Clang!’s 2018 demos were already worth repeat listens, but a debut LP finds the Tampa band playing tighter and more intuitively after spending weeks on the road. Whac-A-Mole, released today, is also a kiss-off to everything the quartet has learned about itself so far.
“The album is a record of our first year as a band and what we had to say during that time,” Brian Shields told CL, “... now we're very excited to start something different and to continue exploring new ways of expressing ourselves as a band.”
Recorded live at WMNF Tampa’s Mike Eisenstadt studio, the 12-track album finds Shields, bassist Emily Jones, drummer Andrew Goding and saxophonist Zachary Hickerson linking up with inimitable scene champ and host of WMNF’s Grand National Championships, Alastair St. Hill, who recorded what’s already one of our favorite releases of 2019. Shields and Patrick Brady mixed the album before Will Killingsworth mastered the record at Dead Air Studios.
“We were not only able to record at a place that authentically values the local scene and the true heart of Tampa Bay as a whole, but also we were able to record with someone who really cares about our music, and who worked hard to get the best sound out of us that he could,” Shields added.
Listen to the album below, and see Clang! unleash the damn thing in real life on August 2 at Mojo Books & Records in Tampa. Crystallized and Apocalypse Siren open the show. Call your local record store to see if it’s carrying the 12-inch vinyl.
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