Brooklyn-based, New Zealanders (from bands Elemeno P & Kingston) STREETS OF LAREDO release their first full-length album, “Volume I & II”. Destined to be a soundtrack for spring, this album is a sing-a-long collision of jangling harmonies, stomping percussion, horns and guitars.
Founded by close-knit family members Daniel, Dave and Sarahjane Gibson and inspired by the fervour and madness of the 70’s folk-rock circuit, STREETS OF LAREDO was born out of trying to escape the mundane everyday working life. Older brother Dave tells the story, “Both Dan and I had done the hard yards in bands in New Zealand but we were worn out and a little lost by it all, and broke. I was running this t-shirt company and Dan walks in one day to tell me that he’s finished with music and he’s gonna go get a real job. All of a sudden my ‘big brother’ instinct kicks in and rather than see this young songwriter throw it all away, I gave him a job doing t-shirt orders, and we started working on demos and writing songs together, pretty much day and night from then on in.”
Refining their sound and songs one holiday weekend at a beach house on the New Zealand coast, the Gibsons started to fashion a sound that was equal parts folk storytelling and psychedelic madness. With just one hometown show under their belt, a handful of demos and a whole lot of hope, they took the plunge and decided to move halfway around the world. Fast-forward to the summer of 2012 and STREETS OF LAREDO in a rehearsal space in Brooklyn NY with a guitar, a drum-machine and no money, trying to figure out what comes next.
Quickly adding fellow countryman Thom Darlow and local Brooklynites Sean McMahon and Andrew McGovern to the mix, this now rambling, multi-instrumental, seven-piece started to craft a dance-inducing mix of vocal hooks, beats and wild sounds that saw the New York music scene embrace them as their own – building a firm reputation in the music halls of Brooklyn and the Lower East Side for playing danceable, crazy songs that kept fans coming back for more – not to mention seeing the band feted as a must-see act at both CMJ and SXSW.
A quick trip back to New Zealand saw the band record the bones of ‘Volume I & II’ – ten songs inspired by their old life in NZ and their new life in NYC – in an old converted Auckland theatre where, courtesy of friendships and favors, they locked down that distinctive STREETS OF LAREDO sound. Like Bob Dylan running late to a Ramones concert or Paul Simon getting blind drunk with Grizzly Bear, however you describe them the resulting songs and sound have had an instant effect on fans and critics alike.