Starting July 4th, Nashville quartet to release 1 new track per month for the next year, ultimately coalescing in the form of the band's debut 12-song full-length
The band announces the first single, the power-pop gem 'Back Out On The Streets (Savages)'
June 19, 2009 - It's not every day that a group comes along absolutely hell-bent on challenging the status quo, let alone a perfectly profitable (albeit declining) business model. Enter
THE ARMED FORCES, Nashville TN rabble-rousers and self-proclaimed "world's most dangerous pop band," who will celebrate Independence Day with an independence from music business as usual.
Starting July 4, the band's forthcoming full-length,
The Rest Is Noise, will be released track-by-track, one song per month, 12 months in a row. Of the release strategy, Brandon Jazz –
ARMED FORCES mastermind, musical auteur, and the last person on the planet anyone wants to be stuck with on a long car ride with if he wants to hear himself think – explains: "There's a way things were in the ’60s with 45 rpm singles up until the concept album ruined everything, and it went back to being that way once people were able to download their favorite tracks instead of listening to a whole album, or an album written to fill in the blanks around 1 or 2 singles. Attention spans are increasingly short as it becomes increasingly easy for everyone to express themselves digitally."
"In the end," Jazz states plainly, "we're not interested in casual listeners. We want people who are genuinely interested in taking a journey with us, growing with us, taking a moment to step back and appreciate the small things."
To that end: Fans who purchase
The Rest Is Noise will be given a code to unlock and download a new track once a month, along with original artwork for that single, as well as other content created to thank the fans for investing in
THE ARMED FORCES' musical experiment. At the end of those 12 months, in July 2010, those fans will be the proud owners of the album in its entirety.
"All these bands suddenly think they have to give their album away because RADIOHEAD did so, but that concept is only interesting or useful if happen to be RADIOHEAD, which we are not," explains bassist Zachary Stred. "If you're JOHNNY JINGLE AND THE DOWNTOWN 3, no one cares. We worked hard on the album, and we do think it's worth something."
In 2007,
THE ARMED FORCES released
Modern Gospel For Modern Men & Women, a studio project EP consisting of Jazz and a number of hired guns. As with most of Jazz's ventures, the EP had a polarizing effect, garnering both heaps of praise and cranky criticisms for its unabashed pop-sensibility, occasional ironic word-play and bratty, spirited take on garage rock and soul of decades past. To put it simply: those who loved it, loved it for the same reasons as those who hated it.
Where many groups would shudder at certain negative reactions,
THE ARMED FORCES realize that it must mean they are doing something right. After all, isn't the point of art to provoke a response? Says Stred, "We have a 'love us or hate us, just don't be in the middle' attitude."
All of which perfectly frames the idea behind
The Rest Is Noise. As for the title itself, don't be fooled into thinking it's a simple retaliatory statement grounded in the band's self-assuredness. Because 'simple' is the one word that is not part of Jazz's lexicon. As Jazz explains: "After watching (the film) 'Synecdoche, New York' I started researching ways to get a MacArthur Genius Grant so I could quit my job. Among last year's recipients was Alex Ross, author of (the book) The Rest is Noise, which is a list of the best classical musical compositions of the past century put in the context of historical events surrounding them. I thought the notion that anything other than seven part symphonies was just noise was preposterous, and retaliated with a Rest is Noise of my own."
"Additionally," adds Jazz (as he so frequently does), "the 'Rest' can be viewed as a musical term referring to a beat in which there is no music."
He's up for that grant next year. Say a prayer.
PRAISE FOR THE ARMED FORCES' PREVIOUS RELEASE, Modern Gospel For Modern Men & Women:
"Jazz and co. have the retro-rock strut down [and] implement its retro-kitsch well" -POP MATTERS
"Fuzz guitars, squealing-tire feedback [and] glam rock vocals... Every song here has "Hit" written all over it" -JERSEY BEAT
"Modern Gospel slings songs that gratuitously reference drugs, cheap sex and hangovers… like the Rolling Stones reincarnate." -AVERSION
"This [album] will, no doubt, land him on a major radio station near you very soon." -REDEFINE
"A decadent, rebellion-riddled three-card monte of ‘60s garage-soul organ, bluesy, slashing blasts of guitar thunder, and frontman Brandon Jazz’s coolly importuning vocals." -INDEPENDENT WEEKLY
"Just raw enough to appeal [to] the scenesters but soft enough to have mainstream appeal, while being miles better than the majority of what's in the charts these days." -ROCK FREAKS
"[Standout track] 'The Runaways' has a great future as a single" -PUNKTASTIC
"Upbeat pop punk that teases and pleases... It reminds you that rules are made to be broken, especially in rock ‘n’ roll" -PLUG IN
"Full of clever lyrics and energy and clever hooks.” -MUSIC-REVIEWER
"[The band has] a definite, modern twist to their powerpop hook." -THE ROCK AND ROLL REPORT
July 2, 2009 - WXPN, the nationally recognized tastemaker for Triple-A radio, launches today the debut of "Damp Powder," the newest single from roots rock workhorses SLIMFIT. In addition to receiving airplay throughout the day, the track will be offered as an exclusive free download on the station's blog at xpn.org.
