Sunshine Riot rage through our changing moods with ‘So It Comes’
Latest single from Boston alt-grunge noise-slingers surfaces February 24
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New EP ‘Loud, Bright and Violent’ set for April release
BOSTON, Mass. [February 24, 2023] -- When a person spends a decent amount of time reflecting on yesterday, chances are the following thoughts race forward to assess the present. That’s at play as Sunshine Riot gear up to release the raging new single “So It Comes” on Friday, February 24. The blistering guitar-rock track is the follow-up to last month’s vivid “Looking at the Past,” and the latest offering from the Boston alt-grunge band’s forthcoming EP, this April’s Loud, Bright and Violent, which found them back in Chicago last fall recording with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio.
The lead track off the new EP, the riff-laden “So It Comes” explodes out of the speakers and illuminates Sunshine Riot’s ‘90s rock influences and interests before gliding somewhere out through a somewhat mystical psych-rock territory. It was written by guitarist Mark Tetreault, with lyrics supplied by vocalist and guitarist Jonny Orton, and while the prior single was all about looking back and feeling regret over the decisions and life choices once made, “So It Comes” twists and crawls through the mental spaces of the right here, right now.
“It's a song about the human condition itself, and the speed with which a person can change from one mood to the next,” says Orton. “There is this wonderful Buddhist saying that I heard recently that really struck me – and which I'm probably not characterizing exactly right – but it goes something like; ‘The changes are but the weather, I am the sky.’ The song parallels that idea of multi-dimensionality of the human condition with city life itself.”
Orton elaborates: “As a band, we spend a lot of time in cities around the country – it's remarkable how beautiful and inspiring a city can be in one moment and how congested, or polluted, or overwhelming it can feel in the next. That makes a lot of sense to me, inasmuch as nature itself is pretty consistent; a towering mountain or a quiet tree might change their clothes with the season, but they tend to evoke their identity without fail. Times Square, or an airport, or the Mass Pike, which are all human-made, of course, are awfully different from one moment to the next, and that's maybe a good reflection of ourselves as humans and the things we make.”
Taking that kind of cue, “So It Comes” offers a bit of a change-up from January’s “Looking at the Past,” which earned widespread indie and digital radio play and media praise from the likes of V13, Click Roll Boom, If It’s Too Loud, Rock And Roll Fables, That’s Good Enough For Me, and elsewhere. And like the band’s 2021 single “Too Old For Love Songs,” “So It Comes” is the type of ripper that’ll likely earn comparisons to a host of familiar alternative bands – including the one that famously worked with Albini in the last truly great decade.
“It's funny because we are pretty unabashedly derivative of the early-’90s grunge era, and bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tad, L7, and Alice in Chains, are ones we all seem to agree on and are influenced by,” Orton admits. “For some reason, though, this song feels the least Nirvana-core of the ones we've put out in the past few years – with the exception of the final few seconds in which I blatantly steal Cobain's ‘uuuuh’ from the end of ‘Breed’. I like that.”
The Albini connection should only enhance the comparisons, but that’s just fine with Sunshine Riot, who last fall returned to the Midwestern studio where the band concocted their equally-abrasive 2021 EP Electrical Tape. The band has two places they call home when recording: Galilee Studios in Cumberland, Rhode Island, where last year’s acclaimed Sparkle Baby 2000 was crafted, and Albini’s Electrical Audio. This batch of songs for the Loud, Bright and Violent EP felt big, bold, and deliberately noisy to the band as they wrote them, so plans to head to Chicago and put them to tape under the guiding eye and ear of Albini was an essential move.
“We really enjoy recording with Steve – that he's a brilliant engineer with a penchant for signature drum sounds is well known, but he's also weird just like us,” says Orton. “We trust his instincts implicitly, but we also enjoy sitting in a room with him for 18 hours… But we rehearsed every moment we possibly could leading up to the session and by the time we showed up, we had the songs pretty well figured out. That's a fairly important box to check when you're recording with Albini – on the last EP we cut with him, he turned to us while we were tracking some overdubs and said ‘I should note that is it is generally important that you have the songs written before you come in here.’”
