CLAWS are celebrating the release of their debut album Feel it All this Friday May 1st at 529.

Some bands hit me by surprise. They emerge on the scene out of nowhere or maybe it is my own unawareness. CLAWS can be categorized as a band unknown to some but they aren’t novice. Graham Marsh, one part of pop duo CLAWS, has produced for an extensive list of well known musicians before deciding to embark on his own project. Amber Renee has a voice that stands out among so many female vocalists in the spotlight.  CLAWS will be a vital part of the Atlanta music scene but they will also do so much more. They were kind enough to answer a few questions about their musical background, the upcoming album release show for Feel it All, and their take on the Atlanta Music Scene.

Listen to the album Feel it All at the end of the interview and come out to 529 this Friday to what it sure to be a great night!

Tell me about CLAWS. (How long has CLAWS been a band, who’s in the band, type of music.)

Just a little background on us:
CLAWS is an alt-pop duo comprised of sultry siren Amber Renee and four-time Grammy winning producer & multi-instrumentalist Graham Marsh. After a decade of working at the highest levels of the music industry with stars like Cee Lo Green, Bruno Mars, and T.I., Graham became disillusioned with the pop music world. At the height of his commercial success in 2012, he quit his job as Cee Lo Green’s right-hand man to pursue a music career that would fulfill him creatively. As if by a greater design, he soon met Amber, a grad school dropout moonlighting as an alt-pop singer at Atlanta venues like Eddie’s Attic and Smith’s Olde Bar. The pair began writing together in the Summer of 2013 and realized that this was the collaboration they had each been searching for. CLAWS completed their debut album Feel It All one year later, which includes the talents of several Atlanta legends, including Preston Crump (Outkast, Goodie Mob), Keisha Jackson (Outkast), Kennard Garrett (Case), and Slick Barnes (India Arie, David Anthony).

As for the band, it’s just the two of us. But when we perform live, we usually play with our keyboardist Kennard Garrett and background vocalist Slick Barnes. We’ve been together for two years and we describe ourselves as alt-pop. In case it helps, we were recently described as “possess[ing] the edge of the Black Keys with the accessibility of Purity Ring and the magnetic force of The xx” by Yaqui.co.

Graham, what has it been like going from being a producer to being in a band or is this not the first project you’ve been apart of?

The central difference is that when I’m working on other people’s records, I’m facilitating their visions. With CLAWS, I get to develop my own vision with Amber, so creatively, it’s a different process.

You have an album release coming up, what was the process like recording and is this CLAWS first full album release.

Feel It All is CLAWS’ debut album. As a duo, we write all of the songs together. Amber writes lyrics and melody, and Graham does all of the music and production. Our process for recording this album was unique, in that we were able to collaborate with a lot of Atlanta legends to bring our vision to life. Preston Crump played bass, who worked on Outkast, TLC and Goodie Mob records. Keisha Jackson, the daughter of Millie Jackson and Outkast’s traveling background vocalist, did backgrounds and a feature on Feel It All. Grammy nominated musicians Slick Barnes (India Arie) and Kennard Garrett (Case) also played pivotal roles in the creation of the record—Slick wrote and sang backgrounds while Kennard played keys and arranged strings on several songs. On the technical side, along with Graham, we had some really amazing mixing and mastering engineers involved, including two-time Grammy winner Ralph Cacciurri (Outkast), four-time Grammy winner John Frye (T.I., TLC, Outkast), five-time Grammy winner Miles Walker (Katy Perry, Rihanna) and six-time Grammy winner John Horesco (Mariah Carey, TLC). It was a really incredible experience working with so many talented people. We’re all friends, so there really is nothing better than being creative in a room full of people you love and respect.

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Savagist, Bleed the Pigs, Forest of Tygers, Hello Cobra play 529 on April 24th, 2015.

There may be a lot of messiness going down in east Atlanta on Friday night but once that is over mingle over to 529 continue the night with some heaviness.  Atlanta’s own Hello Cobra starts off with their instrumental math rock that confuses the crowd every once in a while with how heavy they get. They will make you love music as much as they hate it.  Forest of Tygers and Bleed the Pigs will be in town from Nashville. I honestly hadn’t heard of Forest of Tygers before the announcement of this show but I’m super excited to see them after checking out their album. The brutal band from Athens, Savagist will end the night.

