American Gun
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American Gun

Columbia, South Carolina, United States | INDIE

Columbia, South Carolina, United States | INDIE
Band Rock Americana

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"American Gun"

American Gun's final sound always comes up sounding a little whiskey- soaked and a little rough-hewn. But to be sure, it's wholly rambunctious and reckless.

Andy Stokes - Metro Spirit


"American Gun"

...a full, archetypical, roots-rock vibe-brimming with the high-mid scrape of acoustic guitar strings, but rounded out by thick, thudding kick drum, and full-bodied slash-and-burn electric power chords. It may be wise to bank on Dark Southern Hearts, as it's a noteworthy slice of catchy, well-constructed Americana.

Jim Reed - Savannah Connect


"Machineheads"

The Means and the Machine expands upon American Gun’s grand debut, Dark Southern Hearts, perfectly embodying the outlaw country spirit with raucous punk enthusiasm. It’s like Whiskeytown covering The Clash or Drive-By Truckers teaming up with The Replacements.
Pat Wall

- The Free Times - Columbia, SC


"Hotter than a two-dollar pistol"

The critically-praised Columbia, S.C. roots-rock quintet celebrates the release of their latest…and is riding a wave of positive press that’s increasingly positing the band as one of the
finest underground Americana groups in the Southeast.
Jim Reed

- Connect Savannah - Savannah, GA


"Devil Showed Me His Hand album review"

South Carolina based roots rock band American Gun have a new album coming your way, Devil Showed Me His Hand the bands third full length (there is also a "demo" album - that you can get through eMusic), the album will be available from December 1st and gets released in a collaboration with the Jangly Records collective and the bands own label Step Out of the Line Records. The band Drew Hoose (drums, percussion), Kevin Kimbrell (bass), Todd Mathis (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar ), Donald Merckle (vocals, acoustic guitar), Noel C. Rodgers (electric guitar, vocals) for the album the band have fleshed out the sound with guest players adding banjo, pedal steel, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, gob iron and keys.

The guys have supported the likes of Lucero, Drivin’ N Cryin’, Jason Isbell, The Bottle Rockets, Shooter Jennings and Robbie Fulks and those influences have all being absorbed into the bands own work, so no surprise I've taken an instant liking to this record, plenty of rough and tumble alternative country and rock.
13 Women kicks off this eleven track album, it's a catchy rock number and does the job in getting your immediate attention, lots of dirty guitar and swagger, the brakes come on for track two Girl in Texas which follows a more relaxed path, strumming along roots now showing with added banjo, getting the track sequencing correct for an album is a vital element, this one pulls it off nicely as it rocks and rolls in all the right places, a thoroughly enjoyable listen with the band clearly at ease and enjoying themselves, one for a Saturday night - well almost as the album ends with a curve ball in the closing gospel track Are You Ready.
- No Depression


"American Gun"

...American Gun genuflects before Americana/No Depression pioneers like Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, The Bottle Rockets and Steve Earle. - Free Times


"American Gun"

...this group boasts guitar-driven, delectable vocal melodies, enough rock to satiate the indie kids, and enough of the rowdy outlaw, lovelorn cowboy and lost soul to give us the precious balance of a roots rock band.”

Rachal Hatton.
- Garnet & Black Magazine


"American Gun/Dark Southern Hearts"

As Dark Southern Hearts begins to kick open doors, it may just become unstoppable.
Michael Mee/NetRhythms UK
- NetRhythms


"American Gun/Dark Southern Hearts"

At times like on the eponymous ‘American Gun’ they set up a rollicking good tune and layer on the chords and harmonies; their sound drifts towards that other great bar band, the Replacements – no higher praise.
David Cowling/AmericanaUK.com
- AmericanaUK


"The Means & The Machine Album Review from No Depression"

AMERICAN GUN, The Means And The Machine - On their second album, South Carolina's American Gun sift Uncle Tupelo, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen through a filter of southern gothic story-telling and rock 'n' roll energy, coming out with a batch of pure, stripped-down twang 'n' roll. Frontmen Todd Mathis and Donald Merckle trade songs throughout; Mathis offers up the drawling "Horses" and the appropriately guitar-heavy "Neil Young Mood", while Merckle keeps to a tightly focused pop-rock sound on "Fight Song" and "Drunk Girls". Guests including Chris Stamey, who mixed the album and added keyboards, and Al Perkins on lap and pedal steel provide depth and texture without changing the guts of the band's sound. Add in covers of a Lucero song and the traditional "Moonshiner", and you have both a crisp alt-country machine and the means to deliver the goods. - Kevin Oliver - No Depression


Discography

Demos, Guns & Girls EP 2004 (Step Out of the Line Records)

Dark Southern Hearts 2006 (Step Out of the Line Records)

The Means & The Machine 2008 (Red Wax)

Devil Showed Me His Hand 2009 (Jangly Records)

Therapy 2011 (Jangly Records)

Photos

Bio

Over the past five years American Gun has racked up a years’ worth of shows throughout the Southeast, traveling to any dive that will have them and broadcasting their own unique spin on rock and roll while attempting to (and most often succeeding) connect with fans on a personal level. They also have a pretty darn good time themselves in the process of all the madness.

Laudatory reviews followed the bands’ previous releases of their three full-lengths, 2006’s Dark Southern Hearts, The Means & the Machine in 2008 and Devil Showed Me His Hand in 2009, drawing on such talents as John Morand (Craker, Sparklehorse), Chris Stamey (Whiskeytown, Yo La Tengo), and lap steel guitar legend Al Perkins (The Flying Burrito Brothers). In the past few years the band has received attention from a variety of smaller record labels and distributors. Their songs have been featured on a number of indie compilations, PBS’s Roadtrip Nation, The Mountain Dew X-Games and ESPN2’s Bass: The Movie. And they have opened for such contemporaries as Lucero, Drivin’ N Cryin’, Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell, The Bottle Rockets, Shooter Jennings, Robbie Fulks, and others.

Initially inspired by the rough and tumble alternative country of artists like Lucero, Steve Earle, and Uncle Tupelo, the band quickly hit upon its own brand of rambunctious, barn-burning rock n’ roll. And while that is still very much a part of what they do, the past year has seen the group morph into a more muscular and electric force, taking cues as much from Social Distortion, The Hold Steady and Oasis as from their twangy roots.

Excited to document the new sound and direction, the band spent the summer of 2010 in pre-production at Jangly Records in Columbia, South Carolina with producer Paul Bodamer before entering Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium Studio to record their fourth full-length, Therapy. In addition to being a sonic breath of fresh air, the new record also features some of the most powerful and brutally honest songwriting to date. Tales of love and heartbreak in a lonely city share the stage with the troubles and travails of a working rock band, painting as vivid a portrait of the band’s current state as the music itself.

Therapy will be released on Jangly Records in May 2011.

For more information contact:

Todd: stepoutoftheline@yahoo.com / 803-917-6709

www.americangun.net
www.janglyrecords.com