That was certainly the case with “So It Comes.” After Tetreault brought it to the band and planted its initial sonic seed, the other members knew they had something that could possibly be an impactful introduction to the new EP. Band magic ensued, and the end result is something certain to further the growing Sunshine Riot mystique of brash and bold guitar-rock that escapes easy categorization.
“Mark first sent us a recording of ‘So It Comes’ on an acoustic guitar, which was pretty good but it was short, and as these things go, hard to fully imagine,” Orton recalls. “Then he came to the rehearsal space and played it on electric guitar and sang the vocal melodies he had in mind. That was a magic moment and the kind of thing you chase as a band – we all sort of instantly knew what to do and the end result didn't differ much at all from Mark's initial idea. I changed almost all of the lyrics, because I'm an unbearable diva, but the vocal melodies and the fundamental song structure were unchanged from what Mark played for us that night. We've been at this a long time and have written, recorded, and performed hundreds of songs in the past 15 years.. nights like that are the ones you really cherish.”
So it goes, as they say, and hey, sometimes, “So It Comes.”
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to the band at booking@sunshineriot.com or Michael Marotta at michael@knyvet.com.
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‘Loud, Bright and Violent’ artwork:
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Sunshine Riot is:
Jonny Orton - Guitars, Vocals
Jeff Sullivan - Bass
Mark Tetreault - Guitar
Steven Shepherd - Drums, Percussion
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‘So It Comes’ credits:
Written by Sunshine Riot
Lyrics by Jonny Orton
Recorded by Steve Albini and Taylor Hales at Electrical Audio in Chicago, IL.
Mastered by Matthew Barnhart, Chicago Mastering Services.
Artwork by Steven Shepherd, Drums PhD.
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Sunshine Riot EP anthology bio:
Gritty times call for gritty sounds. And Sunshine Riot are answering the bell.
For the past 15 years or so, the veteran Boston rock band ran with a variety of genres, swirling around a cocktail of guitar-rock that boasted dalliances with soul, Americana, punk, blues, and grunge. But as darkness fell upon society at the start of the pandemic age, the quartet entered a new era, unleashing a series of three EPs over three years: 2021’s Electrical Tape with acclaimed engineer Steve Albini at Chicago’s Electrical Audio; 2022’s Sparkle Baby 2000 with producer George Dussault at Galilee Studios in Rhode Island; and 2023’s Loud, Bright and Violent, which saw the band crank up the volume once more and return to Chicago to link back up with Albini.
The results are a seasoned band making music on their own terms: Electrical Tape acts as a raw, damn near primal alternative rock record that packs the introspection and dedication one must possess to survive in this day in age; Sparkle Baby 2000 leans into a mindful and hyper-aware college rock and jangle-pop sound that calls back to our indie influences and explores an uncertain adulthood through a modern lens; and Loud, Bright and Violent fixates on the paranoia and purgatory we feel as we slowly come to terms with the pandemic age.
The trio of EPs may come off like an evolution in sound for Sunshine Riot, but after more than a decade in the game, what emits from the speakers is a band finally comfortable in their own skin, playing this damned game of rock and roll with an ace up their collective sleeve, propped up by their own merits and fueled by their own creativity. In the end, despite what dressing coats the core of whatever genre label someone on the outside may apply, the foundation remains a rock and roll ethos as timeless as the music itself.
Play it loud, and come scream along.
