Brooklyn's Robbers On High Street had a busy 2011, performing at SXSW, DeLuna Festival & CMJ, West Coast and East Coast tours and releasing their third LP, Hey There Golden Hair via Rocco Grecco Records and on vinyl through Tijuana Gift Shop. All along they received praising reviews from Paste, Spinner, Blurt, Urb, Consequence Of Sound, The L Magazine, Relix and broadcast juggernauts KEXP had the band in for two live sessions in both their NYC and Seattle studios. The album was recorded with their expanded 6-piece lineup along with the help of a horn section borrowed from the Daptone House of Soul and even landed on "Best Of 2011" lists from Metromix, Given & Taken In Ink, Powerpopaholic and more.
They follow up the full length with, Anything Could Happen. The EP will only be available digitally and on limited edition, hand pressed vinyl and drops April 17, 2012.
Known for their placements in movies such as Wedding Crashers and Georgia Rule and TV shows The O.C., Californication and Six Feet Under, Robbers return to the small screen tonight when "Hey Unbelievers" will play on USA's Royal Pains.
Originally only available via PledgeMusic to those who pre-ordered HTGH and pledged for other exclusive items, Anything Can Happen is a rapid journey in four tracks over fifteen minutes.
"The Letter," possibly the most obscure track the band has ever recorded, is an outtake from Hey There Golden Hair. "It was originally supposed to lead into another song so we recorded it in tandem as one long seven and a half minute stretch of tape," explains singer/guitarist Ben Trokan. "But when it came time to sequence the album it didn't fit with the other tunes so we chopped them in two. You can actually hear where the tape runs out at the very end of the fade on 'The Letter'."
Blending Black Sabbath w/ Beatles, "The Letter" even surprised the band. "I made a CD of demos I did for Golden Hair and 'The Letter' was the lead off track. Mikey (drums) told me when he first played it in his car he thought he put on the wrong CD."
The other tunes were recorded and mixed in a series of weekends at Dunham Studio. No demos, no rehearsals, the band just ran through the tunes while producer Matt Shane set up and captured sounds. "We actually work really well under time constraints and knowing that the sooner we get it done the sooner we can reward ourselves with a tall cool one," admits Trokan. "'Didn't Wanna Know' and 'Anything Could Happen' I had laying around for a while but 'Hello My Old Friends' was basically written on the spot. Originally we tried to get it in the new Muppet movie but they didn't take it. Jesse Blum and Morgan played some amazing trumpet and trombone on 'Hello' and somewhere I have a photo of Morgan's mouth covered in blood after recording the Jews harp on 'Anything Could Happen.' What an animal!"
Expect spring and summer tour dates to be announced soon.
"(Hey There Golden Hair) showcases the band's eclectic instrumentation (hey there, organ!) with their clever and unbelievably hooky choruses that sound straight from the classic rock airwaves."
- Nick Heinlein, KEXP
"A clever, confident amalgam of '60s psych and '70s pop, Robbers on High Street have
delivered one of the year's most unexpected surprises."
- Stephen Haag, POPMATTERS
"While looking to the late '60s and early '70s for influence isn't surprising, Robbers on High Street
makes the classic sound fresh with sweet songwriting, catchy riffs, and a whole lot of fun."
- Jeremy Larson, CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND
"Hey There Golden Hair is filled with twelve terrific slices of 60's pop complete with blasting horns, harmonies to die for and hooks galore."
- Tim Hinely, BLURT
"Soulful indie rock reminiscent of the glory days of Death Cab or Interpol, but with a sound
and energy wholly unique unto Trokan's songwriting."
- Sydney Brownstone, THE L MAGAZINE
"The quintet was consistently tight and solid, demonstrating above all else a flair for sophisticated vocal arrangements."
- PASTE MAGAZINE
"The band's jam of layering smooth, smoky vocals on top of sunny, syncopated beats behind a tinkling piano… an equal amount of cool, bemused languor within the fray, far more suggestive of The Pretty Things, or The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society."
- Miss Dolly Mod, MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG
Robbers On High Street is:
Ben Trokan - vocals/guitar
Morgan King - bass/vocals/horns
Mikey Post - drums
Dave "Moose" Sherman - keys/vocals
Nadir Naqvi - guitar/vocals
Doug Rumpf - percussion
