Control Group, the new band comprised of Evan Reynolds (vocals, bass, guitar); Darren Korb (vocals, guitar, drums) and Jeremy Parker (vocals, guitar, drums), recently released their debut EP, Shoes Of The People. Check out the track, “Leave It Alone” below. And, if you want to go and show them some love live, they’ll be at Arlene’s Grocery on Wednesday, December 4...see below for full details.
Wednesday, December 4
95 Stanton Street
New York, NY
7PM
21+
Control Group is a new band comprised of three singer-musicians with some impressive Indie cred: between them they have recorded three BBC Peel Sessions, won Best Original Score at the Spike Video Game Awards, sold 200,000 albums, got NME's Single Of The Week, won a Rock Band® National Championship, had a Swirlies’ song named after them, and toured with bands like Girls Against Boys, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and The Damned. Having left their previous projects behind with the other detritus in rock music’s roiling wake, Control Group found each other in the creative petri dish of Brooklyn. There they set about discovering their new style, expressing the spirit of their surroundings.
The band say their inspiration derives from their method as much as from their musical influences. They spontaneously record their instrument parts without a master plan, like splattering paint on a canvas. Then each of the three takes ownership of a skeletal musical form and breathes emotion into it by adding vocals. Many tracks don’t make the cut, but some of these experiments result in wonderful, gut wrenching treasures. As singer Evan Reynolds observes, “The name Control Group is kind of ironic, because everything is so incredibly out of control.”
The band’s debut 7” single contains two such treasures. It’s a limited edition, hand-labeled, hand-packaged labor of love. Recorded mostly live in a Bed-Stuy basement, this record is gritty and raw. Its heavy dynamic shifts and dark sound capture the the band’s nervous energy. Control Group has already drawn comparisons to the Scottish trio Paws, London Pitchfork darlings Yuck, and the still-vital Western Mass veterans, Dinosaur Jr. The digital version of the single was actually mastered from the vinyl, so it retains all the graininess of its physical origins. “We liked the feel of the vinyl versions so much, we wanted to keep that sound in the digital versions”, says singer Darren Korb.
