Rooftop Vigilantes
Gig Seeker Pro

Rooftop Vigilantes

Lawrence, Kansas, United States | SELF

Lawrence, Kansas, United States | SELF
Band Pop Punk

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"CMJ Moments: Bob Boilen Shoots Videos Of 27 Bands"

The CMJ Music Marathon for 2010 is over. I spent three days at the five-day festival in New York and saw nearly 30 bands. I also made a point of videotaping one minute of every one of them. You can see each clip at the end of this post. - NPR


"Rooftop Vigilantes on tour (CMJ dates + Garage Fest videos)"

Lawrence, Kansas' excellent, farfisa-rockin' Rooftop Vigilantes are here this week for CMJ, playing three shows: Cake Shop on Friday (10/22); early Saturday night (10/23 7:50PM) at Bruar Falls for the all-day Cape Shop party, and then later that night at Cake Shop (12:20 AM) for the Daed Pizza showcase.

These will be the first shows Rooftop Vigilantes have played in NYC this year, as their planned March tour never quite made it out of the gate. If you've never heard them before, check out the two MP3s at the top of this post. Here's what I've said about them in the past:
These guys are up there with BOAT in in the shambly, anthemic, super-catchy school of indie rock -- and if this sounds a little tighter, more pointed than anything on their debut, there's a reason. The band trekked to Baltimore, MD to record the album with Jawbox/Burning Airlines' J. Robbins behind the boards, which seems like a perfect match with Rooftop Vigilantes' sound which has been described in the past as "a very drunk Fugazi."

No word on when that record is coming out, but it is in the can and waiting to be heard. They are seriously great live, so do catch them if you can. The band recently played the Scion Garage Fest in their hometown, and a couple videos from that are below, along with some show flyers and all 2010 tour dates... - BrooklynVegan


"Rooftop Vigilantes playing at CMJ and October tour"

Rooftop Vigilantes are heading out on an October tour that ends in a CMJ date in New York. Score! They'll be playing the Cake Shop on the Lower East Side during the festival. They're also playing in Manhattan, KS, Boston, Chi-town, and for some vicious hipsters at Bard College with fellow Lawrence indie-rockers Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk.

Tour dates after the jump.

10/09 @ The Ghost Parlor, Manhattan, KS *
10/14 @ Replay Lounge, Lawrence, KS
10/15 @ White Lightning Wherehouse, Iowa City, IA *
10/16 @ Cal's Bar, Chicago, IL * (with Blasted Diplomats)
10/17 @ Contemporary Art Institute, Detroit, MI * (with Swimsuit, Lord Scrummage)
10/18 @ The Happy Dog, Cleveland, OH *
10/19 @ SMOG @ BARD College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY * (with The Great Valley)
10/20 @ Butcher Shoppe, Boston, MA * (with Girlfriends, Free Pizza)
10/22 @ Cake Shop (CMJ Day Party), New York, NY
10/23 @ Bruar Falls (CMJ Day Party), Brooklyn, NY
10/23 @ Cake Shop (CMJ), New York, NY

*with Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk - The Pitch


"Scion Garage Fest"

Rooftop Vigilantes represented the Lawrence music scene well. They were rowdy, chatty with the crowd, and played hard and fast. But best of all, they were LOUD. I thought "Yowza, I feel bad for whoever has to follow these guys." - Lawrence.com


"New Music: Rooftop Vigilantes – “Seth No Jump”"

As we wait for The Wrens to put out their once-per-decade post-punk masterpiece, a number of bands have come forward to attempt to fill the considerable void. The latest is Rooftop Vigilantes, a Lawrence, Kansas quartet that’s more Kick-Ass than Dark Knight, all whiskey throats and wild riffs. “Seth No Jump” is short, sour and full of promise — including the likelihood of arriving on a full-length before a certain avian act’s next release. Real Pony Glue is due presumably as soon as the unsigned band finds a label — I suggest you, dear record exec reader, be that label. In the meantime, L.A., the band plays the Echo Curio on Tuesday night. - RawkBlog


