u:mack
Present
Kylesa
Crawdaddy
Friday July 17
Doors 7.30
Tickets €16 From Road, Sound Cellar, Spindizzy, City Discs & online at www.tickets.ie/umack
www.myspace.com/kylesa
www.myspace.com/umackproductions
We're delighted to announce that Savannah, Georgia's KYLESA fly in for a one off Irish show in Dublin's Cradaddy on Friday July 17. Their storming psychedelic downtuned guitar riff's and double drummer live set up has led to them being considered by many to be the best live heavy rock band in the world right now. Twisting the sounds of Black Sabbath and Discharge, their new album "Static Tensions" is the finest Metal album of the year so far
KYLESA
They say that if a band fails to perfect its sound by album number four, it’s time for that band to do the honorable thing and throw in the proverbial towel. This Spring, Savannah, Georgia’s KYLESA – whose music defies classification, as it incorporates avant-garde experimentalism with relentlessly sludgy riffs, drop-tuned guitars and elements of psychedelic rock – issues its fourth studio full-length, Static Tensions, and let’s just say they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
Laura Pleasants, who, along with Phillip Cope, provides KYLESA’s dual-guitar and vocal onslaught, said that Static Tensions marks not only the next phase in the band’s musical progression, but is by far KYLESA’s finest and most experimental effort to date. And that would make sense, seeing as Kylesa’s been at it since 2001, and has experienced frequent lineup shifts over the years. Pleasants, who joins Cope as the band’s sole remaining founding member, feels like the band has truly found its thunder.
“From the first record until the most recent record, my musical influences have changed a bit, and I’ve become a better guitar player,” Pleasants said. “We write better together than we did when we first started, and I feel like we’re a more cohesive unit now. I put a lot of personal pressure on myself, perhaps more so than maybe some of the previous records, because I was more creatively excited about what I wanted to do, and I knew we were going to have more time in the studio than we’ve ever had before. I think that with Time Will Fuse Its Worth (2006), we were really close, but we didn’t quite get it. I think we got it with this record.”
“It was definitely a lot more thought out,” Cope offered. “We have the hindsight of some of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, so we were trying to avoid making them again on this record. I think we came away from the experience with our best stuff yet.”
Produced by Cope, Static Tensions was tracked at the Jam Room in Columbia, S.C. In order to make the best use of their time, the band utilized two studios simultaneously, at times recording the drum parts of both Carl McGinely and Eric Hernandez. It also provided Pleasants with more time to experiment with guitar parts. “All of our records sound pretty different, but with the same core vibe or sound, and I think this new record has our core KYLESA sound, but branches out even more to incorporate more of our rock and psychedelic influences,” Pleasants explained.
Cope credits Pleasants with expanding on the psychedelic on the new record, but said he wanted to make an album of more accessible songs. “I didn’t want to make the songs too longwinded or too crazy,” Cope said. “I wanted to rein it in and leave the listener with something they could hum along to. We’re not trying to be a pop band by any means but I think you can write memorable riffs. You can write a guitar line or a vocal line that stays with you, instead of going in one ear and out the other. I wanted to write a record that had a lasting impression.”
Like any band, since their formation, KYLESA’s had its ups and downs. At one point, after the death of KYLESA’s original bassist, Brian Duke, Pleasants said the band nearly called it quits. Born after several months of jamming, KYLESA wrote and recorded its eponymous debut with Duke, who unexpectedly died in his sleep a few days after KYLESA’s first live gig.
“After that, we weren’t really sure we were going to continue,” Pleasants said. “He was our good friend, and it was devastating. We just put the band on hold at that point but we had already recorded the first record, so we decided we wanted to put it out because Brian was our good friend and he was really happy and stoked on the band. So, we put it out and decided six months later that we would continue.”
Now, after successful tours with Torche, High on Fire, Baroness and Genghis Tron, a late winter Japanese road trip, and U.S. treks planned for this spring with Skeletonwitch, The Haunted, Intronaut and Nachtmystium, KYLESA – feeling strong, and sounding tighter than they ever have before – are preparing for what will be a busy 2009. But while Kylesa have found their voice, they’re not exactly sure what to call it. “I’m at the point now where I really don’t care,” Cope joked. “People can call us whatever they want. Personally, I just play what I want to play, whatever it may be stylistically, and I’m not at all concerned about what other people want to tag us.”
“I think there are metal elements to KYLESA, for sure, but we draw from so many different influences, especially with this new record,” Pleasants added. “We’re a little bit metal, a little bit rock, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I guess it depends on who you ask. I think in terms of song structure and tones, we down-tune so much that it is super heavy, so it has more of a traditional death metal tuning to it. As far as the writing and the song structures, it's more rock-based, with melodic and psychedelic influences as well.”
