What people are saying about Azure Down -
With slow, resounding guitar parts that seem to speak to you, and the vocals telling their own story, you can easily get lost in each of their songs...Azure Down is definitely a band to listen to on the couch with candles around, and with headphones on your head so you don't miss one thing.
Target Audience Magazine
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From the flotsam and jetsam that was once Orange County’s much appreciated and underutilized 7 Story Sound, comes Azure Down. The band is comprised of an eclectic mix of individuals whose undigested nuggets of harmonizing vocals, lengthy free form sonic exploration, proto-psychedelia, and post-punk etherealism helped shape their musical direction.
Comprised of former members of The Cloverfields, Tremolo, Anam Cara, and Edible High, the group - Justin Kertson on guitar and vocals, Deborah Norton on guitar and vocals, Brian Winters on drums, and Rich Morris on bass - sprang from the humble beginnings of cocktail-fueled hootenannies and rave-ups, and progressed to living room jam sessions amidst serious philosophical debate over life and love and everything in-between, but mostly of the merits of Guinness or Arrogant Bastard Ale. In 2005, the foursome believed themselves to be nothing more than the core of a loose and informal aggregation with a revolving door of numerous players with no set agenda. And perhaps because of that somewhat informal sense of commitment, some members left to pursue other endeavors; others stayed to help guide and formulate the then current direction and sound of the band, and ended up calling themselves 7 Story Sound as tribute to the individual influence that each member brought to the mix. After a handful of shows and some sporadic recording, which resulted in a well-received E.P. recording, 7SS fell victim to the usual “personal and creative differences†which led to its dissolution.
With little deliberation and even less doubt about continuing, Justin, Deb, Brian, and Richard proceeded to practice and write new material. With a new found joie de vivre (and brand new instruments), the band christened themselves Azure Down, and drew upon influences that could not be utilized and expressed previously. Said influences that shape the soundscape include (in no particular order or favoritism): The Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, The String Cheese Incident, Slowdive, Pink Floyd, Low, The Mother Hips, Mazzy Star, Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Joy Division, Indigo Girls, Spiritualized, Neil Young, 13th Floor Elevators, Echo and the Bunnymen, David Bowie, Galaxy 500, the look and sound of 60’s guitar equipment, the aforementioned Arrogant Bastard ale, political and cultural obsessions, foreign films, and whatever strikes true at the moment.
In addition to their visually exciting live performances, Azure Down has just recorded four songs for an upcoming untitled release. Recorded at Unit 6 Studios in Santa Fe Springs, Syncretism, Crushing, Cookie Cutter Homes, and Drone were recorded live and mixed by Josh Perry. The band is already planning another round of recording with a release date and west coast tour in the summer of 2008.
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