"Live: Rooftop Vigilantes at Echo Curio, 6.15.10"

On Tuesday night, Kansas newcomers Rooftop Vigilantes played a nuclear-powered set that was one part propulsive post-punk jams and two parts sped-up twee-pop with punk guitar tones and hoarse vocals (or regular-speed punk with a cute twee-pop keyboard player and ’50s rhythms). Will their forthcoming album embrace the Wrens or Tiger Trap? Will Rocky and Bullwinkle escape Snively Whiplash’s dastardly plan? Tune in next time to find out. (And see more photos after the jump.) - RawkBlog


"Rooftop Vigilantes – Seth No Jump"

Rooftop Vigilantes hail from Lawrence, KS – home to the University of Kansas, and former home of such notable individuals as William Burroughs, Langston Hughes and Dr. James Naismith. Eschewing basketball and beat poetry, the band instead writes the kind of catchy garage pop that is over so quickly that you have to start it again.

The track we were sent is a hair over 2 minutes, with scuffed-up vocals over guitars that blister with feedback and a thick bass line throughout. Their debut album – entitled Real Pony Glue – is produced, named and ready for mass consumption, but there’s still no release date set.

If you’re out on the West Coast, check out this track at one of their tour dates throughout June. Dates are listed over at their MySpace page, along with a few more tracks to stream. - Tympanogram


"New Music From Rooftop Vigilantes"

Yeah I know, we’re late in the game on this one. Blah blah blah. Regardless, I’ve taken a liking to Lawrence band Rooftop Vigilantes and their pop-punk sound as of late. The band recently finished recording on a new album entitled Real Pony Glue and are using new track “Seth No Jump” in support. I’ll also be looking forward to the band stopping in town June 18th at Red Eyed Fly. - Austin Town Hall


"Justin Ripley Interviews Rooftop Vigilantes; Sound on the Sound Radio is Born"

Welcome to the first edition of “Sound on the Sound Radio,” otherwise known as “Justin Ripley is one of the funniest, most prolific guy we know and when he has an idea, we happily play along.”

When Justin, lead singer of Salmon Thrasher and Showbox sound guy, proposed recording a podcast for Sound on the Sound with Rooftop Vigilantes, a raucous rock band from his hometown of Lawrence, KS, we said “of course” and kept our fingers crossed. What we got back was like a delightful Christopher Guest take on an NPR interview gone horribly wrong … complete with monotone voice-over, momentum halting questions and a moment of dead air courtesy of a passing ice cream truck.

Unlike the sludgy grooves of Salmon Thrasher, Rooftop Vigilantes offer short anthemic blasts of rock that are at once bright and fuzzy. They’ve been described as a “very drunk Fugazi” and that sits well with me. Or as Justin put it, “One of the main unfortunate things about your band, well there are a lot of unfortunate things, but the main one is you’re completely amazing and that’s all I’ve been listening to the past three months, but yet, you’re band will probably never be successful.”

Listen for yourself and then check out both Rooftop Vigilantes and Justin Ripley (as frontman for Salmon Thrasher) this Saturday June 12th at the Sunset. If you have any requests for which band Justin interviews next for Sound on the Sound, leave them in the comments … we loved this initial podcast so much, of course we asked him back for more. - Sound on the Sound


"Rooftop Vigilantes"

A journalist once made a prediction about Rooftop Vigilantes: "In a few years, they'll make big waves, sign to a major label and then precipitously decline." Looks like he might have been at least partially correct. The Lawrence, Kansas-based act's latest album, Carrot Atlas, features enough hipster posturing and catchy choruses to ensure that a number of majors will be champing at the bit to chew them up and then, possibly, spit them out. Fortunately, the group's boozy brand of drunken garage rock defiantly shows the critics they are far too stubborn to care one way or another. - Westwood Music


"Rooftop Vigilantes"

