THE BLANK TAPES is the moniker of Los Angeles & San Francisco based musician & artist, Matt Adams, who has produced over 10 albums of 1960's psychedelic-surf-pop-folk-rock on an old 8 track cassette tape recorder in various garages, basements, sheds & bedrooms across the California Coast. Matt is also the artist behind his band's posters & album covers, and along with his band mates, Pearl, DA, & Will, they've toured throughout America, Brazil, Europe, & Japan. They just released a 7" with 20-Sided Records and a few new cassette tapes with Burger Records, Curly Cassettes & Dome of Doom. They also have a new studio album called "VACATION" coming out on Antenna Farm Records Spring of 2013! Matt Adams is also the artist behind The Blank Tapes.
http://vimeo.com/42228242
"We discovered this lo-fi unsigned band - which somehow evokes Belle and Sebastion, Pavement, and the Black Keys - in a San Fran coffeehouse (just like the old days.) Quick, somebody sign them!" -ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
#3 on the Top 5 LA Garage Rock Bands - LA WEEKLY 2012
"I like seeing the Blank Tapes live because they're reliably awesome every time" - LA WEEKLY
"The last time I saw him my most fundamental confidence in myself was shaken because half his set was songs so good I knew they had to be covers of bands I already loved, yet I did not know them and if I can't even remember songs by the bands I love then why am I even going out at night when there are a lot of boring forms I could be filling out instead? But these were all Adams originals and they pretty much sounded perfect, and I even went home and listened to everything Ray Davies ever recorded on his own just in case there was something I missed but there wasn't. He wears sloppy sweaters and his band showed up looking like they just rolled out of men's central holding and it was the first best show of the year." -LA RECORD
The musical style quickly shaped out to be a mix of 1960s' pop, Californian Pop, garage rock and psychedelic folk rock in the line of The Beach Boys, The Mamas & The Papas or Creedence Clearwater Revival. Vintage ingredients, but the result is not a retro sound. Instead, Matt and Pearl offered us their very own modern popcoming from Los Angeles. You could positively see the sun shine out of the songs, get the feeling of relaxing on the beach and sense their general cool attitude towards life. The Blank Tapes transmitted this nonchalance to their audience who thoroughly enjoyed the show (along with a few beers or Rosé wine). In this setting, a mix* of older songs and new ones off the brand new output Sun's Too Bright were joyfully played until the night fell. -Mein Zuhaus Mein Blog (Paris, FR)
"I like seeing the Blank Tapes live because they're reliably awesome every time." - LA WEEKLY
"I had heard some buzz about The Blank Tapes (based out of SF), but I became increasingly interested as eight men and women walked on stage at The Independent and started playing a very groovy, syncopated rhythm that ranged from a modern take on the sixties San Francisco sound to solid rock and roll pop with memorable hooks and riffs, danceable beats, and always incorporating a joyful sound. I could tell the band was happy to be playing their music, and the crowd reacted to this energy- dancing and moving to the music coming from onstage." -SF EXAMINER
"Adams writes winsome pop tunes that snuggle up to you on the sofa and put a rosy glow in your cheeks. He's a traditional pop-rock craftsman, but Adams also has pronounced folk proclivities, with many songs exuding a delicate, campfire aura. They go down easy, like the sun." -OC WEEKLY
"The Blank Tapes songs felt like melodic escapism layered with harmonies – songs about plants, Santa Cruz hideaways, small faraway towns. Together they have good energy and stage presence which traverse into the audience. Both the performances on and off the stage were impressive." -THE DELI MAGAZINE SF (voted Band of the Month!)
"They played a great set that pushed all the right buttons for me: catchy folk-pop-rock sections that break away into grooves that build and build with layers of keys. What you might call "jamming," but you should qualify as "the good kind." A tasteful jam band, if you will. All the musicians in the band are super talented, and each gets their own moment to shine . When The Blank Tapes solo, it's tasteful, like I said."
"The Blank Tapes just never seem to stop. Probably one of the most prolific artists we've featured." -WIRETAP MUSIC in SF
"(referring to the length of CDs) Bands like Guided By Voices and They Might Be Giants were certainly stretching the track limit, but rarely did they unleash as many fully-formed nuggets as can be found on the Blank Tapes' 80-minute album Daydreams. The Blank Tapes is primarily Bay Area mainstay Matt Adams aided by a coterie of souls subsisting on a diet of bioluminescence and driftwood kindling—part of that hippie invitingness lurking in the fog, welcoming anyone with a melodica and a functioning lung to the party." -LONG BEACH DISTRICT WEEKLY
"BEST NEW FOLKIE (2006)" -SF WEEKLY
"The Blank Tapes' songs are plenty: homemade but not particularly lo-fi, fully-formed not half-baked, bereft of the indecision that plagues so much of what passes for indie these days. You don't have to be into far-out shit to get sucked into his melodies or his lyrics. It's just kinda classic great songwriting on a more intimate scale." -THE PHOENIX Boston
"(Daydreams CD review) The band is spearheaded by Matt Adams who writes and records all of the songs on cassette tapes using an old Tascam 8-track. The outcome is a beautiful album of 25 songs oozing with authenticity." -THREE IMAGINARY GIRLS Seattle
"The Daydreams CD is chock full of excellence: overflowing with it in fact. Every time you hit play, another gem pops out from the crowd." -KQED review
"(Landfair CD review) Time passes but with this record this is hardly noticeable you're enjoying the music so much. The songs may set up drab situations with the lyrics, but the sunny pop melodies obscure the boredom the singer might be suffering. Dizzyingly quiet and lovelorn, these songs show a diverse and pleasant range." -EVEN IN THE FUTURE New Zealand
"Landfair Best Pop/Rock Album 2007" -INDEPENDANT MUSIC AWARDS
"Matt Adams was incredible. he gave us free buttons and stickers and I wear mine with pride." -Becky Lindquist Blog
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"After the 25-song double-plus-album Daydreams, Matt Adams and the Blank Tapes return with the all-roaring no-boring full-length Home Away From Home—ten songs of full-band Kinks-plus-Creedence roots-rock 'n' roll that sounds like it came out of a roadhouse in Luckenbach, Texas, even though it was recorded on Matt's very own 8-track in a bedroom in Oakland, California. After three albums, fans know he's at home playing solo and playing soft, but on Home Away From Home, Matt's got his Telecaster turned up. When he's destroying, he's Lou Reed or Neil Young telling the cops to get lost, and when he's desolate, he's Leonard Cohen or Ray Davies wondering how it feels when a heart starts and stops. Home Away From Home is Matt's Loaded, Matt's Lola Vs. Powerman And The Money-Go-Round Part 1, Matt's Rust Never Sleeps or Matt's Cosmo's Factory—the kind of album that electric guitars are designed to make." -CHRIS ZIEGLER
