The New Rising Sons

Thieves and Angels (Grape OS)
by Tim Den

I know I was one of many excited fans when I heard that former members of Texas Is The Reason and Into Another – two of New York’s boldest and most emotionally-challenging post-hardcore bands – had started a straight-up rock’n’roll band called The New Rising Sons. After three years of waiting around and only a short EP to show for it, I was just about to give up on this new supergroup when Thieves and Angels arrived on my desk. It isn’t the full-length the band recorded for Virgin more than a year ago (that’s still sitting on the corporate shelves collecting dust), but it’ll have to do for now. Yup, the rumors were true: This band is not hardcore in any way. Pack up your fanzines and your chokers, kids, because they’re not here to please the old crowd. Guitarist/vocalist Garrett Klahn has incorporated his fondness for The Beatles and The Charlatans UK into his songwriting rather than rehashing old Quicksand licks, and the result is refreshing and a blast to play loud. Shiny arpeggios, garage fuzz power chords, and a rumbling backbeat supplied by Drew Thomas paint the perfect backdrop for Klahn’s high-pitched melodies, as The New Rising Sons make their way toward the land of The Jam-meets-Manic Street Preachers, Iggy Pop-meets-Small Faces. For those of us who enjoy the no-frills, “bright-daylight” uplifting power of unabashed rock’n’roll, Thieves and Angels, although only an EP, is a joyride through Kickassville. Now let’s see if The Man can make up his mind and let us have the fuckin’ full-length…
(332 Bleecker St. PMB K42 New York, NY 10014)