Though the Rooftop Vigilantes recorded their last release with indie-rock legend J. Robbins, band members haven't become studio snobs. Until the sophomore LP, Real Pony Glue, finds a label and sees the light of day, there's this home-recorded, self-released cassette to tide over fans. Who Stole My Zoo? feels like it was thrown together in an afternoon (which is probably true), but the tape's ramshackle, off-the-cuff quality is part of its charm. The best songs here are hyperactive anthems. "Kitty Vacant" kicks off as screaming, unhinged punk-pop before seamlessly transforming into a slow-burn jam with a chorus that's pure cane sugar. Sadly, the second half of the tape doesn't fare as well. "No Dad Summer" is a throwaway that never lives up to its awesome title. But it's short and sweet, unlike the closing "My Year Itches," Rooftop Vigilantes' longest song to date (clocking in at a whopping three and a half minutes) that morphs into a repetitive dirge without any payoff. Still, for a young band that churns out tunes at a Bob Pollard pace, a dud is forgivable. Who Stole My Zoo? may have made a better 7-inch single, but it's the welcome sound of a band saying, "Fuck it, let's write and record four songs for the hell of it." It's an attitude that's punk as hell, and that's never a bad thing. - The Pitch


"Concert Review: Rooftop Vigilantes at the Replay Lounge"

Seeing Rooftop Vigilantes at the Replay Lounge is like seeing a panda in its native China chomping on bamboo in a forest. It's a natural habitat: a terrarium of indie rock. (Hell, the title of the band's forthcoming sophomore LP, Real Pony Glue, is an anagram of the bar's name.)

Since the last time I saw them perform at the Replay, Rooftop Vigilantes have gone from a scrappy, punky power-pop band to a more refined scrappy, punky power-pop band that records with J. Robbins at his Baltimore studio. Since their recording session with the former Jawbox frontman, Rooftop Vigilantes seem tighter. They've become more focused without sacrificing any of the energetic theatrics that make them such a refreshing live act.
rsz_11rsz_dsc01543.jpg
?

The most notable change in Rooftop Vigilantes' stage show is that you can finally hear Hannah Hyde's farfisa. For too long it's been washed out by the hyper-distorted guitars and Seth Wiese's hit-that-shit-as-hard-as-you-can, workmanlike drumming. Having the farfisa in the mix really fleshes out their live sound. Hyde also had a microphone in front of her and added the occasional vocal harmony, another welcome addition.

The set featured almost exclusively new songs with the exception of their two biggest jams, "Oscar Want 7" and "Copper Is Free" from their debut LP, Carrot Atlas.
Thankfully, the new songs sound just as good as the old ones. New tracks like Oscar Guinn's "Cartoon Crush" and Zach Campbell's "Fists of Gary" showcase the growth of the band's principal songwriters. Guinn's pop hooks have gotten catchier, and Campbell, who handles the lion's share of the songwriting, has refined his craft in a way that would make Bob Pollard proud. They also successfully attempted harmonies that consisted of more than screaming in unison.

Rooftop Vigilantes closed with their ramshackle cover of the Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait," which always incites toasting and woo-ing from the members of the audience familiar with the song and probably convinces those who aren't that it's a damn fine original. The cover is almost like damage control: something the Vigilantes can pull out at the last minute if they think a show has gone badly, something that will still let everyone walk out of the venue with a big fat smile. Let's face it, it's hard not to like a band that closes with a Replacements cover (as long as it's not Courtney Love). Fortunately, damage control at this show was unnecessary.

Omaha's the Prairies and the Yuppies opened and, given that both bands share the same drummer and co-lead singer, they sounded pretty much the same. Both bands played noisy, lo-fi punk, the main difference being the Prairies had more of a drone jones, whereas the Yuppies had a varied sound that fluctuated between three-chord punk and proto-punk. However, all is forgiven since they all looked like they were on winter break from whatever high school they attend in Omaha. Their youth makes them pure, and their excitement to be in bands that get to play out of town shined through in their performances. Though it might seem odd to watch baby-faced dudes play no-fi punk rock, somehow both bands made it work. - The Pitch


"Rooftop Vigilantes"

