New Orleans’ 90’s-style indie-alt-rock trio Bantam Foxes have easily become one of my new favorite local area bands to watch live. They put on a great show and seem to get better and better with each performance. Bantam Foxesadd to their ever-growing catalog with their upcoming EP, Gold Record being released this coming Friday. The trio of twin frontmen Sam and Collin McCabe plus drummer Jared Marcell—release compact batches of daring, dynamic and energetic rock songs on a bi-annual basis; which bucks the traditional 18-month album cycle. June 2016’s Gold Record release marks their 8th EP in total and their 3rd since their September 2013 full-length album Triumph.
Bantam Foxes is riding on the success of their previous two 2015 releases while looking for a next step forward. Their April Give Us a Raise EP catalyzed a handful of short summer tours and a would-be opening slot for Desaparecidos (cancelled, medical reasons). October’s Loser EP was released the same day as Bantam Foxes’ Voodoo Music Experience performance, which facilitated an opening slot for the Joy Formidable in April of 2016. The Gold Record EP comes with its own set of challenges and expectations for Bantam Foxes, and the songs on it speak to those truths. The opening track “Sleep” is a nod to the band’s habit of pressing forward. The pop pleaser rings with three-part harmonies proclaiming “I can predict / where you go when you sleep / when you don’t want to think about anything” over steady yet driven rhythms. With titles that regularly ride the line between confident wishful thinking and humorous humility, Gold Record is sure to push Bantam Foxes forward yet again. Gold Record will be available on iTunes, Bandcamp, and Spotify on June 17.
