Inflatable Best Friend
Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Ian Howell knows the difficulty of trying to earn respect as a band of high schoolers. "They make it difficult to be in a high school band and play at a real venue" Howell said "...People will be like 'Oh it's just another S****y garage band' and write you off. We've been playing out where ever we can - coffeeshops, Bars, just where ever".
But those handles don't seem to be tripping up Howell and his fellow Gull Lake High School seniors, who compromise the punky, garage rock trio, Inflatable Best Friend. The Crew of Besties - Howell (Guitar, Drums, Vocals), Austin Mcquater (Bass), and Tanner Boerman (Guitar, Drums, Vocals) are poised to release the debut LP "Don't Berate Me, Don't Deflate Me" on Nov. 6th at a metal dominated show presented by Revolution Music Group.
In a day and age where genre labels are about as pointless as MTV, Howell admits that there isn't one pure category that that his band falls in, but it has hugged the stylings of bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and The Sonic Youth.
The album was recorded in a basement over three consecutive weekends. The DIY process doesn't ever seem to yeild perfect results, but Howell said the band was bound and determined to get solid material out to the public.
"Everyone in the band has said it was kind of a rushed effort" Howell said "We could have done a better recording, but at this point this is all we can ask for". Inflatable Best Friend aims to keep listeners on their toes with their latest work.
"It's kind of a mixed bag" Howell said "We thought pretty hard about how we wanted to organize the track list and we ended up having one really hard song then one really soft one. It's a stop and go style. Some of the things we had on our EP we just moved over to our LP. They lyrics aren't really about anything in particular either."
Howell and Co. will follow up their release with a performance at The Brownstone Coffeeshop in Grand Rapids on Nov. 12 at 7 PM. - The Revue
Discography
The EP; May 2010
*A very primal version of our music. We were still attempting to place a finger on what we were going to sound like. This set of recordings shows more of our very early hardcore punk influences in all of their glory!
Don't Berate, Don't Deflate me; November 6th 2010
*The big mama of all Albums! We're getting ready to release it shortly! We've also been planning out quite the extensive campaign to mail our Cd out to every college radio station we can think of in the United States, and Canada. The hype surrounding our album grows with everyday. We are all super excited to release our work to the general public!
Photos
Bio
Inflatable Best friend is the product of 3 very unique minds. In February of 2010, three of the best friends the world has ever seen began to make music together. The result was strange, eccentric, and yet all together beautiful. Tanner Boerman and Ian Howell switch between Guitar and drums, while Austin Mcquater says on the Bass. They have a wide range of influences, but they tend to describe their music as "A throw back to bands such as Sonic Youth and Dinosuar Jr." They have begun to take the music scene of Kalamazoo, MI by storm.
We want your support! We love each and everyone of you.
-Inflatable Best friend
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