Lovedrug

Lovedrug are back, and they brought their guitars with them.

Recorded with Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mew), Lovedrug’s The Sucker Punch Show is every bit the sonic leap forward one would hope for from these arena‐leaning indie rockers. Recorded at the $5.5M Red Bull Studios in Santa Monica, Sucker Punch delivers in spades on the big‐budget hints inherent in much of the band’s previous work, running more akin to Foo Fighters and Queens Of The Stone Age than lighter Coldplay‐esqe fare. If the band’s past flirtation with the piano ballad allowed their occasional mischaracterization as ‘emo’, there is little room for the error now; this is a neomelodicgrunge set with twice the mood and ten times the menace. “Just hanging around, just waiting to die, We’re all suckers in the same damn sucker punch show” As the above line from lead single “Everyone Needs A Halo” suggests, Michael Shepard & Co. have a definitive outlook on this the third Lovedrug effort. “Everyone has a role in the sucker punch show [of life]…this is just my accounting of it,” states Shepard. “For me, my road, I’m just caring less and less about self screening and caring more and more about letting people know exactly how I feel.” Thus opening track “Let It All Out” is both warning and manifesto – an admonition of uninhibited statements to follow. “Sucker Punch is about letting go of inhibitions and not allowing your brain to filter the emotions that come naturally,” says bassist Thomas Bragg. “Sometimes you gotta let it all out” The resulting Sucker Punch Show sees Lovedrug at their aggressive best, both in terms of content and musicality. “Halo” hits with the ill‐tempered fury of a wild animal with a toothache and “The Dirtiest Queen” provides perhaps the darkest brooding in the Lovedrug catalog to date. While “Only One” and “Broken Home” deliver Lovedrug’s brand of pop‐rock with an edge, “Blood Like” and “Dying Days” push to new heights the spacious rhythms and aching vocals of the band’s debut Pretend You’re Alive. “Now stare at the ocean while your friends all drown We all need to learn to swim” According to drummer James Childress, “we conceptualized, wrote and recorded this album from start to finish with the working idea that we would be able to recreate the songs live.” Guitarist Jeremy Gifford agrees. “I can’t wait to play these songs live – it’s going to be a true rock experience – just four guys bringing the noise. See you there.”

Lovedrug is:
Michael Shepard ‐ vocals, guitar, piano | Thomas Bragg ‐ bass
Jeremy Michael Gifford – guitar, synthesizer, piano | James Childress – drums & percussion