Black and White Years 'self-titled' album

THE BLACK AND WHITE YEARS--named "Austin's Best New Local Band 2008" by Andy Langer at the Austin Chronicle earlier this year--will bring their “angular post-punk guitar carefully structured over jittery synths and polyrhythmic beats” (Austin Chronicle, 3/15/08) to the Northeast for the first time in May. Fresh off of a successful run of dates during SXSW, including the Mayor of Austin’s official kickoff party, the band have announced tour dates in New York, Brooklyn and Boston as well as a number of Texas shows. The band’s not-to-be-missed live show will feature songs from their self-titled debut album, produced by Talking Heads and Modern Lovers’ keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison.

The Northeast dates follow the band’s recent radio success at influential Albany, NY/Manchester, VT modern rock station WEQX. Lead single “Power to Change” made it to the top of the station’s listener-voted Top 10 daily countdown and spent four weeks at the #1 position on the station's playlist. Second single “Everyone,” with its ska-like rhythms and flashes of surf guitar, has just been added.

In addition to airplay on WEQX, the propulsive “The Power to Change” will go to college radio nationwide on April 28. Of the track, lead singer and lyricist Scott Butler says “The lyrics can be interpreted in so many ways and in this election year with all of the political talk of ‘change’ it seems to be striking a chord. But it was actually written about the state of our planet's environment and the negative effect caused by mankind since their evolution from eco-friendly hunters and gatherers to the wasteful consumers that we are today."

Formed in 2006, THE BLACK AND WHITE YEARS--Scott Butler (vocals, guitar, keys), Landon Thompson (guitar, keys, vocals), John Aldridge (bass and brass) and Billy Potts (drums)--will see the nationwide in-store release of the album later this year. It was initially issued regionally and on iTunes by Austin’s Brando Records in late-February.

tour dates
Date City Venue
Thu 4/17 San Antonio, TX Trinity University
Tue 4/22 Austin, TX The Parish (w/VHS or Beta)
Fri 4/25 Austin, TX Mohawk (w/Belaire)
Tue 5/6 New York, NY Crash Mansion
Wed 5/7 Boston, MA The Church of Boston
Thu 5/8 Brooklyn, NY Spike Hill
Sat 5/24 Austin, TX Emo’s

press quotes
"Austin's Best New Local Band 2008." -Andy Langer, Austin Chronicle (1/4/08)

"...genre-blurring, squiggly synth rock... The Black and White Years aren’t what you’ve heard before..." -Austinist (November 2007)

“...they elicit quirky embellishments and innovative arrangements while retaining a catchy, tap-along pop feel. Gently rubbing shoulders with an assortment of styles, random pianos, congas and synth strings are intuitively weaved in and out of every track, creating a lush, pop sound that's close to perfection - Austin Music Magazine (January 2007)

biography
THE BIG BREAK - Every band has a “big break” moment and for The Black & White Years it came during SXSW ’07. The Years had put together five shows during the festival and would perform some damn good ones but their “official” SXSW showcase wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t the sexiest of gigs...off the beaten path in the parking lot of Opal Devine’s on West Sixth street...the B&WY were the first of five bands…exactly seven people in the audience to catch their show. But, one of those seven people was once upon a time Talking Head and Modern Lover, Jerry Harrison.

Harrison was curious to see the band because, accurate or not, the early press tended to compare them to Talking Heads. Just one week before SXSW, Austin Music Magazine wrote: “The Black and White Years deserve comparison to the Talking Heads in the way they elicit quirky embellishments and innovative arrangements while retaining a catchy, tap-along pop feel...vocalist Scott Butler invokes the David Byrne way of stuttering as he sings.”

Harrison was captivated by the band’s performance and over the rest of the weekend he visited their rehearsal space where the Years performed all of their songs for him. Five weeks later they were in Harrison’s San Francisco bay area studio, Sausalito Sound, recording what would become the band’s eponymous debut album, The Black And White Years.

STEVE FERRONE vs THE SEQUENCER - At the time of the recording sessions, the band did not have a drummer, preferring instead to play live with the aid of programmed loops and sequenced drum tracks. For the recording, Harrison recruited Steve Ferrone, of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, to lay down the live drum tracks. Ferrone did it with the precision that you would expect from a musician whose impeccable resume reflects the diversity of his talent...Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, AWB…to reference a few. But the live drums changed the “electro-dance-rock” sound that defined the band’s unique sound and for engineer and mixer, Eric “E.T. Thorngren, getting back to that sound was a challenge. “We had to go back and sync the programmed drums to Steve’s drum and then we doubled the tracks all the way through. The end result is the kick of a live drummer but with the accents, tones and vibe of the programmed tracks that make The Black & White Years sound what it is.”

THE PALME D’OR OF MUSIC - In January ’08, the band was one of only a few U.S. bands invited to perform at the annual international music conference, MIDEM, in Cannes France. They delivered a triumphant performance, which inspired Virginie Perrault, MIDEM’s Artistic Programmer for over ten years to say, "I just knew after listening to The Black & White Years album that they would be aces on stage. Once in a blue moon, I happen to fall on a band like that, not often, and believe me I listen to a lot of new bands. They are one in a million. If MIDEM awarded a Palme D'Or for Music, as the Cannes Film Festival does for film, it would most definitely go to The Black & White Years." And, Panos Panay, the CEO and Founder of Sonicbids, the sponsor of the MIDEM Talent Only Showcase series, added, “Seeing The Black & White Years on stage at MIDEM was breathtaking. I never saw a crowd of industry insiders so enthralled and so under the spell of a single band. Wow.”

who is who
Scott Butler – vocals, guitars, words, costumes for tigers
Landon Thompson –better guitar than Scott, whack FX, keys, tight pants
John Aldridge –listless bass, brass, hair, non-sequitors
Billy Potts – drums, Chilean Sea Bass

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Black and White Years - self-titled