "I grew up with a lot of world music playing in the house. When I was 10, I started getting heavily interested in the guitar, and my dad began introducing me to his records from the 70's and the 80's. Initially Elvis Costello, then to The Clash, The Cure, and so on," notes Chris. "All of these artists and bands had a big impact on me, at a young age, as far as song composition goes. " Influences are apparent on the band's upcoming EP Transpose, where angst-ridden riffs and ethereal yet charismatic vocals pay tribute to post-punk legends of the early 80's. " I started writing my first songs at that time," Chris continues, "Though we can now reflect on that era of music, those artists were ahead of their time in a lot of ways. That's what's most inspiring."

Transpose was recorded in the studio with producer Eric Palmquist (The Mars Volta, Wavves, Trash Talk) and serves as a prelude to the band's debut full-length slated for 2014. "The writing and recording process is always exciting, because it's constantly changing and unique to each song. Inspiration comes and goes as it pleases, so a night when a song gets written is a very good night," says Chris. Comprised of four tracks, Transpose flows effortlessly from start to finish showcasing the band's stadium ready anthems and undeniably catchy hooks. "Music has the ability to evoke certain feelings in people, a way that not much else can. The pairing of words and sounds can be an extremely powerful tool, when done right. I think the ultimate goal for this band is to make music that causes people to really feel something."

Aside from writing a record, Bad Suns' 2013 was a busy one, complete with multiple CMJ showcases as well as sharing the stage with the likes of The 1975 and Vaccines with no signs of slowing down any time soon. Transpose will be released everywhere in the early months of 2014.

"One day I just decided to be a musician, and I never strayed away from that goal. Being in a band is the only thing I can do."- Chris Bowman
TALK IN TONGUES
Los Angeles foursome Talk In Tongues didn't come out of nowhere, although it sounded that way when their debut single "Still Don't Seem To Care" suddenly appeared online. And it felt that way for them at the beginning, too, when each member was a refugee from another band that just wasn't working right. Back then, they were barely acquaintances—guitarist and singer McCoy Kirgo remembers seeing his future bandmates at shows in their other bands, and then at parties after the shows. And if you looked into the music they'd already made, it didn't quite make sense for them to put a band together. (Future bassist Waylon Rector wrote constantly, but all his songs were laptop-made synth-pop.)

But they almost immediately found that they all shared limitless drive and direction and an unexpected common ground in several generations of psychedelic music, from the 60s Pink Floyd and 13th Floor Elevators through the unstoppable Creation Records roster in the 90s. Then things happened fast. By the end of their first practice together, they'd already discovered what they wanted to sound like. Says guitarist and singer Garrett Zeile: "I had songs I'd compiled over the last year, and they fit the direction we wanted—they were the building blocks. Then we all started contributing."

They booked a show weeks after their first practice together in early 2014, mostly just to prove to the world that they really existed. (If you were there, you're part of a very lucky and exclusive group!) The very next day, they went into their home studio and recorded their first single "Still Don't Seem To Care," a dreamy, ethereal neo-psychedelic song mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer (Arctic Monkeys, Interpol). It was just the kind of sound he'd been looking for, says Kirgo: "I wanted to play big music, like something you'd hear at a fest like Glastonbury. That's what made me want to dive into psychedelic rock."

And almost instantly, it lit up the Internet and led to an immediate signing with Fairfax Recordings, whose legendary in-house studio sealed the deal for Talk In Tongues: "It just so happened that the first label that hit us up was Fairfax, and it was exactly what we were looking for," says Rector. "Every step of the way, there's been a new opportunity, and we go for it. It's all been very serendipitous."

Slowly and a little bit unofficially, Fairfax Recording sessions that were supposed to just produce a B-side or two stretched into day after day of working on what would become their debut album. Everyone in Talk In Tongues writes and plays multiple instruments—they all play each other's instruments, says Zeile—and everyone had a catalog of ideas they'd been saving. For the first time in his career, noticed drummer Bryan DeLeon, he was in a band where there was no such thing as writer's block. And as the summer of 2014 ended, they decided they'd finished their full-length—two months after they'd walked in to record a single. (And the eventual B-side of that "Still Don't Seem To Care" single? A remix by Scandinavian visionary Dungen, due out this November.)

With production from Kevin Augunas (Cold War Kids, Edward Sharpe), their debut album, out in early 2015, links modern-day psychedelia with the foundation of early 60's experimentation—it's melody and atmosphere and noise-as-beauty captured (barely) in songs that should be blasting out of the Coachella main stage somewhere around midnight. Says drummer DeLeon: "We're excited this is 100% ours, and we put in the world—every part of this album is an expression of ourselves."
Venue Information:
The Pressroom
441 W. Madison Street
Phoenix, AZ, 85003
https://www.thepressroomaz.com/