Event

BIG JOHN BATES

Keep the whiskey within arm's reach cause Big John Bates is bringing you their new album Battered Bones September 14 (Rookie Records). The accompanying EP Headless Fowl (Alternative Tentacles) has been getting great reviews since April 2012. And check out their first video for the western post-rock instrumental Amerkin.

They shake the ghosts out of the woodwork with small town stories, no-depression lyrics and soulful screams. Upright bassist Brandy Bones' voice and guitarist >Bates' growl combine with accordion, cello & doom-wop piano into a sound the band claims, "is like being serenaded with a rusty hammer". Produced by Robert Ferbrache (16 Horsepower, Woven Hand, Slim Cessna) both albums have the sweeping intensity and sweet & sour feel that comes from the depths of Denver's aptly named Absinthe Studios.

Bates & Bones were holed up for two years on a yacht in Vancouver's False Creek to write a new chapter for BJB so it's time to fill the Murderbus with drummer JT Massacre and tuba/organist Khadijah and head out. The Georgia Straight reported "the Gretsch-slinging front-man drags his throwback roots music through the dark heart of Death Valley" while BJB was on tour with Murder by Death the Music Examiner at CMW Festival in Toronto reviewed Brandy as "shining in all her sultry, gothic temptress glory. She is the true master of her massive bass, using it as not only a tool to make music but as an instrument of seduction. They don't just play from the heart, they tear it out by the roots."

Bates was the original singer for Annihilator and co-wrote their first two critically acclaimed albums. He then sharpened his Gretsch with Big John Bates & the Voodoo Dollz; chiseling out a 10-year career with that caravan of misfits, playing well over a thousand shows across North America & Europe. He's been featured on Battlestar Galactica, A&E; Discovery Channel; Bizarre Magazine; Tattooage; and has played for thousands at festivals across Europe and North America while his songs have been in dozens of movies and TV shows.