By their own accounts, the members of Rooftop Vigilantes amount to a drunken calamity every time the band takes the stage. The four-piece Lawrence band features former Girl Is a Ghost frontman Oscar Allen Guinn (also of Boo and Boo Too and Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk) trading sloshed hooks with Zach Campbell (also of Bandit Teeth and Blood on the Wall). With Hannah Hyde's Farfisa organ and Seth Weise's crashing drums riding shotgun, the Vigilantes bang out 16 tracks in 27 unrelenting minutes on their debut LP, Carrot Atlas. While it can sound a bit like walking into a jet engine on the first go-round, these boozy jams eventually ingrain themselves deep in the part of the skull that functions even without intoxicants. The group's shout-along choruses evoke bands like the Thermals and the Queers, hangover-proofing the Vigilantes' punk-energy pop. Plus, you're less likely to get puked on if you skip the live show and pop in this disc. - The Pitch


"Lawrence's Rooftop Vigilantes record second album with rock-star producer J. Robbins"

Should your overhyped Brooklyn ass ever arrive in Lawrence and see the pale, young, weathered Vigilantes dragging their equipment through the doors of the Replay Lounge ahead of you, you might as well head for your van.

It would be easy to mistake the band's male members for Replay employees — which is not really a mistake at all because two of them work there. But once Rooftop Vigilantes kicks into its Farfisa-driven, dirty little punky-pop tunes, most headliners don't stand a chance.

Frontmen Oscar Allen and Zach Campbell trade bass, guitar and singing duties, moving with the frenetic pace of windup dolls gone awry. Allen frequently loses his glasses but never his ability to harmonize with Campbell in a snap. Drummer Seth Wiese bashes along like a bearded metronome, while keyboardist Hannah Hyde anchors it all, gently swaying side to side in the middle of the Kansas tornado that is this band.

Released earlier this year to some Internet buzz (plus a nod in this publication's Best Of issue), Rooftop Vigilantes' debut album, Carrot Atlas, is the sort of record that fuses reckless enthusiasm, drunken verve and relentlessly catchy riffs with ramshackle pop sentiment. It's the kind of boutique blend that made the Replacements and Elvis Costello great when those acts started out.

And that's why it's strange that for its second album, the band is working with prolific, Washington, D.C.-scene-rooted alt-rock producer J. Robbins, a man who has been onstage with the likes of Jawbox and Burning Airlines and behind the boards for the Promise Ring and Murder By Death, to name a few.

It was an unlikely pairing that occurred when Rooftop Vigilantes got the opportunity to record at Robbins' Magpie Cage studio in Baltimore earlier this month. But it's a collaboration for which the band is thankful.

"The whole going-to-record-with-one-of-my-heroes deal got dropped in our laps about a month ago," Campbell says. "We thought we'd just go record somewhere in Lawrence and put out our next record like we put out our first record, but all this stuff just kind of fell out of the sky. We're kind of happy about it."

Not too happy, it turns out, to ditch their roots just yet — the title of the album, Real Pony Glue, is an anagram of a popular Lawrence venue.

Determining how the band came to record with a musical icon such as Robbins is difficult because the Vigilantes aren't exactly forthcoming with the details. Allen says: "A mysterious Texan business gnome decided to underwrite our existences temporarily." He further describes the individual as sort of a "rock-and-roll Howard Hughes."

However it came about, this was a chance that the Vigilantes couldn't pass up, even if it meant canceling a tour. The band went into the studio after a month of practicing that allowed the foursome to whittle down a wealth of material — seven albums' worth, by the band's estimate — to their favorite 17 songs.

Recording with Robbins was not something that the lo-fi Vigilantes as a whole had been building toward musically, but Campbell, for his part, had been dreaming of it since he was a teenager.

"Hopefully, it's not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he says. "Hopefully, we get to do this more. As of now, this is the first time any of us has gotten to do something like this."

"A first-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Wiese notes.

The recording process also brought a change of pace for the scrappy pop savants.

"I've never been so focused on one thing all the time," Allen says. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be unable to carry on any conversations when I get home without talking about guitar tone."

