Today, the Colorado-based alt-country rock band Gasoline Lollipops release their new album Kill The Architect via ALP Recordings. Produced by longtime Los Lobos member Steve Berlin, the album tackles our struggle for balance and connection in the midst of political turmoil. Earlier this week, the band also released the semi-autobiographical video for “Tennessee Nights,” which charts frontman Clay Rose’s brief rendezvous with a couple of drug-running hopeless romantics in the hills of Tennessee.
Watch the music video for “Tennessee Nights” via YouTube
Listen to Kill The Architect
“The music video for ‘Tennessee Nights,’ as well as the song itself, handles the heavy with a light touch,” shares Rose. “The song concerns a short period of time preceding my first, long stint of sobriety. I spent that time in Nashville with two colorful characters, Travis and Caroline. We were reckless and dangerous, drugged and deluded enough to think we were on a never ending rollercoaster ride. It turned out to be a trap door to Hell, but until we realized that, it was some of the best fun we’d ever had. The video leans into the cheerful delusion of escape, and the immortal hubris of youth. No Coast Productions was amazing to work with, and we had a blast making the video. The best part? Unlike the history we were reporting, at the end of the shoot, there was nothing to escape. Thank evolution for change, and thank God for LSD.”
From the new album, the band has already released the menacing “Holy Rebel”, which saw Rock and Roll Globe liken the group to “Lucero, Sixteen Horsepower and even Violator-era Depeche Mode.” Meanwhile, the reflective first single “Humanity” and its frenetic official music video was lauded by Riff Magazine for its “bluesy, punk-inspired alt-country rock” sound.
Taking shape as Rose composed music for Sam & Delilah, a psychedelic country ballet based upon the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah, Kill The Architect tackles the duality of human nature – good and evil / light and dark – and how balance is only achieved when we accept both sides of the coin into ourselves. This is also reflected in the LP’s sound, with many of the songs firmly rooted in the band’s folk and country influences (like “Humanity”) and the other half owing more to the noisy punk rock Rose grew up listening to (with “Holy Rebel” being a prime example of this).
“As humans, we've separated ourselves based upon our beliefs and the identities we've created,” shares Rose. “Those things might have weight, but ultimately, it's not real. It's fleeting. It goes away when you go to sleep. It's not worth dying for, and it's certainly not worth killing for. If you've gotta kill something, kill your identity and be liberated. That's what Kill the Architect is about.
Kill the Architect was recorded with Berlin at Dockside Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana from a series of live-in-the-studio performances. In addition to Berlin, the album features appearances from a number of Rose’s friends and musical collaborators including GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov, Fruition’s Mimi Naja, Phoebe Hunt and Rose’s mother Donna Farar, a longtime Nashville songwriter. Formed in the early 2000s as a cow-punk duo, the Gasoline Lollipops’ hometown following in Colorado eventually began to expand and so did their lineup which currently includes Don Ambory, Scott Coulter, Brad Morse and Kevin Matthews.
Kill The Architect Tracklist
1. Tennessee Nights
2. Holy Rebel
3. Mercy
4. Honeysuckle And Poison Oak
5. Horse Or The Cart
6. Kill The Architect
7. Humanity
8. Come Here To Die
9. Black Hole
10. Elvis
11. Working For The Devil
12. The River
