Volebeats

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NEW self titled CD/Double LP out NOW!!!



Buy it at Amazon.com, Musicdirect.com, or at your favorite music outlet!



The Volebeats' new album is an epic double-LP affair, recorded in the heart of Detroit, Michigan. Throughout these 19 new songs, the group that Ryan Adams once called "the best American band" are in top form, proving themselves to be more prolific than ever. The Volebeats is a definitive work from a favorite band of many musicians and critics, and it's their first new album since 2005's Like Her LP.



The Volebeats began developing their particular brand of country-influenced rock n' roll, with Motown hooks and British Invasion harmonies, in Detroit in the late 1980's. Over two decades, they've released a string of critically-acclaimed albums. They've toured in the USA, Canada, England, and Spain. During a tour with Whiskeytown in the 90's, Ryan Adams actually joined the Volebeats for a week, playing onstage with them and co-writing the song "Everytime" with the group's main songwriters Jeff Oakes and Matthew Smith.



The Volebeats appeared onscreen in the movie Shopgirl, playing "Somewhere in my Heart". Also, the Volebeats' "Two Seconds" was covered by country-rock chanteuse Laura Cantrell on her debut LP.



This new self-titled LP is the product of a new phase of intense songwriting and recording activity for the band. Singer Jeff Oakes and guitarist Matthew Smith wrote most of the songs. Jeff appeared at Matt's doorstep with notebooks filled with lyric ideas. Very quickly, these scribbled notes were transformed into full-blown songs with hooks, melodies, riffs, and harmonies. It seemed, after a few years of the band members being committed to other bands and projects, that the Volebeats were suddenly back on active duty.



The new album was recorded on analog 8-track tape. Instead of booking time in a conventional studio, the sessions were arranged in a house not far from the old Motown studio, a recording situation where Matthew Smith currently produces records for a wide range of artists (including Andre Williams, Little Claw, Nathaniel Mayer, and Matt's psychedelic pop group Outrageous Cherry). The Volebeats were determined to make the definitive Volebeats album, and they knew from the start that the record would be at least as long as "Exile on Main St." or the Beatles' white album.



The Volebeats unfolds like a movie. It's an AM radio-influenced American urban dreamscape, where non-stop hooks propel introspective lyrics across a warm analog atmosphere. There's a cover of a great pop song written by Gene Simmons of Kiss, "See You Tonight", as well as the Kinks' "This is Where I Belong". The other 17 tracks are all originals, with no filler throughout 67+ minutes.



The Volebeats have never been easy to categorize, but Gram Parsons' term "Cosmic American Music" is one category they'll accept. Inspired by Detroit music, Memphis music, country music, folk rock, the British Invasion and more, the Volebeats are happy to blur the boundaries between any genres they encounter.



Available as a single-disc CD or a double-disc vinyl LP in a limited edition of 500.



Read more at: http://www.myspace.com/rainbowquartzrecords



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Jeff: also plays with Medusa Cyclone ----------> Matthew: also plays/played with Outrageous Cherry, The Witches, THTX, and Denise James -----------------> Russell: also plays with Denise James ---------------> Scott: also plays/played with Terror At The Opera, and Denise James ------------> Ryan also plays with various other bands around town ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->Have a gander at some reviews of another release of ours entitled, Like Her:



------------------------------------>"In a word: classic.

From the neo-Phil Spector production touches to the reverb-soaked British Invasion-styled guitars to the lush Everly Brothers-esque vocal harmonies, Like Her is a classic pop album from start to finish. Maybe reviewers will finally retire the term alt-country from their Volebeats vocabularies. (Granted, the band didnt help its case by titling jokingly its last album, a covers-heavy collection of rock, pop and psych, Country Favorites.) In fact, in both sonic and stylistic terms, Like Hers lineage can be traced directly back to the Flamin Groovies 1976 platter Shake Some Action, a power-pop touchstone of no small regard. The lovelorn vibe and guitar-vocal arrangement of Here It Comes Again, for example, recalls Shake Somes You Tore Me Down, right down to the closing chord (and dont miss the aforementioned Spector-esque flourishes, particularly the castanets and symphonic bass drum). The buoyant Byrdsian jangle that infuses This Girl makes the tune a close cousin to the Groovies I Cant Hide, and knowing that the Groovies and their Shake Some producer, Dave Edmunds, were huge Everly Brothers fans makes the harmony-rich Everytime (co-written by the Voles Jeff Oakes and Matthew Smith with Ryan Adams) and September Spell go down that much sweeter. Will pop fans some two decades hence cite the Volebeats as a seminal act of its era the same way Groovies acolytes regard their heroes? Hard to say; the landscapes a lot more littered in 2005 than it was in 1976. But I do guarantee that Like Her will only get better with time. "

Fred Mills-Detroit Metro Times



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------>"The venerable Volebeats have been around since I was in high school (which is long ago enough to warrant the term "venerable"). They were the default local opening act for every tour that came through Detroit. Their old singer, Terry, had black teeth and sang songs about dating women in their 50s. Like Her, demonstrates greater confidence and maturity, even if their teeth are a bit whiter. It's out now and you can buy it or download it now through eMusic." -3hive.com------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->



Also see the Volebeats appearing in the Steve Martin/Clare Danes/Jason Schwartzman movie Shopgirl on DVD NOW!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out some live footage >



"SOMEWHERE IN MY HEART"



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"HERE IT COMES"



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"IN THE GARDEN"



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"LIKE HER"



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