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VietNam

Description:

VietNam
S/T
(Kemado)
Released: October 3, 2006


***PRESS RELEASE***
We are proud to present the brand new lush symphonic opus of Brooklyn's own VietNam. Introducing a fresh sound, this self-titled debut full-length album is their most complete and exciting piece of work to date. Be ready to engage in an intense cathartic and refreshingly original rock journey.

VietNam are four good friends who affectionately make up a loosely defined family in the communal comforts of Brooklyn, living together in the same house with an open door headquarters aesthetic. Lead vocalist/ rhythm guitarist Michael Gerner, lead guitarist Josh Grubb, Michael Foss on drums, complete the band with new member Ivan Berko on bass.

Newly signed to Kemado Records, the band's album was recorded at legendary Los Angeles studios Sound City and Sound Factory (100% analog) and produced by "Farmer Dave" Scher (Beachwood Sparks, All Night Radio), Mickey Madden (Maroon5) and Jason Lader. VietNam have also enlisted a number of fun allies to their plate of gonzo jams, including cameos by Jenny Lewis, Paz Lenchantin, the Future Pigeon horn section, and Jesse Carmichael to name a few.

Album opener "Step On Inside" is a justifiable representation of VietNam's growth and dirt on guitar magic. Vocalist Gerner has never sounded stronger and his brooding lyrics are myths filled with shady characters. Fusing Spritualized soaked blues with the hypnotic smoke of Lou Reed, VietNam's sonic depths jump from the belly of Roky Erickson to cast a spell and shake your soul.

Staking new ambitious ground is no easy feat and VietNam triumph their trippy confrontation with grace.

***PRESS REVIEWS***
The Tripwire
Vietnam's new self-titled record is going to want to make you drugs. It's going to make you want to go out into the urban jungle and ride the snake. Remember that scene in The Doors where Crispin Glover dresses up like Andy Warhol and says to Val Kilmer, "Somebody gave me this telephone. I think it was Edie. Yeah it was Edie and she said I could talk to God with it, but uh, I don't have anything to say. So here..."? Well, it sort of reminds me of that. Not sure why. It just does.

From the first bang of a piano note on Vietnam, you can hear the dark, grimy, basement sound that Vietnam is made of. "Step On Inside" is, much like the rest of the record, an homage to '60s psychedelia, The Velvet Underground, and of course, Robert Zimmerman. One of the strongest tracks on the album, "Priest, Poet & The Pig," could have fit just perfectly on Highway 61. It's ferocious music played aggressively, fast, and without any apprehension. It's blues in it's basic form, like much of the album, utilizing Dylan's knack for making the I-IV-V sound like nothing that had ever landed on this green earth.

There are slowed down, 3/4 ballads as well, although Vietnam is not about to go easy on us. The Dylan sounding vocals are harsh on songs like "Toby" despite their slow tempo and "Baby, Baby, Baby" lyrics. It's just like their name says. They're a helicopter ride through the jungle, a knife twisted in your gut, and an acid flashback that won't go away. Look for Vietnam in stores on January 23rd.

Westword
"Without artifice or the slightest whiff of a scene, Vietnam bravely set up shop in the shadow of some great American artists: Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground. Vocalist Michael William bears Dylan's influence to the tipping point, borrowing certain line cuts and a half-mumble/half-twang that almost, but not quite, sounds like imitation. Many of the songs -- wry, dirty, twisted cross-country tales filled with sentiments thrown like punches -- rise to the literary level, like Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" if it had been written with whiskey in the tea. The aural scenery gets tightly clipped around the lyrics; clearly, this is an album that's not meant to be absorbed only as slick surface rhythm. The hazy maze of blues riffs adds a magical level of disorientation, with dense musical details that make the members of Vietnam more than just lazily crowned poet laureates for having read a few books. Dylan isn't sacrosanct to me, and neither is his generation. Regardless, there's no reason these Philly-by-way-of-Texas boys shouldn't be the next band to be big, bold and beautiful."

***NEWS***
VietNam on Fader cover
VietNam are featured on the December 2006 cover of Fader Magazine. On newstands now!

***LINKS***
vtnm.net (official)
myspace.com/vietnamtheband (myspace)
kemado.com (record label)
"Too Tired" (video)

***TOUR DATES***
• 12/12 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
• 12/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
• 12/14 - Washington, DC @ The Black Cat
• 12/15 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
• 12/16 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom