The Static Age
Chicago, Illinois, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2002 | INDIE
Music
Press
On the "Mercies" EP (2012):
"Sublime, brilliant and baffling" -- ROCKSOUND MAGAZINE (UK)
"(The Static Age is) the "non plus ultra" if you like melodic indie rock" -- OX MAGAZINE (Germany)
"Eulogy is a song you only write once in a lifetime -- 6/6" -- SCENE 2 ACT (Germany)
"Subliminal romanticism and comfortable loneliness make this record a secret tip for fans of Ambient Rock and Postpunk (8.5 / 10)" -- THE PIT (Germany)
"Five beautiful and catchy songs influenced by Jimmy Eat World and Joy Division" -- METAL1 (Germany)
"One of the most active and promising bands out there -- 8/10" -- ALBUMCHECK (Germany)
"A voice like Peter Gabriel" -- REPORTINK (Germany)
"10/10." -- SLAM ZINE (Germany) on "In the City of Wandering Lights" (2011)
"Singer Andrew Paley and bassist Adam Meilleur succeed in the rare feat of writing timeless songs" -- OX MAGAZINE (Germany) on "i/o" (2010)
On the "Blank Screens" album:
"Hell yes to this one" and "Top 20 of 2006" -- WONKAVISION MAGAZINE
"Lushly textured, sharply written" -- KERRANG
"A beautiful album...extremely hypnotic and haunting" -- EMOTIONALPUNK
"One of the most intricate and delicately put-together albums...could easily be the best indie/alternative record you hear all year." -- FOR THE SOUND
"Blank Screens is the sunrise." -- AbsolutePunk.net
"Hits you like a strong wave on the beach -- it...completely surrounds you" -- THE FIRE NOTE
"(Blank Screens is) so much more important than your usual run of the mill garbage being churned out on a daily basis." -- DECOY MUSIC
"Marvelous!" -- MELODIC
And on the "Neon Nights Electric Lives" album:
"An absolute classic" -- ROCKSOUND MAGAZINE
"Holy Sh!t, everyone who likes anything, ranging from THE CURE to THE POLICE to COMMUNIQUE to AFI needs to get this CD. I mean it."-- AMP MAGAZINE
"THE STATIC AGE lets the roots of post-punk and pre-darkwave shine brilliantly." -- OUTBURN MAGAZINE
"One of the brightest things you'll hear this year" and "Flawless" -- BIG CHEESE UK
"Breathtakingly beautiful...masterfully crafted and shockingly sincere." -- ABSOLUTEPUNK.NET
"Tarantulas Records has something wicked special on their hands -- I only hope they're prepared for the huge success that's imminent." -- SMOTHER.NET
"Lush and thoroughly engulfing. Every moment has a feel that is airy and open, yet intricate and complicated." -- PERFORMER MAGAZINE - Various
ALBUM: Blank Screens (Reignition; reignition.com)
WHO? Probably the only atmospheric post-punk band from Vermont in existence who were handpicked by AFI to open their Canadian tour in 2003.
SOUNDS LIKE? Er, atmospheric post-punk that's not afraid to ape subgenre-creators The Cure (see "Skyscrapers").
HOW IS IT? Surprisingly mature considering the singer used to be in River City Rebels; the only downside is that the guitarist's delay pedal seems to be stuck in the "on" position for the whole disc.
ROCKS LIKE: Elliot, As Tall as Lions, The Cure - Alternative Press
The Static Age
WORDS: Mike Haydock
SOUNDS LIKE: New Order, playing Thrice's mellow moments, with breathy vocals.
The Static Age's follow-up to 'Neon Lives' is a hushed album with a message to share. "We've become a society so inundated by media that we're drowning in it, literally," frontman Andrew Paley explains. "Rational thought or creativity is being reduced to a commodity, and people now exercise their creativity by 'choosing' which television show to watch, hit record to listen to, or videogame to play. This illusion of choice is preventing us from interacting actively in the world around us. No one taps into each other for ideas anymore; they shut off into their iPods, PSPs, and mobile devices, all tapping into the same shallow pool of ideas polluted by bias and misinformation, creating a homogeneous cultural landscape."
Knowing this, it's no wonder that despite the hazy whispered nature of Andrew's vocals and 'Blank Screens' as a whole, you'll be able to sense a menacing undercurrent at work. However angry he is, though, Andrew doesn't need to scream his message. "There are a million ways to use the voice, and screaming is only one of them," he says. In short, the central aim for this Burlington, Vermont quartet is to keep listeners enthralled and attentive.
Concludes Andrew, "I just want people to listen - really listen - to the album. That's all I've ever cared about."
CURRENT RELEASE: 'Blank Screens' (album, Reignition. Out now)
DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Blank Screens'
www.thestaticage.com - Rock Sound
The Static Age's press kit has lots more information, press clips, bio, photos, videos and music. Please reach out to richard@flixagency.com for credentials to view the full EPK. -
The Static Age
Blank Screens
Reignition
The Static Age hearkens back to several eras simultaneously. The quartet, led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Andrew Paley, channels the chiming, anthemic new wave of moody practitioners like the Psychedelic Furs and INXS while maintaining equal footing in the even bleaker and more electronically driven camp of Joy Division and the Cure. Paley keeps the lights low and the vibe dark blue on the Static Age's third release, Blank Screens, particularly with the sprightly Cure atmosphere on "Skyscrapers," the ambient lilt on "Lights in the Attic" and the insistent tidal tug of the album's seven-minute closer, "The Last Light in the West." Although the Static Age shares from elements with the likes of the Faint, Interpol and Hot Hot Heat - they've opened for all of them - and they can tap into the chilly but potent majesty of the '70s dark wave riders, the hybridized sound that the band creates is both singular and mesmerizing.
-Brian Baker
- Amplifier Magazine
THE STATIC AGE
BLANK SCREENS
(REIGNITION RECORDINGS)
KKK
Post-Punk Bleakness with a heart
THE STATIC AGE clearly owes a debt to bands like Joy Division and The Cure but that's not to say this is mere pastiche. More this is '80s post-punk updated, in place of that era's sparseness and paucity of warmth, here are lushly textured, sharply written shards of music. Often the tunes are carried by one of two things - a melancholic keyboard of a taut and angular guitar line - though there is always an air of splendid resignation, sadness conveyed throughout. But that's not to say there isn't spirit and fire here: there's enough bite for them to have picked up support slots with the likes of AFI, The Bronx, and The Explosion. The future looks good.
DOWNLOAD: 'Skyscrapers'
FOR FANS OF: The Cure, Interpol.
Tom Bryant - Kerrang!
Discography
Upcoming:
[Untitled New Release] (Album, Highwires, Summer 2014)
Neon Nights Electric Lives (Deluxe Album Re-Release, Highwires, March 2014)
Past:
Mistakes Worth Making (Single, Highwires, 2013)
Mercies (EP, Highwires / Uncle M / Riptide, 2012)
In the City of Wandering Lights (Album, Flix / Primary Records, 2011)
i/o (EP, Flix / Primary Records, 2009)
Blank Screens (Album, ReIgnition Recordings, 2006)
Neon Nights Electric Lives (Album, Tarantulas Records, 2005)
Amphibian (Single, Tarantulas Records, 2004)
Photos
Bio
Emerging from the idealistic side of punk rock and inspired by the last 30 years of alternative music, The Static Age has evolved into something wholly its own. Equally at home with angular distortion and layered atmosphere, the band is creating an emotionally resonant, critically acclaimed and ever-evolving collection of songs that owes as much to its origin in the wide expanse of the Vermont wilderness as it does to a blurring of the line between early post punk and intelligent pop.
Five albums, dozens of tours and perhaps 20 countries beyond what a bunch of teenagers from the woods could have hoped for, the members of The Static Age now call Chicago, IL home. In the windy city, they're hard at work on the followup to 2012's "Mercies," a 5-song record highlighting the singles "Lady Now" -- dubbed "sublime, brilliant and baffling" by Rocksound Magazine (UK) -- and "Eulogy." The as-yet-untitled new release will be available Summer of 2014.
In addition to new material, The Static Age is also working on a special vinyl/digital re-release of the band's critically lauded first album, "Neon Nights Electric Lives," produced by Matt Squire and originally put out on Tarantulas Records in 2005. Dubbed "an absolute classic" by Rocksound Magazine, a record that "lets the roots of post-punk and pre-darkwave shine brilliantly" by Outburn Magazine and "breathtakingly beautiful, masterfully crafted and shockingly sincere" by AbsolutePunk, the release will also feature a digital component with remixes from Jade Puget (AFI), Dave Walsh (The Loved Ones / The Explosion) and others, as well as alternate recordings and demos. When it was originally released, the accompanying video for the single "Vertigo" shot to #1 on Fuse TV's "Oven Fresh" list, and AMP Magazine declared at the time: Holy shit, everyone who likes anything, ranging from THE CURE to THE POLICE to COMMUNIQUE to AFI, needs to get this...I mean it. "Neon Nights Electric Lives" will again be available, on vinyl and for download, in January 2014.
Beyond the studio, The Static Age has also been on the road extensively since the release of their first full-length, covering the entire continental United States a number of times as well as Canada. In late 2009, the band visited Europe for the first time and has been back five times since, playing over a hundred shows across nearly 20 countries. Tourmates on either side of the ocean have included a wide range of bands -- AFI, Tiger Army, Street Dogs, A Place to Bury Strangers, Slingshot Dakota, The Explosion, As Tall As Lions, Theo and the Skyscrapers, Paulson, Read Yellow, The Kinison, Featuring Yourself, The Pale Pacific, Kane Hodder, Silent Drive, and others -- and the band has been on numerous one-off or weekend tours with the likes of Interpol, The Bronx, Darker My Love, Hot Hot Heat, Thursday, Cave In, The Start, Junius, and many more.
To learn more about The Static Age, visit:
thestaticage.com
facebook.com/thestaticage.band
vimeo.com/thestaticage
soundcloud.com/thestaticage
myspace.com/thestaticage
Note: For more (history, photos, videos, album downloads, press clips, etc), request access to The Static Age's full EPK by emailing press@highwires.net
Band Members
Links
