"We were hit by a drunk driver Friday night, on I-95 in Connecticut," say the Drowning Men. "The van and trailer have been totaled. We are all okay...we're under a watchful eye. If it weren't for [tour mates] the Airborne Toxic Event we would be posting a different message. Our friends picked us up, loaded their trailer with our gear, and then let us drink all of their beer. Don't drink and drive. Celebrate friendship!"
The band will finish out the remainder of the tour by hitching rides and using borrowed gear.
The Drowning Men are five long-time San Diego friends, most of whom have grown up together and been in various bands with and without each other over the last 15 years, from fast punk to traditional Irish folk bands.
The founding core, Nathan (aka Nato) Bardeen, Rory Dolan, and James Smith, met in grade school in Oceanside. They had a long history of garage jamming. Before DM came together, Bardeen played in the Plug Uglies. When that band imploded, he went looking for his childhood bandmates to start something new. It was the right time for the melding of their Tom Waits–Nick Cave influences.
Their multi-instrumental, richly layered, sonic sound is evident on their self-released EP, Kill the Matador which features acoustic and electric guitar, electric bass, drums, synthesizer, mandolin, bouzouki, and fiddle.
The group experiments with their multi-flavored musical influences, blending folk and roots Americana with sing-along sea shanties and pirate chants, with side forays into Eastern European ethnic folk delivered with the rhythmic complexity of a Brecht-Weill opera.
“I love theatrical melodies and swells, and the purity of folk music from around the world”, explains Bardeen, the main lyricist and songwriter, whose personal influences include Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and the bleak poetry of Nick Cave, whose novel And the Ass Saw the Angel inspired the band’s name.
Their 2009 album The Beheading of the Song Bird, produced by Pall Jenkins of San Diego’s Black Heart Procession, has the timeless conceptual feel of such contemporaries as Arcade Fire, the Decemberists and My Morning Jacket, blending folk and roots Americana with sing-along sea shanties and pirate chants, with side forays into Eastern European ethnic folk delivered with the rhythmic complexity of a Brecht-Weill opera.
After touring in 2011 with Flogging Molly, that band signed the Drowning Men to their Borstal Beat record label. Their 2009 album The Beheading of the Song Bird is being re-released on the label. They’ll tour with the Airborne Toxic Event through December 7, with a tour video already streaming online featuring road footage set to their song “Rita.”
Tour Dates:
Nov. 22 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club*
Nov. 23 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte*
Nov. 26 - Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern
Nov. 27 - Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre*
Nov. 29 - Tampa, FL - The Ritz Theatre *
Nov. 30 - Orlando, FL - Beacham Theatre*
Dec. 2 - New Orleans, LA - The Hangar
Dec. 3 - Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack
Dec. 6 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhpj47OqN0&feature=youtu.be
"We were hit by a drunk driver Friday night, on I-95 in Connecticut," say the Drowning Men. "The van and trailer have been totaled. We are all okay...we're under a watchful eye. If it weren't for [tour mates] the Airborne Toxic Event we would be posting a different message. Our friends picked us up, loaded their trailer with our gear, and then let us drink all of their beer. Don't drink and drive. Celebrate friendship!"
The band will finish out the remainder of the tour by hitching rides and using borrowed gear.
The Drowning Men are five long-time San Diego friends, most of whom have grown up together and been in various bands with and without each other over the last 15 years, from fast punk to traditional Irish folk bands.
The founding core, Nathan (aka Nato) Bardeen, Rory Dolan, and James Smith, met in grade school in Oceanside. They had a long history of garage jamming. Before DM came together, Bardeen played in the Plug Uglies. When that band imploded, he went looking for his childhood bandmates to start something new. It was the right time for the melding of their Tom Waits–Nick Cave influences.
Their multi-instrumental, richly layered, sonic sound is evident on their self-released EP, Kill the Matador which features acoustic and electric guitar, electric bass, drums, synthesizer, mandolin, bouzouki, and fiddle.
The group experiments with their multi-flavored musical influences, blending folk and roots Americana with sing-along sea shanties and pirate chants, with side forays into Eastern European ethnic folk delivered with the rhythmic complexity of a Brecht-Weill opera.
“I love theatrical melodies and swells, and the purity of folk music from around the world”, explains Bardeen, the main lyricist and songwriter, whose personal influences include Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and the bleak poetry of Nick Cave, whose novel And the Ass Saw the Angel inspired the band’s name.
Their 2009 album The Beheading of the Song Bird, produced by Pall Jenkins of San Diego’s Black Heart Procession, has the timeless conceptual feel of such contemporaries as Arcade Fire, the Decemberists and My Morning Jacket, blending folk and roots Americana with sing-along sea shanties and pirate chants, with side forays into Eastern European ethnic folk delivered with the rhythmic complexity of a Brecht-Weill opera.
After touring in 2011 with Flogging Molly, that band signed the Drowning Men to their Borstal Beat record label. Their 2009 album The Beheading of the Song Bird is being re-released on the label. They’ll tour with the Airborne Toxic Event through December 7, with a tour video already streaming online featuring road footage set to their song “Rita.”
Tour Dates:
Nov. 22 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club*
Nov. 23 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore Charlotte*
Nov. 26 - Columbia, SC - New Brookland Tavern
Nov. 27 - Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre*
Nov. 29 - Tampa, FL - The Ritz Theatre *
Nov. 30 - Orlando, FL - Beacham Theatre*
Dec. 2 - New Orleans, LA - The Hangar
Dec. 3 - Little Rock, AR - Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack
Dec. 6 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhpj47OqN0&feature=youtu.be