press kit (pdf) - Pitch Perfect PR

TRANS AMthrill182_TA_booklet_CDB090.qxd 10/3/06 12:27 AM Page 1FEBRUARY 20, 20071 First Words2 North East Rising Sun3 Obscene Strategies4 Conspiracy of the Gods5THRILL Exit Management Solution JOCKEY RECORDS6 Climbing up the Ladder (Parts III and IV)SEX7 4,738 Regrets8 Reprieve9 Tesco v. Sainsbury’s10 Shining Path11 Triangular PyramidAll sounds by Trans Am© 2007 ASCAP/Bethesda MusicAdditional guitar on “First Words” and additional guitar and vocals on“Climbing up the Ladder (Parts III and IV)” by Grant TennilleAdditional synth programming on “First Words” by Barry LondonRecorded in Auckland, New Zealand @ MAINZ / engineers: Roy Martyn & Rachel Wakefield and inBrooklyn, NY @ the Ocropolis / engineer: Barry LondonAdditional recording took place in London, UK, San Francisco, CA, and Los Angeles, CACHANGEMixed in San Francisco, CA at Tiny Telephone / engineer: Aaron PrellwitzMastered at SAECover image by Nathan Burazer / other images by Ihrie Means / layout by Sheila SachsThanks to our friends, families and everyone who helped sex change especiallyChris Knox, Ben Howe, Paddy Moran, Frank Bowald, Ross Campbell, Brendan Moran,Paul Curtis, Milana Radojcic, Andrew Tindall, Stephen Moller, Richard Wain, Camilla Martin,Matthew Crawley, Luke at Red Bull Studios, HDU, Darryl at Mainz, Lane Whittaker, JamesFor Duncan, more Cameron information Forbes, Nancy Eisenberg, on Trans Trilby Crowther, Am, Paul please Crowther, contact:Will Waters, ZachJaeger, JustineThrillHeilner,JockeyRoland Alley,RecordsXan Hamilton,-JenJamieD’Angelo,ProctorOneida, Hoyt Fay, CharlesAtherton, Karl Larocca, Tim Green, Tim Soete, Nikhil Ranade, Ivan Hurzeler, Erik Barnes, JohnVanderslice, jamie@thrilljockey.com Jon Theodore, Alyson West, Hal Lee, Mike - 312 Seely, 492 Part Chimp, 9634 Joe O’Sullivan,Tim Cedar, Tom Anderson, Fats Martini, Tony McMaster, Gary WestPitch Perfect PR - Jessica Linkertransband.com jessica@pitchperfectpr.com - 773 784 4335For press kits, photos and more, visit thrilljockey.com/pressπ 2007 thrilljockey.com

Trans AmAfter Trans Am’s last album, Liberation – a bleak portrayal of life in a securityobsessedimperial capital, the band exploded and abandoned Washington, D.C.for three different continents. The following period of programmed isolationfound Nathan Means in Auckland, Phil Manley in San Francisco and SebastianThomson splitting time between London and New York. Internal contact wasprimarily electronic but for a handful of live shows.With two years’ separation fueling them, the band began in June 2006 on aprogram of sporadic rendezvous, reconvening briefly on several continents towork on what would become the most joyous and upbeat rock album of TransAm’s chronicle.Down UnderIn June of 2006, Trans Am reunited at MAINZ, a recording school in Auckland,New Zealand, with a few songs and almost no musical equipment. Recordingmoved forward with a wide range of borrowed instruments, keyboards and othergear, including a 1960’s Mellotron and remarkable vintage amps loaned by iconicNew Zealand musician Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs).The MAINZ session, recorded by a professor and a student who received credittowards graduation, was threatened when photos of the band drinking beer inthe on-campus studio were discovered by the administration. Future drinkingoccurred off campus.The Other HemisphereTwo months later, recording continued in Brooklyn, New York at the Okropolis:headquarters of New York band Oneida. Determined to make a break with thepast, Trans Am again arrived with almost none of their signature gear - none ofthe vocoders, keyboards, drums, drum machines and amps that they used onprevious albums.82_TA_booklet_CDB090.qxd 10/3/06 12:28 AM Page 2Two weeks later the album was mixed at Tiny Telephone Studios in SanFrancisco. Compared with previous records such as TA and Liberation, whichtook months to complete, Sex Change was conceived, written, recorded andmixed in only three weeks.Obscene StrategiesAlthough Sex Change marks a break from their past, Trans Am have alwaysembraced unnatural and perverse recording techniques and concepts. In such acrush of time, Trans Am had to rely on traditional time and possibility expandingsubstances: coffee, yerba mate, et cetera, as well as a codified series of recordingtechniques called “Obscene Strategies”.Brian Eno is well known for his “Oblique Strategies” in which studio engineers- faced with an apparent roadblock - draw a card from a deck. The card mightsuggest, “Take something perfect and make it more human”, with the intentionof animating the track through an infusion of randomness. Over many years,Trans Am developed their own Obscene Strategies to provide a less humanist andmore time-sensitive set of guidelines for loosening creative blockages. Samplesuggestions include:#11 Take a nap#16 Make it sound like Jackson Browne#18 Rip off black musicians#19 Invite all your friends over#20 Check your email#23 Leave the studio unlocked overnight#31 Hose down the control room#43 Pillow fight!LiberationPerhaps the band’s geographical liberation was the inspiration for the creationof Sex Change, Trans Am’s most international and exhilarating album to date.Whatever the reason may be, Sex Change is a welcome and forceful return by aband that has been a consistent innovator and touring machine for over a decade.