Allen likens working with Robbins to natural childbirth.

"We'd work out a guitar part, and then we'd put a mic on it, and we'd be like, 'Whoa, that sounds great,'" Allen explains. "Then he'd go try four different microphones, go back to the other one, move it back a little bit, turn off the lights in the room, and by the time J. was finally done, we were pretty amazed.

"He was full-on involved and active," Allen continues. "Trying to make the best record he can, which is really cool. We thought we'd come here with our pop songs and try and make J. not be embarrassed to work on them, but apparently he has a sweet tooth."

Campbell refers to the experience — 12-hour days for over a week — as a bit more demanding than the band's usual work ethic, but certainly more productive.

"We were able to spend a little longer doing things we'd never thought to do," he says. "I'm really happy with this."

The Vigilantes expect Real Pony Glue to be out in March but decline to go into further detail. They offer only that it won't be on Wooden Man Records, the label that released Carrot Atlas.

"Our new label is a surprise," Campbell says. "We don't want to give too much away."

One thing is for sure: When it's here, you'll know it. - The Pitch


"Songs You Must Hear Now."

Miss when emo/pop-punk band nicked the Replacements and Husker Du instead of blink-182 and Fall Out Boy-i.e., miss the Promise Ring? Us too. - Spin


"Rooftop Vigilantes Choose Baltimore"

It’s not often I hear of a band coming out to Baltimore from somewhere like Kansas to record an album. Don’t get me wrong, I understand there may not be many recording studios in Lawrence; but it is still quite a journey. In an article from a Kansas City news and entertainment site, the guitarist the group called Rooftop Vigilantes; Zach Campbell,talked about his experience coming to Baltimore, saying,

“The whole going-to-record-with-one-of-my-heroes deal got dropped in our laps about a month ago,” he said. “We thought we’d just go record somewhere in Lawrence and put out our next record like we put out our first record, but all this stuff just kind of fell out of the sky.”

The Rooftop Vigilantes came to Baltimore so they could have J. Robbins engineer the project at his Magpie Cage Studios, who has an extensive resume and seemed to be the perfect fit for the Vigilantes’ project. Seth Wiese, and Oscar Allen Guinn?? and Hannah Hyde round out the indie rock quartet. Music takes a lot of dedication in every stage to be successful, the Rooftop Vigilantes are lucky that Robbins let them crash for a few days, and to pull 12 hour days with them. I bet there are a lot of producers out there that wouldn’t be as accommodating; but it’s nice to see something like this in Baltimore. - Josh Flynn


"Band To Watch: Rooftop Vigilantes"

We get a lot of emails, many of them from publicists. It’s fun when you receive an email straight from a band, when they include a rickety link to an MP3 that doesn’t work, but you make the trek to their MySpace anyhow, take a listen, and discover they kick ass. This doesn’t happen often, but it did with Rooftop Vigilantes a ramshackle rock trio from Lawrence, Kansas. We don’t know much about them. Which is refreshing. Influences: “the baltimore ravens, hamm’s, and cellular telephones.” Sounds Like: “the texas rangers, only with more teeth.” We think they can sound like the Promise Ring but with the energy of Small Brown Bike (the excellent “Charley No Want Girlfriend”) or maybe a drunken Fugazi in certain cadences (“Charley Want Mario Chalmers”), but usually we just hear loud, sloppy summertime rock with a sense of humor (see: “Track Need Be Hidden” and all this Charley business). To see what we mean, take a listen to the infectious, organ-drenched “Oscar Want 7 Inch.”
The group includes Zach Campbell who recently worked as Blood On The Wall’s touring drummer and plays with BOTW’s Brad Shanks in Bandit Teeth (where there’s some guy named Charley, btw) and Oscar/Allen Guinn of the awesome Boo And Boo Too. He obviously wants a 7?. And there are obviously a lot of good bands in Lawrence.

