TVD Video Premiere: Rotary Downs,
“Flowers in Bloom”

“The first music I ever responded to came from one of my mom’s records spinning on the turntable: The Very Best of the Everly Brothers. Shortly thereafter I cottoned to my dad’s Johnny Cash album, Ring of Fire. My personal album collection began with The Beach Boys’ Little Deuce Coupe, Kiss’ Rock and Roll All Over, and KC and the Sunshine Band’s Greatest Hits. Three peas in a pod. (ha!)”

“We are a band of record collectors, so we decided to release TRACES on vinyl. We knew the type of fidelity we were going for—kinda dirty and a bit noisy—would be best represented on wax. Also, the artwork for TRACES demanded the larger scale that an album cover offers. So it was unanimous: we would put the new album out on bone-colored vinyl, its ideal color and format.

Two months later, we listened to the test pressings for TRACES through two wildly different sound systems: a late ’50s Magnavox console (boxy goodness!) and a state-of-the-art Gyro turntable through thoroughly modern Gallo speakers (vivid!) This latter listening session, of course, turned into a general review of a number of classics, with me turning our audiophile host onto Slint’s Spiderland and him introducing me to Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters.

Certain aspects of so many great records have influenced the music on TRACES: the controlled hi-jinx of Captain Beefheart’s Safe as Milk; the anything-goes experimentation of The Clash’s Sandinista, the universal horror/hug of David Bowie’s Hunky Dory, the radical sonics of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy, and perhaps, in some tiny way, the bliss-inducing jams on our favorite compilation: Sitar Beat! Indian Style Heavy Funk, Vol. I (which we like to blast through the p.a. before we play).”
James Marler, guitars, lead vocals

Rotary Downs’ TRACES is in stores May 2014. On vinyl.
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BAND PHOTO: CORD McPHAIL

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