Biography
It’s
been three years since the release of Robbers on High Street’s second
LP. Now, with a new line up, some time off and a third album in the can,
the band has grown into themselves - confident and unabashed in their
grasp of late-60s Anglophilia a la the Pretty Things, and the brassy
romp of early ‘70s AM rock. It’s a new sound for the band that, if
anything, hearkens back to the rough, instanta...neous
pop appeal of their Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) produced 2005
debut album, Tree City. But much has changed for group the since they
were traveling the country with the likes of Hot Hot Heat, Cake,
Fountains of Wayne and Brendan Benson in support of that album. In
2006, after parting ways with their original drummer, the trio (now
with bassist Morgan King) entered the studio with Italian
composer/producer Daniele Luppi (Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells) to make
their “L.A. record” – Grand Animals. Released the following year, and
now as a quintet with drummer Mikey Post (Naomi Shelton & the Gospel
Queens, The Jay Vons) and keyboardist Dave Sherman (Grand Mal, The
Silent League), the Robbers did several tours with The Redwalls, The Sea
and Cake, Great Northern, and Brooklyn pals Longwave; released a video
for the song “Crown Victoria”; and watched their single for “The
Fatalist” end up on top-ten lists as well as in more film and television
spots, including the movie Georgia Rule.Returning to Brooklyn
in 2008, the band took a needed breather, but new songs and rehearsals
emerged following the New Year. Recording started on their third album,
Hey There Golden Hair, in October of 2009 on the boys’ newly purchased
Tascam MS-16 1” tape machine, which was lovingly dragged to several
studios across Northwest Brooklyn before settling at Tommy Brenneck’s
(Budos Band, Menahan Street Band) Dunham Studio for mixdown this past
May. Produced by Trokan with engineer Matt Shane (Flight of the
Conchords, Rosanne Cash) this was the current line-up’s first foray into
a proper recording session, drawing little help from the outside save
that of a horn section borrowed from Daptone Records.Two tunes
from Hey There Golden Hair, “Electric Eye” and “Face In The Fog,” were
released as a limited-run 7” single through NYC indie Engine Room
Recordings. Jon Pareles of the NY Times stated, “There’s a lot of the
Beatles, especially their piano-pumping side, in the songs of Robbers On
High Street, updated with Elvis Costello’s gruffness and a
matter-of-fact desperation,” and fans of the Robber’s previous work
recognized the calculated strut of “Electric Eye,” which was well
received and in its first week was the #11 most added song at CMJ. The
new jam quickly made the rounds online, including a giveaway on WNYC,
which they called, “an aggressively catchy tune that harks back to the
big, beautiful, horn-filled pop-rock of the '60s and '70s,” and a
Tripwire podcast.Always an exciting live act, coolly walking the
line between syncopated bursts of song and Miller High Life, the
Robbers on High Street spent parts of June and September touring in
support of the “Electric Eye” 7-inch. After performing at CMJ 2010 and
preparing for SXSW 2011 shows (where they were accepted early as
showcasing artists) influential radio station KEXP had the Robbers in
their NYC studios for a live performance with host Jon Richards.
been three years since the release of Robbers on High Street’s second
LP. Now, with a new line up, some time off and a third album in the can,
the band has grown into themselves - confident and unabashed in their
grasp of late-60s Anglophilia a la the Pretty Things, and the brassy
romp of early ‘70s AM rock. It’s a new sound for the band that, if
anything, hearkens back to the rough, instanta...neous
pop appeal of their Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) produced 2005
debut album, Tree City. But much has changed for group the since they
were traveling the country with the likes of Hot Hot Heat, Cake,
Fountains of Wayne and Brendan Benson in support of that album. In
2006, after parting ways with their original drummer, the trio (now
with bassist Morgan King) entered the studio with Italian
composer/producer Daniele Luppi (Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells) to make
their “L.A. record” – Grand Animals. Released the following year, and
now as a quintet with drummer Mikey Post (Naomi Shelton & the Gospel
Queens, The Jay Vons) and keyboardist Dave Sherman (Grand Mal, The
Silent League), the Robbers did several tours with The Redwalls, The Sea
and Cake, Great Northern, and Brooklyn pals Longwave; released a video
for the song “Crown Victoria”; and watched their single for “The
Fatalist” end up on top-ten lists as well as in more film and television
spots, including the movie Georgia Rule.Returning to Brooklyn
in 2008, the band took a needed breather, but new songs and rehearsals
emerged following the New Year. Recording started on their third album,
Hey There Golden Hair, in October of 2009 on the boys’ newly purchased
Tascam MS-16 1” tape machine, which was lovingly dragged to several
studios across Northwest Brooklyn before settling at Tommy Brenneck’s
(Budos Band, Menahan Street Band) Dunham Studio for mixdown this past
May. Produced by Trokan with engineer Matt Shane (Flight of the
Conchords, Rosanne Cash) this was the current line-up’s first foray into
a proper recording session, drawing little help from the outside save
that of a horn section borrowed from Daptone Records.Two tunes
from Hey There Golden Hair, “Electric Eye” and “Face In The Fog,” were
released as a limited-run 7” single through NYC indie Engine Room
Recordings. Jon Pareles of the NY Times stated, “There’s a lot of the
Beatles, especially their piano-pumping side, in the songs of Robbers On
High Street, updated with Elvis Costello’s gruffness and a
matter-of-fact desperation,” and fans of the Robber’s previous work
recognized the calculated strut of “Electric Eye,” which was well
received and in its first week was the #11 most added song at CMJ. The
new jam quickly made the rounds online, including a giveaway on WNYC,
which they called, “an aggressively catchy tune that harks back to the
big, beautiful, horn-filled pop-rock of the '60s and '70s,” and a
Tripwire podcast.Always an exciting live act, coolly walking the
line between syncopated bursts of song and Miller High Life, the
Robbers on High Street spent parts of June and September touring in
support of the “Electric Eye” 7-inch. After performing at CMJ 2010 and
preparing for SXSW 2011 shows (where they were accepted early as
showcasing artists) influential radio station KEXP had the Robbers in
their NYC studios for a live performance with host Jon Richards.