The members of The Blonde Tongues have been playing together since they were teenagers. Since taking on their current moniker in 2016, the quintet have been mainstays of Florida’s underground music scene. Even though some members have been touring in other projects; Gouge Away, Can’t Swim and Northbound, the five-piece have still found time to write, record and release music that considerably pushes the envelope of what is expected of a rock band.
This past April, they release an EP called ‘Anxiety Dream’ which saw The Blonde Tongues embrace a psychedelic dream-punk sound, with a stylistic nod to 70’s NYC rock and 90’s college radio rock. Although the EP was released in the Spring, they’ve already delivered new material in the form of a new single – ‘Turn Me Out’.
With ‘Turn Me Out’ being recently shared online, we’re pleased to be premiering its B-side – ‘Rain Check’. The track sees the Florida band maintain and expand on their fuzzed-out pop sound, pulling from heavily from their power-pop influences. Dripping with reverse reverbs, delays, vintage Mellotron flutes, ‘Rain Check’ stirs up characteristics of Led Zeppelin, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and Pink Floyd.
“‘Rain Check’ is a haunting, psychedelic, stoner anthem for anyone who would much rather do nothing than anything else,” the band explains.
In addition to premiering ‘Rain Check’, The Blonde Tongues have picked out nine bands (and songs) that have helped shape their sound.
Ramones – I Don’t Want You (from ‘Road To Ruin’)
The Ramones are a reference with almost everything we do. Most of our music has a friend in one of their songs. When we were writing ‘Turn Me Out,’ we wanted to keep as much attitude as possible while maintaining a catchy melody in front. This is a great example of that sentiment.
Nirvana – Sliver (from ‘Incesticide’)
When we started recording ‘Turn Me Out,’ we had the song starting with the drums going straight into the guitar melody. We felt it was missing something. We were thinking about songs with a very back and forth classic vibe, and ‘Sliver’ immediately came to mind. We figured opening with the bass lick gave it some of the needed innocence.
Guided By Voices – Glad Girls (from ‘Isolation Drills’)
We listen to this song all the time. It’s one of the top ten songs that we’ll just start randomly singing out of nowhere. There’s a complexity to this song that isn’t fully apparent as well. We took some of the harmonies and the counter melodies on the guitars into account with ‘Turn Me Out’.
Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love (from ‘Led Zepplin II’)
This is a track we’ve all loved since we were kids. It’s sort of a first taste of psychedelic rock for us. The stereo effects and bridge of this song are incredible, and there’s that undeniable groove. We’ve actually made a few passes at a song with a similar mindset a few times with no luck. ‘Rain Check’ is the best one we’ve done. We call it a sandwich structure, where you build two sections around a super long bridge. We used reverse reverbs and delays, and it was definitely one of the harder concepts we’ve tried to master.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard/Mild High Club – Rolling Stoned (from ‘Sketches Of New Brunswick East’)
This is such a chill out record. We’re huge fans of jazz funk and lounge-y psychedelic rock. The flute on this track directly inspired the bridge in ‘Rain Check.’ The melody you hear is a flute patch from a Mellotron. After we had laid down the general bridge and washed it out, we felt that it needed a little something to guide you through.
Pink Floyd – Careful With That Axe, Eugene (from ‘Relics’)
One of the best Pink Floyd tracks right here. I don’t think a lot of people realize how groundbreaking their early work was. The entire vibe of this song helped us shape the sonics of ‘Rain Check’.
Swervedriver – Duel (from ‘Mezcal Head’)
‘Mezcal Head’ is a perfect record. Not a weak track on it. We sat out on the porch one night and listened to the entire record back to front, and when it ended we found all the bonus tracks because we needed more. We took cues from their use of dynamics as well as their use of tremolo as a texture. The way that they just jam on a section is awesome. They know how to write a long song that feels short.
FIDLAR – Max Can’t Surf (from ‘FIDLAR’)
None of us surfs, but the mentality is the same. We felt that this song appealed to our way of just doing what we want with no worries about necessarily doing them “right.” By writing so many songs, we find our balance, so to speak, and these are some of our most balanced songs yet.
Metz – Wet Blanket (from ‘Metz’)
On our last day of tracking ‘Anxiety Dream’, Bren, the engineer at Low Watt in Savannah, was taking us back to the parking garage and had Metz’s ‘Wet Blanket’ playing in his car. It was late, and we were all so tired after recording 14+ hour days for the past week, but we’ll always remember hearing that beat kick in and falling in love with the band. They’ve become a favourite and their drum beats get referenced within our camp when describing particular speeds or the way a particular part of a song feels.
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