Many of CL's Best of the Bay awards are cheeky, and that's certainly the case when it comes to Tampa post-punk band Clang!, which took home a plaque for the "Best pissing off your elders (and then making nice)."
The designation comes from the hoopla surrounding the band's debut show and its use of the moniker Clang! (with an exclamation point). The name ruffled the feathers of some Bay area scene lifers who noted that there was already a band named Clang (no punctuation), which went on to do some pretty cool things (it's true, Paul Reller is an art-pop madman). Clang! was aware that another band with the same name used to haunt the Bay area in the ‘90s, but its not trying to be your daddy’s Clang.
“Completely crazy coincidence. Didn’t know this until we booked this show and others,” guitarist and vocalist Brian Shields wrote to CL in June. “We’re not changing the name, but it’s causing kind of a stir with a certain scene of oldheads, interestingly enough.”
Everyone eventually made nice, and new Clang!'s Brian Shields has confirmed that his band has the blessing of old Clang.
"[That's] the most we've heard... any provocation on our part has just been a way to make us laugh, and nothing else. The coincidence is just too absurd," Shields told CL. "Whether it's 'Clang!' or 'Clang' — a name is just a name — our actual music, and this fucked up era that it's being made in, is entirely different than theirs was. The exclamation mark isn't the only thing that sets us apart."
To prove it, Clang is sharing an advance stream of a six-song demo that it is bringing on its first U.S. tour, which is 14-dates long and set to kick off on October 6 in Tallahassee. According to Shields, Clang! was able to book the dates — which take the band all the way to New York City and through Midwest before swinging back through the South without a day off — through other local bands like Permanent makeup and MTVH1N and through connections Clang!-ers made from bands they've played with in the past.
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Recorded way back in March during a one-take, 20-minute session and on a Tascam 424 Portastudio 4-track cassette recorder, the demo finds Shields and his bandmates (Emily Jones and Andrew Goding) crafting some strangely danceable, mildly abrasive art-punk before Christopher Moore added sax during vocal overdubs sessions with the band.
Listen to the demo and see the tour dates below. Call your local record store to see if it will carry any of the leftover Clang! cassettes and CDs the band is bringing on tour.
Clang! Tour Dates
10/06 Tallahassee, FL @ The Superdome
10/07 Charlestone, SC @ The Purple Buffalo
10/08 Raleigh, NC @ Slim's
10/09 Greenville, NC @ Spass Presents
10/10 Baltimore, Maryland @ The Undercroft
10/11 Philadelphia, PA @ WKDU
10/12 New Brunswick, DJ @ The Liquor Store
10/13 Philadelphia, PA @ The Mothership
10/14 New York, NY @ Alphaville
10/16 Chicago, IL @ Bohemian Grove
10/17 Chicago, IL @ Bric A Brac Records
10/18 St. Louis, MO @ Foam
10/19 Nashville, TB @ The End
10/20 Atlanta, GA @ The Chiropractor
