Bowlegs: So you started as a duo and are now a four-piece – did you run auditions for the new members or just hook up with friends?

MS: I didn’t really know […]]]>

School Knights are off the hook with their sharp-edged, alt-rock stampedes. Their latest track, Powerslut, is a relentless piece of jolting rhythm and spiky guitars. We talked to singer Michael Stein about living with Gauntlet Hair, supporting Black Lips and finding the DNA recipe for the School Knights’ sound.

Bowlegs: So you started as a duo and are now a four-piece – did you run auditions for the new members or just hook up with friends?

MS: I didn’t really know anyone who played music when I went to school in Boulder that wasn’t a DJ or something, I moved back to Boulder from Denver specifically to play with Zack. Zack was in a surf band called Thee Octaves that pretty much just plays parties, and that’s where we got Ben and Morris. There wasn’t really an audition process, once I met them I knew it would work out and when they happened to be good at their instruments it was a perk.

Bowlegs: You’ve supported the likes of Vivian Girls, Cloud Nothings and The Black Lips – how did you land those slots, and are they a big help in getting your music out there?

MS: Most of the shows we get now (especially the bigger ones) are through being a part of the Holy Underground collective in Denver. Playing with the Black Lips has been a goal of mine since I was 15, when the band I was in was obsessed with them. So it seemed inevitable that it would happen at some point. One of the dudes from that band flew out to Colorado to see that show, it was epic. We have talked to Dylan from Cloud Nothings for a while, which helped us land that show; we both have had releases on Bridgetown Records.

As far as getting our music out there, I don’t know, hopefully there were some people at those shows who showed up early, had never heard of us, and dug what we were doing. Playing bigger shows feels more like they are for us, like we are getting to play with some of our heroes in contemporary music. I feel like as far as getting our music out there, touring is where it’s at.

Bowlegs: You’ve got an alt-rock vibe going on – has the sound changed as you’ve grown as a band?

MS: Definitely. When it was just Zack and I, we were very limited and we were both trying to make up for that by doing as much as possible on our instruments. Most of the songs ended up having super heavy parts, and then more boring sections, so that I could focus on vocals. Our ‘sound’ was a lot thinner, and we got Wavves comparisons all the time.

Now I am a lot more excited about we are doing. Morris is amazing at guitar and Ben is seriously a beautiful songwriter. I usually like his songs more than the ones I write. I have gotten a lot better at playing riffs and singing simultaneously, so we have gotten to do all sorts of things that weren’t even an option as a two piece. We have vocal and instrumental harmonies, thick bass lines, it’s really grown a lot in the last year.

Bowlegs: Present Tense is a cool track, makes me wanna come to one of your gigs – how does it compare to your live sound?

MS: Thanks man, Morris came up with the backbone of that song, It’s the first one that he’s written for SK actually. Our live sound has a lot more feedback. We obviously are always trying to play a perfect set, but we try and keep in mind the reason people go to shows, we want people to be blown away, and that’s what we are working towards. So I’d say the main difference between listening to our recordings and seeing us live is the increased probability of getting a beer thrown at you.

Bowlegs: So what is next for School Knights? Album or EP in the pipeline?

MS: We are currently shopping around a handful of new tracks (including Present Tense) to see if any labels are interested in doing a release. We have more than enough for an EP, and if someone wants to do a Full Length, we have a few new ones we are really excited about and would love to record. It’s all a matter of finding someone to put it out.

Bowlegs: What’s the Colorado scene like, got any bands we should be checking out?

MS: Colorado is pretty amazing. We all come from places with really saturated music scenes (LA, NY, Austin) and we have all been surprised by how easy it is to play shows out here and how open everyone is. Before I moved back to Denver, we played a house show at Woodsman’s old house (where I live now, with one of the dudes from Gauntlet Hair) and I remember how crazy it was to see people from Tennis, Woodsman, Gauntlet Hair, and Picturplane all standing in the same living room.

