Living in Nashville and becoming involved in the amazing music scene in this town has led to a weird phenomenon I'm still getting used to - I'm starting to be friends with some of my favorite bands. Of course its inevitable that I'll be friends with people in bands - because of my hobby and the kind of people I hang out with that's a massive chunk of my social circle right there - but there's a difference between meeting someone, befriending them, and then realizing they're in a band; and hearing a band, loving them, and then becoming friends with the members.
It's bizarre because not only are you still a huge fan of the music these friends are creating, but you also feel weirdly like you have a personal stake in what they're producing - you're rooting for them in a way you've never rooted for one of your favorite bands before. And when they come up with something amazing it's this happy mix of fandom and weirdly enough - pride. There is nothing like the combination of great people and great music.
That said, I'm pretty psyched for the release of the new And the Relatives EP, Animals, which is finally out this week. I stumbled upon them last year when they appeared alphabetically at the top of the list of performers playing last year's Next Big Nashville, and it took just a few minutes on their myspace page to think "wow, they're pretty great." After checking out their set at the festival I was completely sold, and over the past year I've been fortunate enough to see them many times and become friends with the three members of the band - who are as nice as they are talented.
Tonight they're playing a official CD release show over in East Nashville at The 5 Spot (as I just mentioned in the Eureka Gold post), which means this is the perfect time to check out what has excellent odds of becoming one of your favorite Nashville bands. Rumor has it tonight will also be the debut of their new four-person lineup, plus you'll have a chance to pick up your own copy of Animals.
"Dixie Cups"
"Spoondaddy"
You can still check out an archive of the show And the Relatives guest-DJed back in July - we played five of the six tracks off of Animals back then - but you're better off just picking up your own copy of the EP. If not tonight, it's available digitally all over the net, so hop to it.
Recent Comments