Diablogato cruise across a Lynchian landscape on ‘Lost Highway’
Take a ride with Boston’s gritty rock and roll brigade with a David Lynch-inspired video out Wednesday, April 17 on Rum Bar Records
A new EP from Diablogato arrives this fall
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Photo Credit: Pat Piasecki
BOSTON, MA [April 17, 2024] – Every scene in a piece of audio-visual art, whether it be a film, a television show, or music video, should have its own atmosphere and rhythm. The initial entry point serves as an invitation, luring the viewer inside with a certain promise and purpose; but once they arrive, the notions and assumptions that once seemed clear quickly dissipate into something more abstract, and the surrealist nature of the art takes over.
This theme is omnipresent in Diablogato’s new single and Lynchian video “Lost Highway,” set for streaming release on Friday, April 12 via Rum Bar Records, with the video debuting Wednesday, April 17. For the song, a bluesy, gritty extension of the Boston brigade’s weathered brand of rock and roll, it’s guitarist Chuck MacSteven’s initial guitar chords, dangling loosely like a hypnotic spell set to entrance; for the video, directed by Shawn Reilly, it’s a grainy, unsteady stretch of nighttime highway, as the title ominously hovers across the screen in a blue neon outline.
Welcome back to the evolving and shape-shifting world of Diablogato. Leave those prior perceptions behind, like a distant memory fading in the rear-view mirror.
“It’s about the blurred lines between reality and hallucinations, guilt, desire, and the nature of identity,” vocalist and guitarist Drew Indingaro says of the band’s first dose of new music since October 2022’s “Jet Black Night” video. “We are inviting the listeners into our world, to enjoy the experience of traveling with us, to change perspective, and to welcome those who are on the same lost highway.”
Diablogato’s merging of art and music started a few years back with the release of the “Too Far Gone” video. It’s carried forth through the pandemic project “Blasphemy,” and the aforementioned “Jet Black Night,” taking the band’s distinctive sound of punk, classic rock, and Southern blues, and applying it as the soundtrack to short, three-minute escapist films.
“As we are lovers of film and art,” Indingaro adds, “we find it an extension of our artistic components, it allows us to paint further into what we create and to bring in more people to work with in creating the atmospheres and environments of Diablogato.”
For “Lost Highway,” the band and Reilly raise a glass to David Lynch, drawing influence and reference points to iconic TV mystery drama Twin Peaks, cult classic neo-noir film Blue Velvet, and naturally, the surrealist psychological thriller Lost Highway. The video depicts a mash-up of certain scenes, styles, and characters from the Lynch universe, stirred in a smoky cocktail that’s distinctly Diablogato.
“We wanted to set the tone by establishing the mood, atmosphere, and emotional content we are driving to,” says Indingaro. “We have been working developing a new direction for Diablogato through various musical styles, lyrical themes, instrumentation, and technique. ‘Lost Highway’ sets the tone where we began with ‘Jet Black Night’, moving the listener through our musical journey with the band together.”
Drummer Jesse Mayer says Reilly, along with the art direction from MacSteven, are key in shaping the aesthetics of Diablogato’s emerging world, an underground playground that draws from a spectrum of decades and styles, bridging a retro-cool mystique with a modern flair for art direction and production. In addition to directing the videos, Reilly also engineered and mixed the band’s forthcoming EP, due out later this year, which will feature “Lost Highway” and “Jet Black Night” alongside a handful of new tracks. The record is the follow-up to 2019’s Old Scratch.
“We are both delving further into our weird little ‘Gato World’, and paying homage to an artist we love with the video,” Mayer says. “We are really lucky to have Shawn on our team. He absolutely gets our vibe and aesthetic and works his ass off bringing his own considerable talents to the project. He is the reason the cinematic style of ‘Lost Highway’ is so accurately Lynch. He’s the reason we had the Red Room as a backdrop in the video.”
Now Diablogato is ready to take “Lost Highway” and a new collection of tunes out on the road, appropriately enough, with a series of spring shows around New England: April 5 at Faces Brewing in Malden with The Shang Hi Los and Hammered Saint; April 20 at Barrel House Z in Weymouth for the Market of Curiosities by Blackbeard Endeavors; April 27 at New World Tavern in Plymouth with The Dogmatics and Stop Calling Me Frank; and April 28 at Askew in Providence with IV and the Strange Band and Driftwood Soldier.
“The really magical thing about Diablogato is the collective zeitgeist,” notes Mayer. “I feel that what we are doing – or trying to do – is creating a constantly evolving word that is not limited to the songs, the live performance, or the recordings, but has a strong visual art component which started with Chuck’s amazing logo design, his flyers, and his merch and has now grown to include our videos. These last three videos have shifted away from the more standard ‘band performance’ style video to very intentional little three-minute movies. I love doing them and can’t wait to see what we do next.”
Take a ride with Diablogato. Just trust that wherever we end up, is exactly where we’re meant to be.
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to Michael Marotta at michael@knyvet.com and reach Diablogato at diablogatomusic@gmail.com.
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Diablogato is:
Drew Indingaro: Vocals & guitar
Charlie MacSteven: Guitar & backing vocals
Jesse Lewis Mayer: Drums
Johnny Custom: Upright bass
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‘Lost Highway’ single artwork:
Art Credit: Charlie MacSteven
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‘Lost Highway’ production credits:
‘Lost Highway’ written and performed by Diablogato
Organ and effects by Shawn Reilly
Video directed and edited by Shawn Reilly
Set design by Director of Photography Shawn Reilly
Additional set design by Ben Pease
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Media praise for Diablogato:
“The Boston band has had this great blend of punk mixed with early rock 'n' roll with some rockabilly thrown in that I simply can't resist. Their latest single, ‘Jet Black Night,’ changes up their sound a little, but also a lot at the same time. Gone are even the hints of rockabilly. Instead, Diablogato have added a heavy blues rock sound to ‘Jet Black Night.’ This is just pure loud and heavy rock with some blues swagger. It has that grime that early Black Keys records have and garage blues seems to be missing these days. The band seems to be moving away from the punk/rockabilly sound, but they're still keeping that dark edge that defines Diablogato's sound.” _If It’s Too Loud
“[‘Jet Black Night’] is a blues rock-fueled sledgehammer, a nasty mid-tempo groove for all doomed people out there, pretty much all of us. No rest for the wicked. If we have to go down, let’s do it together while having bad-ass blasts like this on the stereo.” _Turn Up The Volume
“‘Boston Blood, Memphis Heart’ is a warm-bodied singalong that goes well with train hoppin’, slinking around the bayou, or cruising off in your shiny white-walled rat rod for fans of Social Distortion, Kings of Nuthin’ and The Living End.” _Dying Scene
“Even in the age of the pandemic and all its scattered layers of quarantines and lockdowns, Diablogato are straight slingin’ it.” _Vanyaland
“Rock and rollers Diablogato have a cohesively original take on their music where it’s not rockabilly, it’s not garage rock, it’s not punk, and it’s not blues, but it incorporates parts of each style. [‘Jet Black Night’] leans more towards the latter with fantastic riffs and rhythms that resonate with vigor. The way the drums from Jesse Mayer counteract with the guitars from Andrew Indingaro and Charlie MacSteven forge the backbone for a haunting track.” _DigBoston
Press Contact: Michael Marotta at michael@knyvet.com
Radio Contact: Lou Mansdorf at malibuloupr@gmail.com
Band Contact: Diablogato at diablogatomusic@gmail.com
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