Present
Kylesa
Crawdaddy
Friday July 17
Doors 7.30
Tickets €16 From Road, Sound Cellar, Spindizzy, City Discs & online at www.tickets.ie/umack
www.myspace.com/kylesa
www.myspace.com/umackproductions
We're delighted to announce that Savannah, Georgia's KYLESA fly in for a one off Irish show in Dublin's Cradaddy on Friday July 17. Their storming psychedelic downtuned guitar riff's and double drummer live set up has led to them being considered by many to be the best live heavy rock band in the world right now. Twisting the sounds of Black Sabbath and Discharge, their new album "Static Tensions" is the finest Metal album of the year so far
KYLESA
They say that if a band fails to perfect its sound by album number four, it’s time for that band to do the honorable thing and throw in the proverbial towel. This Spring, Savannah, Georgia’s KYLESA – whose music defies classification, as it incorporates avant-garde experimentalism with relentlessly sludgy riffs, drop-tuned guitars and elements of psychedelic rock – issues its fourth studio full-length, Static Tensions, and let’s just say they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
Laura Pleasants, who, along with Phillip Cope, provides KYLESA’s dual-guitar and vocal onslaught, said that Static Tensions marks not only the next phase in the band’s musical progression, but is by far KYLESA’s finest and most experimental effort to date. And that would make sense, seeing as Kylesa’s been at it since 2001, and has experienced frequent lineup shifts over the years. Pleasants, who joins Cope as the band’s sole remaining founding member, feels like the band has truly found its thunder.
“From the first record until the most recent record, my musical influences have changed a bit, and I’ve become a better guitar player,” Pleasants said. “We write better together than we did when we first started, and I feel like we’re a more cohesive unit now. I put a lot of personal pressure on myself, perhaps more so than maybe some of the previous records, because I was more creatively excited about what I wanted to do, and I knew we were going to have more time in the studio than we’ve ever had before. I think that with Time Will Fuse Its Worth (2006), we were really close, but we didn’t quite get it. I think we got it with this record.”
“It was definitely a lot more thought out,” Cope offered. “We have the hindsight of some of the mistakes we’ve made in the past, so we were trying to avoid making them again on this record. I think we came away from the experience with our best stuff yet.”
Produced by Cope, Static Tensions was tracked at the Jam Room in Columbia, S.C. In order to make the best use of their time, the band utilized two studios simultaneously, at times recording the drum parts of both Carl McGinely and Eric Hernandez. It also provided Pleasants with more time to experiment with guitar parts. “All of our records sound pretty different, but with the same core vibe or sound, and I think this new record has our core KYLESA sound, but branches out even more to incorporate more of our rock and psychedelic influences,” Pleasants explained.
Cope credits Pleasants with expanding on the psychedelic on the new record, but said he wanted to make an album of more accessible songs. “I didn’t want to make the songs too longwinded or too crazy,” Cope said. “I wanted to rein it in and leave the listener with something they could hum along to. We’re not trying to be a pop band by any means but I think you can write memorable riffs. You can write a guitar line or a vocal line that stays with you, instead of going in one ear and out the other. I wanted to write a record that had a lasting impression.”
Like any band, since their formation, KYLESA’s had its ups and downs. At one point, after the death of KYLESA’s original bassist, Brian Duke, Pleasants said the band nearly called it quits. Born after several months of jamming, KYLESA wrote and recorded its eponymous debut with Duke, who unexpectedly died in his sleep a few days after KYLESA’s first live gig.
“After that, we weren’t really sure we were going to continue,” Pleasants said. “He was our good friend, and it was devastating. We just put the band on hold at that point but we had already recorded the first record, so we decided we wanted to put it out because Brian was our good friend and he was really happy and stoked on the band. So, we put it out and decided six months later that we would continue.”
Now, after successful tours with Torche, High on Fire, Baroness and Genghis Tron, a late winter Japanese road trip, and U.S. treks planned for this spring with Skeletonwitch, The Haunted, Intronaut and Nachtmystium, KYLESA – feeling strong, and sounding tighter than they ever have before – are preparing for what will be a busy 2009. But while Kylesa have found their voice, they’re not exactly sure what to call it. “I’m at the point now where I really don’t care,” Cope joked. “People can call us whatever they want. Personally, I just play what I want to play, whatever it may be stylistically, and I’m not at all concerned about what other people want to tag us.”
“I think there are metal elements to KYLESA, for sure, but we draw from so many different influences, especially with this new record,” Pleasants added. “We’re a little bit metal, a little bit rock, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I guess it depends on who you ask. I think in terms of song structure and tones, we down-tune so much that it is super heavy, so it has more of a traditional death metal tuning to it. As far as the writing and the song structures, it's more rock-based, with melodic and psychedelic influences as well.”