Come out to 529 this Friday and get a good healthy dose of heavy that the south has to offer.

MTN ISL/Bodyfather 7″ Split

Next up in the vinyl spotlight series is from MTN ISL. Yes, this is a split with the insanely talented Atlanta punk band Bodyfather and yes, it came out last June but I wanted to feature it now because MTN ISL deserves the recognition. This split, featuring the song “Salt Lick”, follows their first album release god become animal in 2013. The artwork is by HeGoat FID and the vinyl itself is described as doo-doo brown. Their words, not mine.

Moving on, MTN ISL is a hard band to describe because they are loud, melodic, and technical. No doubt about it they are one of my favorite Atlanta bands to see live. MTN ISL, Muuy Biien, Null, Bataille play at 529 on April 22, 2015. They have opened for bands like Floor and Whores. and it is nice to see them headlining a show.

Featured Show: JD McPherson – The Earl – April 15th

JD McPherson is the definition of a musician born in the wrong era. Him and his band provide a breath of fresh air to the modern music created today. Rock and roll, R&B, soul, retro, rockabilly whichever terms chosen to describe his music doesn’t say enough because they create something so special. After releasing their second full length album Let The Good Times Roll earlier this year the guys have been on an extensive tour and finally announced an Atlanta date. They will be playing at the Earl on April 15th and after seeing them twice before their live shows are not one to miss. Hope to see you there!

JD McPherson and John Paul Keith play The EARL this Wednesday, April 15th.

Vinyl Spotlight: Book Club – One-Way Moon

Book Club is a local folk band that has been featured on Promising Chord for many years. One-Way Moon is the follow up to Book Club’s debut full length album Ghost which was released in 2011.  It has the same feel as the last album with beautiful stories, that can also be heartbreaking, told through simple yet charming melodies.  The vinyl packaging is one of the best I’ve seen from the gold foil on the sleeve, which was designed and illustrated by Rachel Horlick, to the clear with black splatter record.  Absolutely beautiful and is a perfect example why vinyl is not only great to listen to but packaging is also a very special form of art. Give the album a listen below.

Book Club along with Hope for agoldensummer are playing at the Earl this Thursday, April 9th.

Book Club’s One-Way Moon released February 17, 2015

Interview: Eqo – Album release with Alchemy and The Strays of York at Smith’s Olde Bar, March 27th

Eqo is a band I’ve just recently started listening to and I wanted to know more about them. With tons of press outside of the local scene they are the perfect example of a band gaining exposure and are on their way to doing great things in Atlanta and beyond. Daisy Bellis, frontman of Eqo, answered a few questions about creating positive music, Eqo’s new album Ananta and what they think of the Atlanta music scene.  Listen to their album below also!! Be prepared for an awesome night at Smith’s Olde Bar because all three bands are incredible.

Tell me more about Eqo? 

The current lineup is Kity Faya, Daisy Bellis, Kai Vaughn on guitar, Yosh on bass, and Jet on drums. Kity, Kai, and myself are the founding members and we formed in 2013. Yosh came around in the middle of 2014 and Jet is the newest member who came in January of this year.

We’re a new age progressive rock band. Most of our lyrics are influenced by new age concepts: collective consciousness, the emphasis of love over fear, flow, etc. Our sound is primarily progressive rock with elements of alternative, jazz, funk, and pop.

This Friday is the release show for your new album Ananta, tell me more about the album. What was the recording process like?

Yes! We’re very excited about the album release show! We finished recording the album in early 2014, but decided to wait to release it. We wrote every song on ANANTA on an acoustic guitar in an empty living room with the help of Angry Orchard and other substances. It was effortless. I think we were all in very similar places spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Eqo was pretty much all we had, so we just kept writing. Before we knew it, we had 9 songs written.

The recording process was great. Jason Andrews (Spotlight Sound Studio) is an amazing engineer to work with. He really tapped into our creative process and was able to push us to our highest potential, even when we didn’t feel we could make it. He believed in us, knew what we were going for while respecting our artistic freedom. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

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Interview: Amos Rifkin of A. Rippin Production