Two Cow Garage
10/10/2013
Southgate House Revival, 111 E 6th St, Newport, KY
http://www.southgatehouse.com/
Nearly a decade after dropping their debut full-length, Please Turn the Gas Back On, Columbus, Ohio based TWO COW GARAGE are poised to release their sixth studio album, The Death of the Self-Preservation Society to the world on September 10, 2013 in partnership with Last Chance Records. With a thick wall of thundering drums and exploding guitars propping up the band’s snarky style of storytelling, Two Cow Garage’s latest cut is set to shake the industry with the release. Recorded at HI/LO Studios, housed inside of a historic 100 year old barn in Eden, New York, The Death of the Self-Preservation Society showcases the unique mash-up of songwriting styles of both of the band’s front man Micah Schnabel and bassist Shane Sweeney. “We’ve recorded there a few times and we have just fallen in love with it,” Schnabel said of the studio. “We sleep in the old farm house and wake up every morning to go out and record all day and night. The studio is actually up in what would be the hay loft and it overlooks the farm. It’s just a great place to be locked away and not have the distractions of every day life.”
The band launched into this recording with a brand new approach. When asked about the recording process, Schnabel explained, “We laid a drum track first and then laid the bass. After that, instead of piling on guitars, we laid the lead vocal. From there we only added parts that we thought the song needed. We really tried to let the songs breathe. We did each single song start to finish before moving on to the next. I really feel like it helped give each song its own identity and feel.”
Several guests dropped by the studio to record with the trio, including members of Cheap Girls. “We got lucky and our good friends Cheap Girls were playing in Buffalo while we were recording. They stopped by and we had Ian Graham sing a verse on the song “Stars and Gutters” his brother Ben also ended up singing on the chorus,” Schnabel remarked of the appearances.
Producing the album themselves, Two Cow Garage has managed to compose a near flawless collection of tracks possessing a near perfect balance of old, historic punk qualities and new radio friendly pop-punk attributes. For example, “Little Prince and Johnny Toxic,” the album’s opening track, propels the album into a full-tilt frenzy from the line “no one makes it out alive.” “My Friend Adam” and the album’s title track, “The Death of the Self-Preservation Society” follow suit, projecting the band’s raw and uncensored outlooks on the current state of society. With a jaded tone and a ‘take no prisoners’ snarl, the track kicks the door open to a straightforward and matter of fact album holding nothing back. Even the softest tones on the album, like “Mantle in ’56” come connected to a sense of reality few bands are brave enough to ever approach. However, with Two Cow Garage, this tone is both natural and a candid reflection of their views of the world.
Two Cow Garage, has been one of the hardest working touring groups since their formation in 2001. In 2003, the band released their debut full-length, Please Turn the Gas Back On. On the strength of the album’s opening track, “Been So Long”, the band has mustered four additional full-length releases, a handful of singles, and a few solo efforts. The band has paraded their brand of heart-wrenching, yet ferocious rock-n-roll, which calls to mind Nirvana, The Men, and Dinosaur, Jr. through countless North American tours as well as several European sojourns. Two Cow Garage’s 2010 release, Sweet Saint Me, not only managed to get airplay on WXPN’s World Café, it also found its way onto many critics’ best-of lists. The band has performed at numerous festivals including SXSW, CMJ, Kilkenny Rhythm ‘n Roots, and the Lucero Family Picnic, and has toured with acts like The Hold Steady, Drag the River, Slobberbone, and Glossary.
