We're super chuffed to announce the fabulous Mini Mansions will be playing live for your ears this afternoon at 4.30pm, before their sold out show supporting Royal Blood at Portsmouth Guildhall.
Visiting us all the way from The US of A, Mini Mansions are Zach Dawes, Tyler Parkford, and Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman.
Mini Mansions was founded in 2009 after the Queens of the Stone Age decided to take a break after touring in support of Era Vulgaris. Their self-released EP from 2009 contains nine tracks. In 2014, they released the single "Death Is a Girl", with a second studio album planned for release in 2015.
Punk is no stranger to the individuals who form Mini Mansions, but neither is melody. While they have all played in various DIY bands throughout their youth, they also share a clear affinity for The Zombies, Gorillaz, and Devo. These three members know how to be imaginative and unorthodox, while having a grasp on the levity in nihilism and love, and the fine line in between. Their new album, The Great Pretenders, will be released on T Bone Burnett's Electromagnetic Recordings/Capitol Records. They are his first signing.
Mini Mansions came together via the members' deep personal interconnections, and in the most organic way possible. Drummer/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Michael Shuman has been playing music with MM bassist/multi-instrumentalist Zach Dawes since age 11. Both Valley kids grew up in Encino sharing their mutual adoration for all things punk rock, which ultimately paved the path for their future musical endeavors. Tyler Parkford, MM vocalist/keyboardist, entered this tight-knit fold after attending University of California Santa Cruz's film program with Dawes.
With the passing years, each member made his own way: Shuman took to the stage as a teen, first in iconoclastic punk collective Wires On Fire through his current role as bassist in Queens of the Stone Age, Dawes has served as a studio hired gun and has worked with Brian Wilson, Kimbra, and longtime mentor T Bone Burnett (who had Dawes play bass on the recent all-star Dylan collection Lost On the River: The New Basement Tapes), while Parkford releases music under his solo moniker Mister Goodnite.
The album also finds Mini Mansions coating its signature hooky psychedelia with a fresh dusting of glitter. "Heart of Stone" builds from intimately acoustic to trippily symphonic, dancing between Hunky Dory-era Bowie and ELO; likewise, the glam-rock ballad "Creeps" which comes by its Mark Bolan-esque fuzz guitar solo naturally. "That guitar tone is Michael playing straight into the console – which is the same exact mixing board T. Rex recorded Electric Warrior on," says Dawes.
Mini Mansions was able to expand its sound on The Great Pretenders thanks in part to an extended gestation. Conceived and written over the last two and a half years, The Great Pretenders was largely recorded at Woody Jackson's Vox Recording Studios. The oldest privately run recording studio in the world and an L.A. institution, Vox proved the perfect playground for Mini Mansions' members, who found themselves doubly inspired by studio's treasure trove of vintage equipment and instruments.
We excited for this one, and recommend you get down early for this FREE show. Go America!