FLICK IT OPEN Handcrafted, snipped, washed and posted by the band on the first Monday of every month, 'Flick It Open' is a series of DIY videos for each and every song from the new LRA album, ‘Tear It Open’.
F L I C K I T O P E N :THE GILDED ROAD [JULY 2009]
T E A R I T O P E N :NEW ALBUM OUT NOW
Le Reno Amps were born of sorrow in the North East of Scotland. In 2004 they moved south to Glasgow to spread their joyous word, play lots of shows and write lots of songs. In 2008 they joined the ranks of Devon’s finest musical amalgam, The Drift Collective.
With rumours of violent band disarray and near death behind them, Drift records proudly presents Le Reno Amps new album Tear It Open, blending the LRA brand of sun soaked Scottish Indie with some hell-raising ramshackle Country. It’s perhaps a yearning for the sun that doesn't always shine in their hometown of Glasgow but just one spin of Tear It Open is enough to know that this is a chunk of fun capable of warming the cockles and stirring the soul of even the most miserable bugger.
Recorded last year with Andy Miller (Mogwai, Sons & Daughters, Scout Niblett), and supported by the Scottish Arts Council, Tear It Open marks the beginning of a new chapter in Le Reno Amps story. After 2007’s downbeat but critically praised album, So For Your Thrills…, this high-energy release manages to reconfigure their musical landscape with creative melodies and a harmonic upbeat sound with both frontmen Scott Maple and Al Nero swapping lead vocals and trading harmonies with a certain joie de vivre.
From the opening rockabilly riffage of latest single Outlaws which sees Scott Maple desperately trying to salvage his relationship with his girlfriend whilst her disapproving parents do their worst to wear him down, “…they tell her that I’m always eying other girls”, he howls, to the feisty folkish beat of If You Want A Lover, an edgy ballad with a distinct homage to the late great Johnny Cash. A homage that is also prevalent on Send Me On My Way which showcases a sterling lapsteel performance care of Marc Beatty (Brakes) and a guitar solo that would have The Tennessee Three bowled over in excitement.
Having once been described as “…the Swiss Army knife of music” (The List), it’s easy to see why with the diversity of the songs Tear It Open has to offer. You Do Your Thing, Threads and Going Under are the albums most glorious pop songs, all dealing with the ins and outs of estranged relationships – like all great pop songs do - the latter building to a climactic choral coda. Body with its finger picked acoustic and lush strings conjures up early Beck or Will Oldham mixed with Jimmy Webb to create a truly beatific centrepiece. Elsewhere Slow Decay with its syncopated stop-start rhythms and bopping chorus is executed with tight precision. The Stand Off, Dangerous Boy and album closer The Gilded Road make up a trio of darker, more sinister songs, the latter beginning as an electronic krautrock workout before a barrage of pounding rhythm and a monstrous guitar solo turn it into metal Hell - or Heaven depending on your preference! This is a band that unlike the majority of skinny-jeaned, cardigan-wearing lost boys on the indie scene, have a clear sense of their own identity and stamp it firmly all over Tear It Open.
O U T L A W S :SINGLE OUT NOW
"Le Reno Amps reach the speed velocity of 88 MPH travelling back to the future to create a distinctive blend of 21st century rock mixed with 20th century hill-billy rock. As Marty McFly would say "Whoa this is heavy!" - Altsounds.com
"a riff that gallops between a Johnny Cash track and the original Batman theme" - forfolkssake.com
"everything a self respecting single should be: inventive, fun, loud, riff-laden, stomping, haunting and just plain excellent!" - loudhorizonmusic.com
"Completely mental, but at the same time strangely compelling" - getreadytorock.com
Hello!
We have just released T-SHIRTS!!!.. please check them out at our online
store by following this link
there has only been fifty made so get them while they last!
Hey guys, thanks for accepting us and for extending the warm welcome - everyone has been so supportive since the move from Oslo to Manchester and it makes all the difference!
We would love to see you at a show one day and toast our newfound proximity :-) Hope you like the tracks, which would you say is your fav? We'd love to pop over and will hopefuly be touring near you in the future! Basically, if you want us to play near you then we have to work together - feel free to download our tunes from our iLike page and just tell everyone you know about Daddysmilk, play us in the car, at house parties etc! Its people like you that inspire us to push ourselves further, forever and unrelentlessly onwards :D
What venues near you would you recommend as and when we swing by your way?
Hope your well, big love from your new favorite Mancunian Anglo-Norwegian band ;-) lol!
I am having a wee competition to see if I can make as many videos as you. These films contain mild nudity, dismemberment, suicide, and other juicy stuff I'm sure you will appreciate, cheers Biz .
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