SPILL NEW MUSIC: STEEL CRANES PORTRAY MILITANT COACHES OF MISBEHAVING TRACK TEAM IN NEW VIDEO INSPIRED BY 15-YEAR-OLD GATORADE COMMERCIAL

STEEL CRANES PORTRAY MILITANT COACHES OF MISBEHAVING TRACK TEAM IN NEW VIDEO INSPIRED BY 15-YEAR-OLD GATORADE COMMERCIAL

Mister White Tights Records

“Playing militant coaches of a misbehaving track team wasn’t too far of a stretch for our acting abilities,” jokes Amanda Schukle of the Oakland-based band Steel Cranes.

“I had a Gatorade commercial from 15 years ago that featured women’s soccer stuck in my head,” Schukle’s band mate Tracy Shapiro elaborates. “But due to the soaring cost of shin guards, we landed on the delinquent track team motif.”

Described by MTV as possessing “the slo-mo heaviness of a 2,000-pound pendulum” upon the release of the debut Steel Cranes album in 2013, Schukle and Shapiro are offering up an evolution of that sound on the new album Tango, released August 5^th on the heels of the bands launch of a 40-date tour on the 4^th. See below for full itinerary.

Tango is a more dynamic take on the “grit” and “raw, relentless power” that MAGNET and Bitch called out in 2013. With a vision for the sound of the new album that was more expansive, Schukle and Shapiro were initially stalled when considering the logistics of accomplishing these time-consuming sonic refinements in a studio environment. It soon became clear that the best option was to record and mix the record themselves.

“Amanda has been recording her own music for years, and she began obsessively learning more about recording and mixing,” Shapiro remembers.  “As soon as we decided to do everything ourselves, the control freaks in us were unleashed!”

This education ultimately yielded the more passionate and layered version of the Steel Cranes sound that is heard on Tango.  Once freed from the confines of creative deadlines and traditional studio environments, Shapiro and Schukle took full advantage of their new work paradigm.

“We wanted time and space to let ourselves stretch in new ways,” Shapiro says. “In ways that don’t come easy when you’re aware of how much it costs to spend three hours experimenting with the fucked-up tones on your old Casio keyboard.”

Most of all, a year versus five days meant more of everything that made the first Steel Cranes album special.

Schukle continues, “We’d been playing some of these songs live for a while and we heard more in them. More texture. More nuance. More melody. More guitar tones. Definitely bass. With each song, we were careful to record the guitars in a way that left plenty of space for additional instruments. Tango has a lot more of a post-punk vibe, definitely some grunge, maybe a little classic rock, and also some generally weird shit that I’m not sure how to describe. But it is also more beautiful.”

Tango by Steel Cranes is out now.

Steel Cranes On Tour

Past

08/04 Tucson, AZ @ Flycatcher
08/05 Phoenix, AZ @ Rips Bar
08/06 Los Angeles, CA @ Redwood Bar & Grill
08/07 San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar
08/09 San Luis Obispo, CA @ SLO Donut Co.
08/10 Fresno, CA @ Dynamite Vinyl
08/12 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
08/13 Oakland, CA @ The Golden Bull
08/14 Pacifica, CA @ Winters Tavern
08/16 Medford, OR @ Bamboo Room at King Wah’s
08/17 Eugene, OR @ The Boreal

Upcoming

08/18 Portland, OR @ World Famous Kenton Club
08/19 Seattle, WA @ Blue Moon Tavern
08/20 Olympia, WA @ McCoy’s Tavern
08/21 Tacoma, WA @ Real Art Tacoma
08/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
08/26 Denver, CO @ Lion’s Lair
08/27 Omaha, NE @ Barley Street Tavern
08/28 Lincoln, NE @ Vega
08/29 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
08/30 Iowa City, IA @ Gabe’s
08/31 Minneapolis, MN @ Amsterdam Bar
09/02 La Crosse, WI @ Root Note
09/03 Madison, WI @ BOS Meadery
09/06 Milwaukee, WI @ Linneman’s
09/07 Chicago, IL @ Township
09/08 Bloomington, IN @ The Back Door
09/09 Evansville, IN @ PG
09/10 St. Louis, MO @ Schlafly’s Tap Room
09/11 Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin
09/12 Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Saloon
09/14 Wichita, KS @ Kirby’s Beer Store
09/15 Norman, OK @ Red Brick Bar
09/16 Albuquerque, NM @ Burt’s Tiki Lounge
09/17 Santa Fe, NM @ Boxcar

Steel Cranes
Tango
(Mister White Tights Records)
Release Date: August 5, 2016

Tango Track Listing

1. Ebb
2. Pretty
3. Today Is The Day
4. Her
5. Sandglass
6. Happy
7. Take Me Down
8. What Am I Doing Here
9. The Poet

Artist Links

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