PALE ANGELS
What is it with goddamn punks and their constant need to be in as many bands as possible? A case in point: box fresh, insanely exciting Transatlantic three-piece Pale Angels, who’ve got an imposing roll-call of acts behind them.
The band consists of long-time friends and touring partners Mike Santostefano (vocalist/guitarist in Crimes, ex-Static Radio NJ) and bassist Jamie Morrison (Swansea punks The Arteries / slacker garage dweebs Ssssnakes), who then added to their number Mikey Erg, of The Ergs! (duh), The Dopamines, Star Fucking Hipsters and so many more, to step in on drums. It all began with Jamie and Mike throwing together a set of Nirvana covers at Florida’s notorious punk-con Fest, as Jamie explains. “Mike and I had this idea. We wanted to be a three-piece, to sound like a three-piece, and we wanted to sound different to our other bands. We knew having an ocean separating us would be a pretty huge limitation, but we were both serious enough to figure out a way to get the plans into action. Both being big fans of Mikey’s previous band, his drumming style, attitude towards music, as well as friends of his, he seemed like the perfect guy.”
This was an idea of way more substance than the infinite number of bands formed nightly after one too many post-show beers. “Mike and I still meant whatever it was we said to each other the morning after. It’s as if we got engaged while we were drunk and one of us is Julia Roberts, and we still felt like getting married in the morning. Nothing like Ross and Rachel’s drunken wedding in Vegas. We’re a lot more committed to each other than their on-again, off-again shenanigans. Mikey has been roped into a very special relationship.”
Due largely to the trio’s commitment to their relative punk scenes, it felt like a very natural merging despite the disparate geography, with a great deal of mutual ground tread. “There doesn’t seem to be much difference between ‘scenes’ anywhere”, Jamie insists. “Well, anywhere I’ve been at least. Musically and visually everyone is so connected these days, I don’t think it matters if you’re in the Swiss Alps or Southern California, you can peek to see what’s going on over there and get with the times.” And so the decision was made this past January for Jamie to join the two Mikes in New Jersey and put the album together. After some practicing, they entered the studio in New York with Ben Greenberg, guitarist, bassist and producer of Brooklyn’s ever-shifting, ever-expanding The Men behind the decks. “Mike got in touch with him because he thought he’d get what we were trying to achieve, production-wise, judging by how great Open Your Heart sounds. We were totally on a roll because Ben really got it.”
The nine-track album which emerged from those sessions is a raw as fuck garage-grunge explosion aptly titled Primal Play. The sound is refreshing it its frankness and honesty; guitars peak and blur into a fuzzy miasma, punctuated by the snap of a snare and Santostefano’s vocal grind, soaring into clenched-fist punk euphoria. Studio conversations are littered between the racket. The Men are, in fact, a fitting association, due to that mutual sense of joyful, unabashed referentiality to 90s alt rock folklore.
But still, with all those obstacles left in their wake and the album in the bag, things still weren’t smooth sailing. With a US tour booked, Jamie had a little accident. “The story is that I’m an idiot”, he sighs. “I was on tour in Europe with The Arteries, we were in Geneva and there’s a huge concrete skatepark in the town square. After our set a few of us went to check it out. I fell from the top of one of the bigger walls and broke a bunch of bones and smashed my face and teeth on the floor. The main thing I messed up was my hand, I went to hospital and found out I’d need surgery to fix it up. At this point the tour was off. Accidents happen and that one won’t happen again.” But with Primal Play available now via Specialist Subject Records, Jamie’s hand on the mend and both US and UK dates back in the calendar, it’ll take more than that to stop Pale Angels being far more than just another side project. Not even an ocean could stop them.
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Words: Geraint Davies
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