Roll the Electric Bones! (Blog)
COVID-19. It affected everything. It changed our world. But in almost all instances - problematic times leads to renaissance movements in the art world. Trauma breeds poetry. Hookworm Records started as a dream of making the absolute best compilation records available of Arizona Independent Music. Hookworm was never going to be looking for full record projects from its bands. It was not going to be that kind of record label.
Birds + Arrows @ Club Congress Tucson, AZ
Meanwhile, Birds + Arrows had a new record recorded at Dust & Stone Recording in Tucson, Arizona. It was to be their long anticipated follow up to Arbitrary Magic, which put them on the map in Tucson as solid additions (albeit transplants) to the local music scene. Subsequently, the band was voted Best Rock Band 2021 by Tucson Weekly Magazine.
“Truth or Consequences is part love song to New Mexico and part survival story. Written at the start of the pandemic on a solitary road trip, it was fueled by financial and mental health struggles. It’s about trying to live in the moment and take things one little task at a time to get through something that seems impossible.”
But with COVID, many things in the entertainment industry plummeted to an absolute grinding halt. Vinyl supply chain issues, for example, are still causing all sorts of ill effects. In the record industry, it was an incredibly hard time to be shopping a new album to a new label. Although Birds + Arrows are established, long running independent musicians, Electric Bones was having difficulty finding a home in a pandemic.
Tyler Lidwell Photography
Hookworm Records on the other hand, launched as an LLC on March 9, 2020 - and Arizona more or less shut down on March 13th. We were looking at quite a long gap existing between HookwormONE, which had already recorded at Flying Blanket Recording, and HookwormTWO - which would not be able to record until the late summer of 2022. Hookworm Records was in the direct position of needing to be able to expand its catelog without having to wait for more studio time.
PREORDER GOES LIVE JULY 1, 2022 @ Hookworm Records
Electric Bones was like trapping perfectly timed lightning in a bottle. Hookworm Records had already signed Birds + Arrows to HookwormTWO, so the foundation of a fantastic collaboration preexisted. When the band approached us asking if we were interested in Electric Bones - the answer was a resounding yes! Together, we were able to get the record re-mastered for vinyl with Flying Blanket Recording and The Blasting Room, and the record was able to get into the queue at Burlington Record Plant before the pandemic supply chain window closed.
The result is Electric Bones - available on Translucent Blood Orange or Translucent Florescent Yellow Vinyl. PREORDER JULY 1 HERE !
“Astrology has always kind of pissed me off. Anything that distills a person down to a few characteristics, lumping them in with everyone in the world born during that same month, not only makes no actual sense but it’s also kind of basic and insulting. It doesn’t help that I’m a Gemini, one of the most vilified astrological signs. Astrology tends to get used as an excuse not to actually try to get to know others as individuals, or take responsibility for personal actions. But I’m sure right now people who love it are thinking, “that is such a Gemini thing to say”.”
The first four singles from Electric Bones have already been released. Again, planning the release of an album over a pandemic is not an easy feat! Birds + Arrows spent their time in isolation making music videos for the singles they had completed, while they prayed to all of the Old Gods and the New that Electric Bones would find a home.
“The creation of Electric Bones comes from a defiant, confident and incredulous place... we never attempt to second guess our writing and creativity based on what we think people want to hear. ”
Birds + Arrows have an amazing collection of incredibly well done music videos, and their newest - STRATA SONG - is no exception. Filmed on and around the Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona by drone, the footage is superimposed over old Super 8 footage taken in 1979 by Pete Connolly and his friends. The song is a testament to geography and geometry, and the visual effect creates a stunningly visceral journey through time and landscape.
Enjoy - the newest music video from Birds + Arrows.
The rest of Electric Bones (recorded at Dust and Stone Recording in Tucson, Arizona by Gabriel Sullivan and Frank Blair / Originally Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio / Remastered and Engineered for vinyl by Bob Hoag at Flying Blanket Recording and Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room / Manufactured at Burlington Record Plant) is filled with treasures.
“Pete Connolly: Vocals, Drums // Andrea Connolly: Vocals, Guitar, Synth, Soundscapes // Gabriel Sullivan: Bass, Synth, Backing Vocals // Ben Nisbet: Lead Guitar”
Preview and Preorder the album JULY 1 when Birds + Arrows play with our friends SODA SUN !
“Radio Shack (Don’t You Wish) is a low resolution, solution to the high resolution bombardment of nostalgia and regret coming at you from Social Media.”
There is the upcoming Radio Shack (Don’t You Wish), the angelic Saviors of This Town (featuring the heavenly guest vocals of Brian Lopez (XIXA), the poignant Say You’ll Understand (dedicated and written for Pete’s beloved father), the fantastically poetic False Star, and perhaps the HIDDEN GEM of the record - Twisted Hills (Wicked).
Be sure to PRESAVE the newest single - RADIO SHACK (Don’t You Wish)
Be sure to PRESAVE / PREORDER - ELECTRIC BONES
ALBUM RELEASE SHOWS
TUCSON | Hotel Congress AUGUST 19, 2022
w/ special guests FAIRY BONES
PHOENIX | The Rebel Lounge AUGUST 25, 2022
w/ special guests FAIRY BONES // COMPTALO & the HUMANAUGHTS // TBA
SUBSCRIBE to Birds + Arrows to get notified for the next Music Video PREMIER
Do it all when you #RockLocal with HOOKWORM RECORDS
