The Night Beats: Psychedelia, Grunge, R&B & Loud
Though it was close to 12 noon in Yahoo’s Santa Monica studios last week, the rhythmic pulse and pounding of Seattle’s mind-blowing Night Beats offered up an unexpected preview of midnights to come.
Loud, rhythmic, somewhere between minimalism, space rock, rhythm & blues and straight rock ‘n’ roll: Whatever it was, they had it, they played it, and it’s entirely their own. And it was great.
Though now from Seattle, the three Night Beats are all originally from Texas—and the sonic combination of those two locations all but leaps out of the band’s new album, their third, titled Who Sold My Generation and released just this week. It is a fascinating collection of pulsing, pounding, gritty, fabulous new rock and roll that evokes the sound and spirit of Texas legends the 13th Floor Elevators, puts a strong backbeat to it, and then—ah, youth—throws a little Hawkwind in for good measure, though they might not even realize it. Which makes them that much more interesting.
“Moving from Texas to Seattle was kind of a change of speed,” says the band’s guitarist and singer Danny Lee. “It was kind of an experiment to see if that kind of music had an impact—you know, ‘90s grunge music, and all of the really rad music that came out during that time. It was kind of an experiment to see how I could take that Texas heritage and throw it in the mix of a Seattle scene.”
Adds drummer James Traeger: “Tacoma had a lot to do with it. It’s a really dirty, grungy place. Nirvana used to play there more than Seattle, is what I’m told. I guess recording in all the gloom and stuff, in a dank warehouse, translated into the records and helped get that Night Beats sound.”
With the help of album co-producer Robert Levin Been of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and brand new addition bassist Jakob Bowden, Night Beats have crafted an interesting mix of music that may at times recall the old–but, to its credit, sounds new through and through.
They’ve done a lot of world traveling already, and soon after their stop in our studio they’d be off to Europe again, so we’re lucky we met them, we’re lucky we heard them play in our studio, and now, luckily, you can, too. Two songs from the new album–”No Cops” and “Power Child.”
As someone once said: dig it.
