THE MAG SEVEN are, in the Texas manner of speaking, “instrumentalists for hire”, musical gun slingers, playing everything from Punk-Surf and Spaghetti Western themes to Jazz. Their influences range from Black Flag and the Descendents to John Coltrane and Ennio Marricone, The Ventures and Stravinsky. Together, they are a musical tour-de-force, an excellent instrumental ensemble capable of mastering any style.
The band’s origins reach back to 1998, in Dallas, with bassist Donivan Blair (Hagfish, Only Crime, Toadies), guitarist Dan Phillips (Slowride, True Widow) and Scott Brayfield (Slowride) on drums. The original line-up recorded two full length CDs;
Eighth Round Knock Out and
Use Your Powers For Good, Not Evil.
After a few years together the band went through a change with Phillip’s departure, pursuing other opportunities. The eager and willing guitarist, Brandon Landelius, entered the trio. Blair, Brayfield and Landelius played shows regionally and wrote new material until, unfortunately, Brandon relocated to Fayetteville, Arkansas. During the downtime that came with the loss of another member, Blair kept moving forward musically, playing as part of the groups Armstrong and Only Crime. In late 2005, the decision was made to put
THE MAG SEVEN back together, and after enlisting the help of his Only Crime band mates, Bill Stevenson and Zach Blair, the band released their first album,
The Future Is Ours If You Can Count (2006) through End Sounds. Like previous material, songs from this release have been extensively utilized on film/television.
Soon after, Landelius returned to Texas, where he and Blair started preparing new material for their next and fourth release –
Knife To A Gunfight (End Sounds 2008) featuring the band’s original drummer, Scott Brayfield.
For their fifth release, the band decided to take a different route. Landelius had been working on a side project called “The Cotton Needle”, a mainly jazz influenced collection, but with a definitive surf bent to it. He knew that to meld these two musically powerful genres into one,
THE MAG SEVEN needed a drummer that was up to the task. Knowing Bill Stevenson’s love for jazz, combined with their positive past working experience in the studio, Landelius asked if he would be interested in playing on the new album. A few short weeks later, Landelius and Blair returned to the Blasting Room Studio for an intense three day recording session that resulted in
Cotton Needle Sessions. Stevenson’s drum interpretations were stellar, displaying for all, elements of his percussionist expertise that extends far beyond the norm. Blair’s bass playing is also a departure from familiar territory and exhibits an amazing sense for music’s inner nature, regardless of the genre.
Heavily influenced by artists as varied as Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, and Alicia Keys, Landelius wanted to write instrumentals for
Knife to a Gunfight that would project a very different sound, while keeping to the heart of the instrumentation and arrangements that inspired them. In the end,
THE MAG SEVEN has given the whole project a unique sound all its own and yet far different from any previous album before it.
Cotton Needle Sessions is set to be released in October 6, 2009 through Ends Sounds.
THE MAG SEVEN is currently based out of Amarillo, Texas and is made up of Donivan Blair, John Lerma (The Humans, The Dynamite Lazerbeam, The Schraags) and Brandon Landelius.
