One
of the most original music acts to emerge from the hills of Asheville,
North Carolina, Americana power-pop group Alarm Clock Conspiracy, have
released their sophomore album 'Harlequin'. The “conspiracy” which the
band speaks of is the fallacy that all humans must awake to a bellowing
alarm clock each morning only to rush off to work at a job that they
truly hate. Wake up to right now! ACC's music is a combination of Indie
Rock, Power Pop and Alt-Country, with influences drawn from 60's &
70's acoustic folk and rock music, as well as more current indie rock
sounds of today. ACC's focus is on high energy live performances, as
well as writing genuine songs that are infectious and to the point. The
group plays a performance of original music, as well as covers by such
bands as The Beatles, The Police, Pink Floyd, The Foo Fighters, Tom
Petty, Neil Young, and many more... What sets Alarm Clock Conspiracy
apart from most acts out there is their ability to play an acoustic
performance, or a full bore electric rock show. The band pride
themselves on their versatility to fit to whatever situation the event
calls for.
Chris Carter
and Ian Reardon originally joined creative forces as an acoustic
guitar/vocal duo in the late summer of 2000. In the fall of 2009 Wes
Jameson joined the band on bass, and James Hurlston was added on drums.
Since then, the band has played hundreds of live shows in the southeast,
exciting audiences, and steadily building a crowd base of dedicated
fans. In May of 2013, ACC added John McKinney on keyboards and the band
was complete. In 2012, ACC released its first, critically acclaimed,
self-produced album, with the help of their friend and engineer Greg
Sipes. The self-titled album featured long time friends Michael Guggino
(Steep Canyon Rangers) on mandolin, Forrest Smith on pedal steel, and
Isaac Wells on percussion. In January of 2013, ACC's first album drew
the attention of a record label from Athens, GA which landed the group a
recording contract. The band immediately went to work on their new
album 'Harlequin'.
Ian Reardon
explains, “The songs for 'Harlequin' were written by Chris Carter and I
over many years with a debut of our bassist Wes Jameson writing the last
track on the album. We were sent to John Keane Studios in Athens, GA (www.johnkeanestudios.com)
by our former record label to record 3 sessions, over a span of 12
days, over a 3-week period from March - April of 2013. It was really
great to get the opportunity to record in such a laid-back atmosphere
where such bands as REM, Widespread Panic, The Indigo Girls, Warren
Zevon, Billy Bragg, Robyn Hitchcock, Taj Mahal, The Troggs, and Uncle
Tupelo had once recorded. John is an amazing producer/engineer. It was
pretty amazing to watch him do edits at lightning speed, as well as
watch him navigate the studio without any other studio hands helping him
out. John overdubbed pedal steel, Hammond organ, and a little guitar on
the album, then he brought in Randall Bramblett (http://randallbramblett.com/)
to record keys on 2 of the tracks, 'To My Lost Friend', and 'Something
Tells Me'. Randall has worked with such bands as Traffic, Steve Winwood,
Greg Allman Band, Bonnie Raitt, Widespread Panic, as well as many
others.”
Through an
unfortunate turn of events funding for the new album was put on hold.
Ian relates, “As you can imagine we were pretty devastated.... We were
left to cover all of the cost ourselves if we wanted to release the
album. We really got into this recording project so we were prepared to
do anything to make it see the light of day. After a long year of back
and forth we were finally released from our contract. We started a
successful crowd sourcing campaign on indigogo.com and we finally assumed total control of the album.”
And now, Alarm Clock Conspiracy's highly anticipated second album 'Harlequin' is available!
Alarm Clock Conspiracy is:
Ian Reardon is
originally from Boston, MA. Ian plays guitar and sings in ACC. He has
been playing for the last 25 + years. He was formally in the bands
MarsupiaL and W.I.G.
Chris Carter is
originally from Birmingham, AL. Chris plays guitar and sings in ACC. He
has been playing guitar and drums for the last 25 + years. He was
formally in the bands Sunshine and the Bad Things, MarsupiaL, The
Greenfields, Partial to Mable, and Mr Neutron.
Wes Jameson is
originally from Hendersonville, NC. Wes plays bass in ACC. He has played
bass for the last 20 + years. He was formally in the bands Davenport,
& The Royal We.
James Hurlston
is originally from Chicago, IL. James plays drums in ACC. He has played
drums for the last 15 + years. He was formally in the bands Joltwagon.
John McKinney
is originally from Brevard, NC. John plays keyboards with ACC. He has
been playing keyboards and guitar for the last 20 + years. He also
currently plays with the bands The Gravelys, Leigh Glass and the
Hazards.
Bill Kopp of
Musoscribe recently reviewed the new ACC album: “Back in early 2012 I
championed their first album, but on 'Harlequin', this Asheville
NC-based quartet has seriously raised the bar. Thanks in large part to
the songwriting prowess of two very different composers (guitarists
Chris Carter and Ian Reardon) the album is a near-perfect balance of
powerpop, Southern rock and progressive-leaning rock. Reardon’s title
track hints at what 'modern country' could sound like if the genre
didn't, y'know, suck. The soaring yet understated harmonies on Carter's
'Thinking Of' are delightful. It wouldn't surprise me to see this album
picked up by a larger label and reissued. Buy this disc.”
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