Hear other tracks at their MySpace. The band tells us to expect a 3-song 7? on Blue Sea in August/September. It’ll be the band’s official debut as well as the first release for Vigilante Seth M. Wiese’s Blue Sea label. Woodenman’s putting out a full-length in the winter/spring. There’s a delay and vague release date because Oscar’s currently on tour with Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk and the Vigilantes “need to spend some time writing and recording.” We’re looking forward to all of this. - Stereogum


"New Rooftop Vigilantes – “Drew Want Dino” & “Copper Is Free”"

When we gave Lawrence, Kansas Chomp Womp-associated quartet Rooftop Vigilantes the BTW seal of approval they hadn’t released a full-length, but their debut Carrot Atlas’s up for sale online in a couple days (1/19) and is scheduled to hit the distribution maze thereafter. If you don’t remember what we liked about the group’s ramshackle sounds — at times Promise Ring-on-Small Brown Bike but with a major pop streak, or maybe a less enunciated, more basement Thermals — take a listen to these two short blasts, “Copper is Free” and “Drew Want Dino.” They’re both under 2-minutes long, so pay attention. - Stereogum


"Rooftop Vigilantes – “Seth No Jump,” “Punched By Gaurav,” & “Fists Of Gary”"

Lawrence, Kansas quartet and Blood On The Wall associates Rooftop Vigilantes’ songs are catchy blasts of messy pop gold, most coming in under/ just over the 2-minute mark. (For some reason I still think of Small Brown Bike when I listen to them.) The onetime BTW recently recorded 17 of those songs with Jawbox’s J. Robbins for Real Pony Glue, their followup to Carrot Atlas, but “then the dude who was gonna put it out was eaten by wolves so now we have no way of releasing it.” Unfazed, they’re about to head on an East Coast tour and home-recorded four more songs for a tape called Who Stole My Zoo? that they’ll bring on said trek. Before that, check out this trio from the Robbins session. (“Fists Of Gary” finds them slowing down the party and getting uncharacteristically sensitive.) - Stereogum


"Woodhands, Rooftop Vigilantes, Joe & the Flying Spoons & more in This Week In Indie"

This week is not as action-packed as last, but there are some other notable shows happening. Lawrence, Kansas' Rooftop Vigilantes highlight a very solid bill at Cake Shop on Thursday night (2/12). Their label describes them as "a very drunk Fugazi" which kind of works but they are poppier than that and actually remind me of semi-obscure San Francisco band Oranger. (Comparisons to The Replacements aren't unwarranted either.) Loose and wild, but with solid pop songs holding them up, their debut Carrot Atlas blazes through 16 songs in under half an hour and you can tell by the recordings that they'll be a lot of fun live. (Lawrence.com has a bunch of MP3s to download and an interview with the band.) Rooftop Vigilantes also play 92YTribeca on Friday (2/13) with Endless Boogie and Mike Bones. More Rooftop Vigilantes dates at the end of this post. - Brooklyn Vegan


"new Rooftop Vigilantes MP3 & tour dates"

It's been a year since Rooftop Vigilantes last played New York. In the interim, the Lawrence, KS four-piece have wrapped up their second album, Real Pony Glue, and you can download the first released track from that, "Seth No Jump," at the top of this post. These guys are up there with BOAT in in the shambly, anthemic, super-catchy school of indie rock -- and if this sounds a little tighter, more pointed than anything on their debut, there's a reason. The band trekked to Baltimore, MD to record the album with Jawbox/Burning Airlines' J. Robbins behind the boards, which seems like a perfect match with Rooftop Vigilantes' sound which has been described in the past as "a very drunk Fugazi." Says guitarist Zach Campbell:

"I've never really recorded in a situation like that -- it's usually either at my house or at a friends studio on the cheap, etc. We got the chance to go and do it for real, it was rad. It also came with its hangups. We didn't really know anyone in Baltimore, and we all ran out of money so we ended up having to sleep on couches in J's studio, and not shower the whole time after the first night. He was very nice about it, but I'm sure he thought we were all very smelly people."