Electronic music makes up most of the scene, there are a bunch of weird genres that I don’t know the names of, but those kids aren’t opposed to mixing scenes (our first Denver show was with Picture Plane and Blissed Out). There are a lot of mini scenes but for the most part, everyone supports each other even if they’re not necessarily into the type of music that’s being played. Some cool bands to check out would be Sauna, Force Publique, and the Dirty Few.

Bowlegs: Is there a band you’d all agree is an influence on your music?

MS: I don’t think we could pin point an influence to a single band, but if you were trying to make School Knights in a test tube, you would need the Nuggets Compilation, 90’s pop-punk, 70’s punk (Television/Dick Hell) and then more contemporary Noise-pop like Deerhunter.

Head to the band’s Bandcamp Page for more info

Track two drops the tone down to earth with a song about doing the dishes. Sentimental Dishes at that. Nice. The musicianship grows to be commendable with floods of rip-roaring solos […]]]>

The intro to this album (the band’s second proper full length) is like an exploratory grey area between post rock and Albatross by Fleetwood Mac. The ‘Mac might have gone in this direction had it been cool to have a stripped back two-piece lo-fi punk infused sound at the time.

Track two drops the tone down to earth with a song about doing the dishes. Sentimental Dishes at that. Nice. The musicianship grows to be commendable with floods of rip-roaring solos and a suitably monumental, epic end.

By third track Don’t Go the album sounds like it was recorded to tape. There’s a warbling tonality as drums and guitar fight for space among suction of tape saturation.

Death Dreams betrays its two-piece foundation clearly, with overdubbed bass, synth and stuff, but the recordings do benefit. Some guitar sounds are HUGE. Can’t really hear the vocals though, but who cares. The energy from tracks like Toronto (they’re Canadian) blitz forth.

What I most like about How Do You is the blatant simplicity and needless desperation. Yelping and frightening, these songs sound spewed forth. The naivety is offset by the often technical melodic content and free experimental nostalgia.

At one point I felt that a track was rambling on. I took that back when it finished. Timing. The only other negative point came when Don’t Got started to follow the same ‘riff leading into a startling heavy wall of sound chords’ bit. It happens about three times on the album.

Death Dreams shows clear influences from Sonic Youth, and maybe Ween. It features some sweet but dirty, mysterious enough songs to warrant the continuation of your interest. I’ll definitely be giving this album a few more listens, albeit just as part of the general turning over of my Spotify playlist. I dig.

-Andy Halliday-

Her guitars are often plugged in, with muddied tones; the rhythms work impressively with a host of percussive companions; and the songs sound like they’ve been lived in, experienced and left […]]]>

Shannon Stephens may not be breaking any boundaries on her third album, as she enthusiastically explores the dusty tracks of American folk and country. Yet her songs and voice are strong enough to stand clear from many of the unimaginative albums these genres have accommodated over the last fifteen-odd years.

Her guitars are often plugged in, with muddied tones; the rhythms work impressively with a host of percussive companions; and the songs sound like they’ve been lived in, experienced and left to fend for themselves. The cyclical banjo and fat snares on Care for You for instance has the blues like the Be Good Tanyas going all out.

The warmer, even soulful tones, on moments like Out of Sight find new depths, as the brooding brass and electric piano lay down a sweet cruise for Stephens to deliver her gorgeous vocal upon. The Seattle artist is accompanied by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy on the piano-opening Face like Ours. It’s a ballad, but about society rather than each other, Billy entering with the line, “And we’re gonna be OK, at least we have white skin, and when you have white skin nobody can send you away.” Of course it’s always good to have a modern legend to croon alongside.

I’m not convinced that the acoustic, country-rock power-play on Buddy up to the Bully works too well, and there are a few moments that freewheel into the generic side. But the late night drive home on slow-burning closer Responsible Too Long is proof enough that Stephens is a step ahead of many in her field.

-Dave Taylor-

"hollywood forever cemetery sings" (father john misty cover) by tashaki miyaki

Six Organs of Admittance – Waswasa