Member Since: 12/6/2004
Band Website: myspace.com/kingtears
Band Members: Cliff Brown Jr.: (The Cunning Runts, The Frydaddys, Jennyanykind, Milton Mapes, Sunset): Guitar, Bass, Keys, Vocals, Drums, etc..
David Hess, aka Dirty Baby: (Super Sonic Uke, Seahorse, Baby Got Bacteria): Guitar, Vocals, etc..
Friends, Contributors and Amazing Musicians:
Roberto Sanchez (Milton Mapes, Monahans): Drums, Percussion
Cully Symington: Drums
Chad Shaw: Bass, Organ
Michelle Anthony: Keys
Kullen Fuchs: Trumpet, Piano, Sounds
Sounds Like: Texas Platters
BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
King Tears
Rope Chair Needle
Some might mistake Austin quartet King Tears for goths: They're named after a local mortuary, and their debut takes its title from three common methods of capital punishment. Yet there's not a single murder ballad here; even "Heaven or Hell" turns out to be about a difficult relationship instead of any afterlife destination. Conveniently positioned between Moonlight Towers' fuzzy pop and Milton Mapes' grizzled Americana – Towers' James Stevens recorded the album; Mapes' Greg Vanderpool did the cover art – Rope's nine songs are cut from the same rustic cloth. Steady, unforced tempos, and well-placed banjo and harmonica, lend an unmistakable air of Big Pink to the proceedings. "Beg Me to Follow" invites the Grooveline horns inside for some shambling fireside Stonesery, and "Comin' Around" choogles along like John Fogerty bumping into the Faces at last call. If some songs (the title track) are a little too soft-focus at times, their unflagging amiability grants them the necessary leeway. This is music meant for relaxing on the porch, with a tall glass of lemonade or something stronger, whiling away the lazy summer hours in the shade. Indeed, Rope Chair Needle offers precious little to cry about at all.
Discography ::
Down In Luck Ep (2003)
Recorded at Half-A-Warehouse, with Darwin Smith.
This is where their record label gets it's name.
The EP title comes from a homeless woman holding a sign which read::
"Down In Luck."
Rope Chair Needle (2005)
Recorded at The Bridge Studios with James Stevens.
The Title of RCN comes from the common sight of road-side chaingangs
working along the roads and in the fields of Brown's native state
Alabama.
Almost There Records::
Who's Who (2004)
"Legal Matter"
King Tears covers The Who's "Legal Matter"
From their 1965 debut album My Generation.
Turn 1 (2005)
"Socialist Worker"
B-side from the King Tears Rope Chair Needle Sessions.
Record Label: Southern Songs Ltd.
Type of Label: Indie