To: Christopher Koulouris <christopher@scallywagandvagabond.com>
Here it is:
A lot of bands begin their journey haphazardly enough, perhaps inviting
a few acquaintances to their first gig and putting up inscrutable
fliers here and there. But Electric Black, being Electric Black, went a
little further, hitting the streets with their instruments and a huge
bouquet of balloons in order to personally invite random pedestrians to
their opening show at Bowery Electric on the night of March 26th. When
the big day rolled around, Electric Black played its first gig to a
sold-out house.
The opening night success was only partly
attributable to the balloon gambit. Despite having not yet released an
album, Electric Black had already managed to pick up some attention by
way of a couple of tracks the band had released via its MySpace page.
In a day and age which fairly overflows with new bands, MySpace band
pages, sample tracks, and invitations from new bands to check out their
MySpace pages and listen to their sample tracks, the clips offered by
Electric Black stuck out like a three-legged kitten in a tractor
factory.
There's something about Electric Black that inspires
nonsensical metaphors. For one thing, the band possesses that
hard-to-pin-down quality of the sort to which many bands can only
aspire. The group itself most commonly refers to itself as "the most
punk rock country-blues chamber orchestra on earth," which is certainly
accurate, although the term "American gypsy music" has also been used
here and there. Almost inevitably, written descriptions of Electric
Black tend to evoke Tom Waitts, with this due in large part to the
vocal harshness of lead singer and songwriter Johnny B, who himself
shrugs at the comparison. "You
know, [accordion player] Melissa [Elledge] has nailed
this topic and nailed it
shut. She says, 'Anytime someone
can't classify something they say it's the Tom Waits of its medium."
And she is dead on. I have, for example, called Stravinsky the Tom
Waits of classical
music. I know I'm wrong, but fuck
it. It sounds cool and makes me look learned." She's probably right; I
myself once resorted to describing the group as sounding like "what Frank Zappa might have
sounded like if Frank Zappa had been influenced by Frank Zappa and had
actually been Tom Waits in disguise all along." Besides, says Johhny, "Tom doesn't
own the copyright on overdriving ones larynx nor did he invent the style. He
ripped it from Capt Beefheart who stole it from Howling Wolf and God only knows
who Mr. Wolf took it from."
In
fact, the band's influences range among more obscure territory.
Electric Black was meant to be, says Johnny, "a true hybrid of all the
art and artists I have loved throughout my
short life, from Tarkovsky and Kubrick in films, to Frieda Kala and
Magritte on
the canvas. Countless authors, poets, and strangers I have met during
my
journey. The grand weirdos who have seemed to master some small aspect
of 'the art of living'." Envisioning the style that he was after,
Johnny says, "I heard an
orchestral sound in my head, but laid in heavy with blues and country
and folk - a sound whose lyrical quality infuses the punk rock
mentality with the subtle
grace of Leonard Cohen and Lorca." And then, of course, it remained
only for Johnny to find other musicians who wanted to produce the same
improbable thing.
This was surprisingly simple, and Johnny is happy with the mix of
talents that surround the project. "Lucas Leto (drums) and I have known
each other way longer than is healthy and he pretty much reads my mind
when it
comes to writing a rhythm that can connect with the caveman in all of
us. Doug Wright (bass) is simply God and I
don't think he has ever played one wrong note. Jackson Kincheloe
(harmonica/lap steel) and I really are the closest in musical
taste as we both are blues men to our bones. He can make any
instrument weep and scream, which is all I
ask of anyone who calls himself a musician. Melissa Elledge
(accordion/piano/organ) is classically
trained and so refined that there is no way I can find fault with her.
She puts a spin on the sound I could
never write, and gives us the real orchestral flavor. Georgie Seville
(guitar) has got such a real feel for the
blues and music in general. He may also be the only guitar player on
earth who
doesn't suffer from lead guitar player syndrome. Rhys Tivy (trumpet) is
a
prodigy. Hes only 18 and can channel Davis, Baker, Armstrong on cue.
But
always with an original feel thats so smooth and dirty like a
well-oiled
pedophile." All in all, Johnny explains, "The band is a
group of sonic tailors dressing my raw and naked emotion in the finest
low-down-dirty styles of the day."
Electric Black's first album will be released via digital download on
June 16th; the band's album release show will be held on June 25th at
The Delancey. Bring your own balloons.