Static of the Gods, The Midnight Fires EP Release Show Details:

Friday, May 20, 2011

TT THE BEAR’S PLACE

10 BROOKLINE STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MA

18+ | $10 | Doors at 8pm

SET TIMES

Static Of The Gods
Midnight
Endless Wave
11:10pm
Soft Pyramids
10:20pm
Vary Lumar
9:30pm
Emily Peal
8:45pm

Static of the Gods combines post-rock, shoegaze, and dream pop influences to create an expansive, melodic and atmospheric sound. The trio blends layers of reverb-drenched guitar and synth to create an intense wall of music, which one reviewer likened to “…what Interpol would sound like if it listened to The Cure and Velocity Girl instead of Joy Division (and had a femme fatale at the mic)…”

The band’s new EP, The Midnight Fires, distills the band’s infectious trademark intensity in a collection of songs about fleeting moments and experiences. Starting May 24, the EP will be available for free download at staticofthegods.bandcamp.com.

Their 2010 release, Knowledge Machine, introduced Static of the Gods as “an artistic band that has a lot of prowess, a lot of hunger…melancholy harmonies, it is music that ventures into the unknown.” SF Station’s Jeff Kingsbury named it one of the five best albums of the year, alongside records by The Black Keys and Girl Talk.

Static of the Gods has earned a reputation for a powerful and magnetic live show, opening for acts such as Film School, You Say Party!, Free Energy, Ok Go, Bad Veins, The Depreciation Guild, and Mellowdrone. “The entire set was ambient, beautiful and tightly played and I was simply beyond impressed,” wrote PopWreckoning. Ryan’s Smashing Life says “…if this band’s stage prowess and live sound are any indication, this new Static of the Gods album will be a must-have. THIS is a great band.”

Static of the Gods is Jen Johnson (vocals, guitar, keys), Ben Voskeritchian (bass, guitar, keys, vocals), and Mike Latulippe (drums, programming).

The Midnight Fires – Track Listing
1.Lake Effect
2.Collectors
3.Hauntings
4. Beat Beat Beat

This portion of “Hauntings” is brought to you by Smarties Candies and Miller High Life. And of course don’t forget about the Z.Vex Woolly Mammoth to bring just the right amount of fuzzy bottom end into the mix (you can never have enough of that)

With Jean-Luc’s watchful eye, Jen does some vocal comp’ing for Beat Beat Beat.  We’re getting ready to release a sneak peak from the new record, check back shortly.

Yup, all of our guitar tone questions have been answered … and  I think we can sell the van now.

No big deal. Does it all the time.

A drum take from “Beat Beat Beat” … i’ll be posting more info about this shortly.

This is what my head feels like right now.  Recording “Collectors” late into the early morning hours kicked my ass last night.  There is something about this song which makes it difficult for me to record with the proper feel.  Some songs come easy and some don’t.

Here I am doing my best drumming monk impression while recording a take of “Sparrow”. For a lot of the songs off our upcoming EP (out early 2011), I’m playing drums a little differently. This song for example, I only play bass drum, snare, ride and crashes (no hi-hat or toms). Quite a few of the songs off the new EP don’t have any toms. I guess you could say that it’s a bit of a simpler approach, but so far I like it. You’ll have to stick around to see how it all translates into the finished songs.

This song in particular is really fun to play; I have to make it a point to control myself and not get overly rambunctious. The snare rolls in the verses are a blast to play, and help to push the song along, giving it a little “giddy up”. I guess you’ll just have to check back soon once we add some parts to see what I mean.

The grunt noise at the end is the sound of me forgetting to take out my inner ear monitors (headphones) and getting them yanked out of my ears as I run out of cable. That happens a lot, but you never get used to it.

The next couple of songs that I’ll be recording have a very different feel than this one. Less upbeat and driving, and more mellow and moody. Not sure what that means? The next video or two might help explain it.

If it wasn’t for Anna’s, I don’t know if drums would get recorded at all. Let’s just say that we could really use a burrito sponsorship.

Ever wonder what it’s like to record drum tracks?  Well, i’m going to post some videos of the process, and this represents the first in that series.  I just shot this one on a whim with my iPhone, which explains a lot of the quality issues.  Though it looks dashing, the hat is because the room i’m recording in hovers around 48°; which gets kinda chilly after a few hours.  The beard helps to keep me warm as well.

The song i’m playing is tentatively titled “Pulling Threads”, and will be on our upcoming EP, which will be released shortly after the new year.  For this EP, we’ll be doing things a little differently, so as i post more videos i’ll try to explain in more detail the process that we’ll be using.

Oh, and the sound in the video is from the iPhone, which is why it sounds like it does.  In case you were wondering, for the EP, I am using better mic’s so don’t worry, the finished song will sound better.