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The music of Sunshine Riot can be heard on:
Banks Radio Australia, Bay State Rock, Blood Makes Noise, Boston Emissions, Boston Groupie News, BumbleBee Radio, Christian’s Cosmic Corner (Mark Skin Radio), Click Roll Boom, DigBoston, Everything You Know Is Wrong (Salem State), Garagerocktopia (KUCR), Good Music Radio UK, Hump Day News, If It’s Too Loud, I’m Music Magazine, indie617, Indie Radio YFM, Jammin with JenCat (Twisted Road Radio), Karen’s Indies (Belter Radio UK), Laura Beth’s Mixtape Show (Reclaimed Radio UK), Lonely Oak Radio, Marc’s Alt-Rock Playground (Mark Skin Radio), Mike on the Mic (WMFO), Monie’s New Music (UK), Moosic Entertainment, Music Box Pete, On The Town With Mikey Dee (WMFO), Only Rock Radio (Spain), Original Music Showcase (Mark Skin Radio), PipiloPop, Radio Warfare with Tim Livingston, Rhode Island Free Radio, Rising with Skybar (WMFO), Rock And Roll Fables, Sunshine Music iRadio, That’s Good Enough For Me, The Alternative Frequencies (Leyland Radio), The Attic Show (KPISS), The Bad Copy, The Big Takeover, The Whole Kameese, The Music Authority, The Tony Jones Show, Tour Bus Tunes, Unlikely Places (Mad Wasp Radio), V13, Virtual Detention/Rat Fever (WZBC), Your First Listen (Eardrum Buzz, KNNZ), Zeno.FM, and other fine outlets, platforms, programs, and radio stations.
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Media praise for Sunshine Riot’s ‘Looking at the Past’:
“Somewhere in between Gaslight Anthem, Against Me!, and fellow Bostonians Eldridge Rodriguez sits the first taste of that EP in the form of ‘Looking at the Past’ which brings a more anthemic quality to the Beantown outfit’s brand of Folksy Alt-Americana. …there’s just no denying that this is some next level Sunshine Riot stuff here!” – Rock And Roll Fables
“‘Looking At The Past’ is a gritty well written single that is absolutely spectacular. Sunshine Riot are masters at their craft and it truly shows on this outstanding track.” – The Whole Kameese
“]’Looking at the Past’] is a reflective piece that allows the band to take elements from yesteryear, but translate it on a more modern aesthetic that today’s audience will comprehend and fall in line with.” – Music Box Pete
“‘Looking at the Past’ is one of those songs that stands out based on how unique it sounds. Throughout its just short of four minutes running time, ‘Looking at the Past’ morphs into a few different styles, although all seem to be rooted in grunge. It starts out as a kind of folk or country train song, then into a nearly Sex Pistols-esque punk song, then into an odd version of ska... all with a ton of grit and heaviness associated with grunge. Despite these changes, Sunshine Riot have made a cohesive song that doesn’t sound like it’s wildly swapping styles.” – If It’s Too Loud
“Sunshine Riot does some interesting things with songs… There’s real turmoil going on. – Boston Groupie News
“The blistering new track is the first taste of new music from the quartet, a satisfying blend of blistering and twangy. We love the band’s refusal to pigeonhole themselves into just one genre, this new track part of an ever ongoing sonic evolution that continues to feel fresh but, very much, feels very Sunshine Riot.” – Tour Bus Tunes
“The buildup to ‘Looking at the Past’, one of the first singles off Sunshine Riot’s new record Loud, Bright, and Violent, sounds like throwback skiffle jive before it explodes into a fiery ball of grunge. Watch for a brief return to the old time rock n roll around 2:45 before the stompbox finish. It’s a kind of loud-quiet-loud dynamic, done with genre along with volume, that will keep you guessing.” – Hump Day News
“‘Looking at the Past’ is a grungy, un-tempo, somewhat chaotic, somewhat well-formed tune with elements of country and a splattering of raucous post punk energy. There's fuzzy guitars that increase in fuzziness as the tempo of the song builds, euphoric drums and vocals that are raw with a melodic country twang and Americana feel. However, look a bit deeper and ‘Looking at the Past’ is a harrowing tale of poor life choices and leaving it too late to change. ..I'm a big fan of storytelling in music and Sunshine Riot have delivered something that is likable and danceable but also an insightful and thoughtful listen.” – Click Roll Boom
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Press Contact: booking@sunshineriot.com or michael@knyvet.com
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