Ecce Shnak. Touring with Spacehog & EMF in support of debut 'Shadows Grow Fangs' EP
Alternative art-rockers Ecce Shnak are pleased to announce they will be touring with platinum-selling legends Spacehog and EMF. In June, the three bands will hit the U.S. West coast, with the electrifying NYC quintet delivering a sonic experience that blends art-rock and punk energy with some unexpected twists. Kicking things off in San Jose, California on June 14, the tour wraps up on June 28 in Las Vegas.
Ecce Shnak will be touring in support of their newly-released debut EP 'Shadows Grow Fangs', released via Record Man, Records - five tracks that showcase incomparable ingenuity and limitless invention. The quintet also present their endearing new video for 'Stroll With Me', unveiled hot on the trail of their latest clip for the high-energy title track.
If there’s a fine line between wild-eyed, inspired genius and utter, irrepressible insanity, that’s where you’ll find Ecce Shnak, teetering on a neon tightrope. With David Roush as composer, bassist, and one of two singers, he is joined by Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums).
This EP runs the gamut from slow-burning meditations on love’s indispensability to mockery of the web from the perspective of a time-traveling poet – “What the fuck is the internet?!” Of course, this might sound a little ‘zany’, but it’s really not. Not at all. It’s intricately constructed, methodically fashioned, and – while undeniably offbeat – as serious and logical as it’s entertaining.
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci at the Art Farm (NY), their debut EP was mixed by Nicholas Vernhes (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, The Fiery Furnaces, Dirty Projectors, Wild Nothing, The War on Drugs) and mastered by Grammy award-winning sound engineer Joe LaPorta (David Bowie, The Weeknd, Foo Fighters, Vampire Weekend, FKA Twigs, Twenty One Pilots).
'Stroll With Me' is the first folk song in Ecce Shnak's catalogue. Here, David Roush plays his classical guitar as he sings of his beloved friend - a young woman who chose to leave the Earth from the sometimes overwhelming woes and chaos of conscious human life. He pays homage to her spirit and memory and vows to hold her precious for every day until his own death. In the video itself, his character Larry pays similar homage to the ghost of his dear friend Barbara.
They stroll together to a canoe on the bank of a river that is special to their history. They paddle to an island where he bids farewell to her and his attachment to her as a living being. Though he tries to call her back onto the canoe in a last moment of denial, she gently but firmly insists that he leave her and paddle himself home. However, before pushing his boat offshore, she bids him farewell with a set of gesticulations and expressions that are part of their selfsame language of precious charms and inside jokes. To help tell this tale, they evoke imagery from an old-time Swedish film that addresses some of the same themes, albeit in a totally different context.
David Roush explains, "Where that old tragicomedy is about religious war, famine, and pestilence, ours is a story of heartbreak about a single life that seems to have ended far too early. Either way, death is certain and unavoidable. Music is one of the only methods human beings have at our disposal to understand and accept this great and mysterious challenge of life. Here is our own music toward that end. To all those in grief, whomever or whatever its subject: we honor you in your own versions of these great challenges of life, and we are utterly grateful to stroll with you through it all. In love, melancholy, and roundabout spiritual triumph."
Ecce Shnak subverts notions of style, playfully but reverently embracing multiple forms across the spectrum, while addressing weighty themes and notable trivia with striking articulacy. The single 'The Internet' is an eclectic gem that makes a fine mockery of the web from the perspective of a time-travelling poet. 'Prayer on Love' is a downtempo groove-inducing opus and the lead track 'Jeremy, Utilitarian Sadboy' is a hammering 150-seconds about 19th Century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham that combines math-metal, post-rock and choral anthems.
The 'Shadows Grow Fangs' EP is out now, available from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Bandcamp. Tickets for the Spacehog / EMF / Ecce Shnak tour go on sale on Friday, March 7.
TOUR DATES (with EFM and Spacehog)
Jun 14 San Jose, CA - The Ritz
Jun 15 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall (tickets)
Jun 17 Portland, OR - Star Theater
Jun 18 Seattle, WA - The Neptune
Jun 20 Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
Jun 21 Denver, CO - Oriental Theater
Jun 23 Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
Jun 24 San Diego, CA - Music Box
Jun 26 Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory
Jun 27 Los Angeles, CA - The Regent
Jun 28 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
