Andy

Singer/guitarist Todd Allen had this to say about the formation of the group and this single release:
"The idea of Slow Draw formed over the last couple of years with songs that didn’t seem to fit what Squarecrow (Todd’s other musical endeavor) was or is. The songs felt like they pulled even more from my random influences of New Wave, Neo-Rockabilly, Americana, and Alt-Country. The Punk element still felt present, but it sat firmly alongside the other influences rather than at the forefront.
The songwriting mirrored my previous musical solo effort, but rather than go at it alone, I pulled Dan in to help tidy up some songs, run through and work out all the knots. Re-recording a few old solo songs, we jumped on a split with Sad Girls Club, Lightweight, and Allweather. I think Slow Draw actually became a band once Manny and Dylan became involved. 'Pessimist' and 'Glorious' are the first songs to be released with the full lineup involved during the writing and recording process. I consider these songs to be the actual formal introduction of Slow Draw to the world. They represent what the vision of the band is and what is to come."
Honestly, I think the combination of influences Todd describes is what makes this pair of tracks so interesting, with the moody “Glorious” nicely contrasting the more energetic title track. The Pessimist release can be ordered on animated flexi disc here and the band can be located on Bandcamp here. Meanwhile, check out the premiere of the trippy animated teaser video for "Glorious" below.
 

About the release, the band has this to say: "This album was recorded quite quickly: we used effects on the voices in order to make a difference from the ones we have been using so far. Several songs have been recorded very differently, we took advantage of the tools offered by the recording studio. There are themes that are composed from improvisation and by using the 'cut and paste' method. We have been working in this process little by little on our previous album 'La sangre del sol y la luna coagulada'. Musically speaking, this is our darkest album despite the theme 'Hambriento de amor,' which we have to confess, is truly pop."
Premiering here, we’ve got the nicely-done video for “Hambriento de amor,” which might be one of my favorites from the album. Dig the video below and head over here to preorder the self-titled release.
 

Perhaps we could all use some fun right now. Listening to this album, I’m taken back to a time a while ago when I was exchanging doom and stoner albums with a guy I was working with at a vegetarian restaurant. This release sounds like something we would’ve been listening to. The first half of the album is kinda doomy, sorta stoner. The other side of the split is raw and noisy with weird sound samples thrown in for good measure. Me? I, these days, kinda prefer the second half. Decide for yourself.
Dig the tracks below and head over here to preorder the album, releasing on Tor Johnson Records.
Split by Greylock
Split by BEDTIMEMAGIC

Tony Mag explains:
“When H-Street made Shackle Me Not and Hokus Pokus back in the 80s, using original music was a huge priority and we were able to find bands that no one had ever heard of at that time. One such band was Kirk & The Jerks from Lancaster, PA. They had a number of classic titles that helped make the videos legendary, along with the unique riders at that time, like Ron Allen, Danny Way, Matt Hensley, Tony Mag and so many more. Of course, The Jerks weren’t the only band, there was also Sub Society, Operation Ivy, Ron Allen’s MC Intelligent and so many bands that helped make the videos what they are. It is also true that we helped put these bands on the map in a rather unprecedented way, so it was a great partnership for us and the bands.
Kirk & The Jerks was a classic back east garage rock band for a number of years in the late 80s and 90s, had a couple of different goes at it and broke up sometime in the 90s, but the band members are still around and an effort to create a complete discography of their recorded material was undertaken by Division Street Sounds Records, who called us and asked if we had an interested in the project. When Tony Mag got to hear this news, a resounding “Hell yeah we do” forged a very special colab project that includes a Jerks vinyl record with 12 of their best songs, two CD's with all their available material, 37 in all, and a download code. We also made a special edition deck graphic in two shapes and two T-Shirt designs. The shaped deck is 32.5 X 9, with a 15.25 Wheelbase and the Pop Shape decks is 8.75.”
Premiering below is a cut from the Kirk & the Jerks discography, “One Way to Do It.” The collection releases tomorrow digitally on Division Street Sounds and can be ordered here. The vinyl release is set to drop in February.  Also check out live footage of the band from 1996.

Divison Street Sounds · One Way To Do It