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Already widely recognized as a touring force, a tireless group that frequently crosses the country, Spindrift recorded The West – their first official full-length, out November 11 on Beat The World Records – over a period of three years, in that rare time between shows. The album is, in the words of frontman Kirpatrick Thomas, a “pastiche,” music that pulls from earlier eras, from the Spaghetti Western, Eastern European klezmer, the sea shanty, Spanish flamenco, and American blues, but ties in notions of the present – druggy California pysch, Bruce Haack’s work in the electronic realm, Spacemen 3, over-population and over-consumption, and mostly, a respect for and affinity towards the last of the great unknown.
Spindrift frontman Kirpatrick Thomas’s fascination with the West has existed from childhood, stemming from his passion for films depicting the wild American frontier, especially those scored by Italian composer Ennio Morricone. This early interest has played a major part in his songwriting, and his druggy, spacious, psychedelic music found a supportive community in Los Angeles, where he arrived in the early part of the new millennium after a stint with the Brian Jonestown Massacre as a touring guitarist.
Download “Ace Coltrane” from The West here.
“Ace Coltrane,” which was inspired by an actual person the band met in the California desert, is fast-paced and invigorating, full of Mexican horns and twangy country guitar, the new sound of the Spaghetti Western. Morricone should be proud, and it’s no wonder that Tarantino has a song from Spindrift in the latest movie he produced, Hell Ride.
The West is an expansive, sweeping album, the work of many musicians coming together with a common goal, a defined purpose, in the process creating what ends up being a tone poem of contemporary society itself.
Spindrift have been touring tirelessly the past couple of months, regaling audiences not only with songs from The West, but also tracks from The Legend of God’s Gun, the Mike-Bruce directed neo-Spaghetti-Western that they both starred in and wrote the soundtrack to.
The band, which is part of the close-knit California psych community and includes former members of the Warlocks and Brian Jonestown Massacre, is celebrating the release of The West with a show at Los Angeles’s The Roxy next Tuesday, 11/11, followed by a short West Coast tour.
November Tour Dates
Nov 11 Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy RECORD RELEASE PARTY
Nov 12 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
Nov 14 Tacoma, WA @ Java Jive (w/The Upsidedown)
Nov 15 Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge (w/The Upsidedown)
Nov 16 Seattle, WA @ The Comet
Artist: Spindrift
Album: The West
Label: Beat The World
Street Date: November 11, 2008
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