New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Nashville-based quartet Western Medication are excited to announce their sophomore full-length Taste, to be released on June 29, 2018. To ring in the announcement, the group has shared their video for first single "Devils Sing," which premiered via Nashville Scene. "It's a self-deprecating riff on tropes that marked music videos from the late '80s and early '90s, with exaggerated camera work and visual effects and paint splattering every which way for no particular reason," they said of the video. "It's done in such a way that it shows they know how obvious their influences are, and they can laugh at themselves about it - something useful when you're trying to navigate growing up." The "Devils Sing" video is available on Top40-Charts.com.
"The video was a ton of fun to shoot," singer/guitarist Justin Landis said of the clip. "Paint was everywhere. I was cleaning it out of my toenails for months. We pretty much locked ourselves in a studio and danced to house music for 10 hours while Casey Pierce rolled the camera. He did a great job capturing the vibe."
The group has also announced a run of tour dates, which kick off with an Independent Venue Week release show in their hometown of Nashville at Mercy Lounge on July 13. The full list of currently announced tour dates can be found below.
At your city's next punk show, catch Western Medication administering heavy doses of raved-up grooves. The Nashville rock band is back with their second album, Taste, a glittering collection of songs that blends the gritty basement energy of their DIY roots with the ecstatic raptures of peak Madchester. Taste is a fitting follow-up to Western Meds' 2016 debut, The Entertainers' Secret: More ambitious, more dynamic, more polished and potent. "We were just getting away from aggressive post-punk and punk," singer/guitarist Justin Landis says of the guiding principle behind the album. "We wanted to get into a groove."
Landis and bassist Devin
Mason form the songwriting core of Western Medication, and together, their musical tastes and tendencies have developed in tandem, from the post-77 U.K. punk influences on their earliest releases to the lush rock and roll orchestration of Taste. But the scope of Taste -- which draws heavily from the Stone Roses,
Primal Scream and Happy Mondays -- would not have been possible without drummer Jeff Ehlinger and lead guitarist Josh Halper. The lineup coalesced around the release of The Entertainers' Secret and developed a strong musical repartee as Western Medication toured extensively, supporting artists like Bob Mould, Bully, Diarrhea Planet and Jeff the Brotherhood. When it came time to return to the studio, the group had the confidence and tools necessary to craft the expansive sound Landis and
Mason envisioned for Taste.
Reuniting with producer
Kevin Kilpatrick, who also recorded The Entertainers' Secret, Western Medication recorded the skeletons of the 10 songs that comprise Taste. Ehlinger's drumming proved especially revelatory. While Landis and
Mason cut their teeth playing in punk and hardcore bands, Ehlinger's background as a rock and roll drummer helped the band trade aggression for enthralling rhythmic agility. Halper, the group's dazzling guitarist, proved equally instrumental in actualizing the band's vision, crafting leads that were complex and clever, but never impenetrable.
Western Medication constructed Taste over six months, deftly fleshing out each song with auxiliary instruments that add texture and depth to the band's sturdy core.
Strings swoon beneath Landis' serene vocals on Britpop gem "An Elephant." Rumbling bongos and effected harps anchor the love-drunk rush of "Devils Sing." And remarkable title track "
Taste" pairs resonant guitar with gauzy sitar, shuffling drums with arpeggiated synths, and the record-scratch flare of an MC-307 Groovebox with soaring piano. "It's helped us find our sound, and it sets us apart and gives us more energy," Landis says of Western Meds' new phase of rock and roll orchestration. "Not to say we're trying to bring an orchestra with us on tour, but different sounds and voices are liberating when you're trying to take things in a new direction."
While Western Medication may not have a string section in tow when they hit the road in support of Taste, the band promises to deliver a dynamic, danceable set packed with grandiose flourishes and rock and roll verve. Taste is the work of an indie rock band eager to unleash their own distinct voice while remaining in conversation with their punk peers and their Britpop and Madchester heroes. It's a record about love and friendship, nostalgia and the now, heartbreak, sorrow and ecstasy.
