Austin's The Black Drumset Announce New Album

Austin-based band The Black Drumset will release their new album Charged on March 8. The album is available to pre-order now at Bandcamp. This week the band revealed the official video for "There's A Shark In The Boat," the first single from Charged. The video premiered at New Noise Magazine. About the song The Black Drumset's Brian Willey told New Noise Magazine, "The song title is inspired by the feeling of suddenly realizing there is real danger in a situation and you've got to focus and take immediate action to avoid disaster. Humans are really good at denying danger until its too late. The lyrics are written in the language of an interpersonal relationship, but its really about a dangerously divided society."

Of The Black Drumset's debut album one enthusiastic reviewer wrote, "The album is cinematic and sounds like the genuine interaction people have when they are faced with the impending doom of something out of their control." The comment holds even more true of the powerful new album, Charged. Written and recorded by Brian Willey between 2016 and 2018, it is clearly a reflection of the atmosphere of modern America.

The Black Drumset arrived in 2009 with passionate reviews and a thunderous live show. Reviewers called it "an album of tremendous texture and depth"; "utterly original and exceptionally compelling"; "a semi-drone monster of wonderfully varied textures and expertly crafted soundscapes"; "a seriously assured debut"; "they positively hum with atmosphere".

But just as Willey's project was taking off, a motorcycle crash left him unable to play for months and the project ground to a halt. At the same time, he co-founded and became director of Tiny Park (tinypark.org), an art space in Austin, TX that was initially envisioned as a side project. But with award-winning exhibitions by notables such as Sam Prekop (of The Sea and Cake) and Michael Sieben, and a regular menu of experimental music performances, readings and film screenings, the space quickly became one of the most beloved independent cultural organizations in the city. The Black Drumset was put on an extended holiday.

Now, nine years from the debut, The Black Drumset's new album is complete. The heavy polyrhythms, distorted organs, vocal melodies, analog synths, and soundtrack-like qualities remain, yet in every aspect refined and deepened. Song titles such as "The Last Beat Of The Last Elk Heart" and "There's A Shark In The Boat" convey the album's brooding tone and intensity, yet the nearly ten minute album closer, "For All that Is Yet to Be" hints at what is less obvious but underneath all of the music.

Joined again by Carlos Orozco (Palo Duro) and two drummers for live shows, the genre-bending project melds elements of psych rock, electronic, drone and indie rock.

About Brian Willey: A childhood spent in the hills outside of Birmingham, Alabama. Teenage years spent in punk rock, drugs, Catholic school, and then escape to New York at 18. Lots of bands along the way (Bunny, Ribbon Effect). In and out of the art world (MFA degree from the Art Institute of Chicago, gallery founder/director). Lots of moving - NY, Portland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin. News junkie, tequila lover, nice person.