It's still undetermined who's going to put out the new record, and when it's coming out, but Rooftop Vigilantes will be back in NYC next month for a few shows: Shea Stadium on 3/24 and Cake Shop on March 26 with another show on 3/27 TBD. The band are still putting together an extensive U.S. tour but all March tour dates so far are below (plus some video from Cake Shop last year)... - Brooklyn Vegan


"Best Debut Album - 2009"

In the final seconds of "Girls Want Teeth," track No. 4 on Rooftop Vigilantes' 16-song, 27-minute debut on Wooden Man Records, a guitar lick references Santo & Johnny's languid pedal-steel classic "Sleepwalk." It is a sick, sick joke. This Lawrence foursome is about as chill as a milkshake down the pants. But amid all the sloppy, sugary, pulse-accelerating rock-and-roll racket on Carrot Atlas, there's some tender melody making. And that's what makes it so easy to surrender to these recklessly harmonizin' Vigilantes. Led by the quirky talent of Oscar Allen Guinn (who changes names as often as he loses his glasses) and rounded out by co-singer and guitarist Zach Campbell, foxy organ pounder Hannah Hyde and delightfully undisciplined drummer Seth Weise, the band wraps ratty punk aesthetics around primitive pop charm. Song titles such as "Brad Shanks Want Girlfriend" and "Brad Shanks Tells a Joke" (Brad Shanks, whoever he is, must have a pretty compelling life) and the immortal "Cooking With Gassaway" just add to the masterpiece of fun and absurdity. It's music by fuckups for fuckups. Like the giddy, rebellious feeling that comes with the first shot of tequila at the end of a shitty week, Carrot Atlas is freedom reclaimed. If we can't get at least one album like this out of the local scene every year, there's just no reason to go on. - The Pitch


"Let Rooftop Vigilantes Save Your Monday Afternoon"

Monday blues got you down? How’s about you throw on this new song by Lawrence, KS’ finest alt-rock roughnecks, Rooftop Vigilantes. The tune’s called “Punched By Gaurav,” and although we don’t really know who Gaurav is, we know you probably feel you’ve been punched today, so consider it a “shared sentiment.” Other things we know: it’s short (under two minutes long), it’s sweet (like, early Get Up Kids sweet), and you probably need to stop asking that bartender out at your local bar (that last one we’re just assuming). Oh, and by the way, they’ve been working with untouchable Jawbox frontman and all-around DIY dude J. Robbins, so there’s your cred, scenesters. Play this six times and thank us at 5 p.m. - The Tripwire


"The Lawrence, Kansas collective harbors a deep roster of eclectic independent rock."

Blissful, earnest pop punk with a sweet streak of 60s farfisa psychedelia, Rooftop Vigilantes are gearing up for a two month US tour in 09 to show off "what could be described as Taco Tuesdays or The Zombies drunk on Hamm's." Whether a metaphor for their cheery summer fix or fact, the band claims to have gotten "lost on their way to watch a softball game" and "never finding it... bought some beer, went home, and began constructing the songs that would become their foundation." Lookout for a 7" on Blue Sea Records, and full length "Carrot Atlas" on WoodenMan Records, available in 2009. - Impose


Discography

Carrot Atlas LP (2009)
Who Stole My Zoo? cassette (2010)
Real Pony Glue (TBA)
Party Animal 7" (TBA)

Photos

Bio

In April 2008, Zach Campbell, Seth Wiese and Oscar Allen Guinn got lost on their way to watch a softball game. Never finding it, they bought some beer, went home, and began constructing the songs that would become their foundation. When I say foundation, I mean to say they wrote 4 songs in about 2 hours. This is a (sometimes frustrating) habit they still hold on to quite furiously. Infusing sweet 60’s-esque melodies with garage and punk rock sensibility, Rooftop Vigilantes’ sound could be described as “well, they rip off ZZ-Top”. Mind you, that would be a very poor description, but if you really wanted to, you could say that. By adding the lovely Hannah Hyde on Farfisa before their second show they completed the perfect band. They were perfect before, just not complete. Now they are both.