Motherbrain Crobot

Album info

Album-Release:
2019

HRA-Release:
23.08.2019

Label: Mascot Records

Genre: Rock

Subgenre: Classic Rock

Artist: Crobot

Album including Album cover

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Formats & Prices

FormatPriceIn CartBuy
FLAC 48 $ 13.20
MQA $ 13.20
  • 1Burn03:24
  • 2Keep Me Down03:49
  • 3Drown04:01
  • 4Low Life03:36
  • 5Alpha Dawg03:50
  • 6Stoning The Devil04:33
  • 7Gasoline03:34
  • 8Destroyer03:54
  • 9Blackout03:58
  • 10After Life03:50
  • 11The Hive03:57
  • Total Runtime42:26

Info for Motherbrain



Earlier this year, the band presented a raucously entertaining lead music video for the song “Keep Me Down”. Today, the band and Mascot Records present a second song from the upcoming album titled “Low Life”, which can be heard below. “Motherbrain” was produced by Crobot and Corey Lowery.

Like food of the gods, rock ‘n’ roll nourishes the soul. Offering holy communion, Crobot proudly personify a trinity of “meat, strings, and emotion” within their music and during the raucous and raging gigs they remain known for. Striking a delicate balance between hard-charging riffs, ass-shaking funk, and out-of-this-world reflective stage attire, the Pennsylvania quartet, Brandon Yeagley [lead vocals, harmonica], Chris Bishop [guitar, vocals], and Dan Ryan [drums], satisfy starvation for sonic sustenance on their fourth full-length and 2019 debut for Mascot Label Group, “Motherbrain”. James Lascu and Eddie Collins share the role of touring bassist for Crobot.

“When we were making the record, it was all about ‘meat, strings, and emotion’”, affirms Chris. “It explains the thought process. We’d usually start the day with chicken biscuits from Chik-fil-A. Obviously, I would play the strings. The emotion comes from the sheer power of me playing”. Yeagley adds: “It had nothing to do with the chicken biscuits”.

Crobot continue to fill a void. Since emerging in 2011, the group have quietly cemented themselves among the rising rock vanguard. Following the 2012 debut “Legend of the Spaceborne Killer” and 2014’s “Something Supernatural”, the musicians made waves with “Welcome to Fat City” in 2016. Consequence of Sound praised the title track as “a stomping slice of doom”, and Classic Rock bestowed a coveted 4-out-of-5-star rating on the album, going on to claim, “"Welcome to Fat City" is a mighty leap forward for Crobot, an ebullient masterclass”. Not to mention, they received acclaim from AXS, New Noise Magazine, and more as total album streams surpassed the 1-million-mark. Along the way, Crobot toured with the likes of Anthrax, Clutch, Black Label Society, Volbeat, Chevelle, Motorhead, The Sword, and more in addition to appearing on ShipRocked! and at numerous other festivals.

During late 2017, the boys started to write what would become “Motherbrain”. Signing to Mascot Records, the group went from writing at Chris’ spot in Austin, TX to Marietta, GA where they holed up in the studio with Corey Lowery (Seether, Saint Asonia, Sevendust, Stereomud) for a month. The producer’s direction to embrace the dark side took life, while Brandon delivered some of the most emotive recordings Crobot has delivered to date.

“I think it’s a much darker record, musically, lyrically, and thematically”, says the frontman. “It’s some of the heaviest material we’ve ever done, but it’s also some of the funkiest. We’re widening the Crobot spectrum even more. It’s the catchiest too. It’s less about wizards and dragons and more about everyday turmoil and the struggles of life. Corey made it digestible and appealing for not just dudes with beards or chicks with dicks”.

They heralded the record with the rabble-rousing “Keep Me Down”. Meanwhile, the first single “Low Life” shows the scope of this expanded palette. Featuring chunky guitars and a howling hook, it sees the band co-write with Johnny Andrews and deliver a bold banger. “It’s a song we never would’ve written by ourselves”, Chris continues. “That makes it cool. It took us out of our comfort zone”. “It’s an anthem about this outside perspective on the definition of a lowlife”, explains Brandon. “There’s a misconception that being a touring musician without a lot of money makes you a lowlife, but how is that really any different from the rest of the world? And, if that does make you a lowlife, we’re okay with it!”...

Co-written by Brian Vodinh of 10 Years, “Burn” nods to “the power of Stone Temple Pilots’ ‘Dead and Bloated’”, and siphons it through “a Crobot filter”. Elsewhere, “Drown” tempers a muscular groove with a magnetic melody, while the “funkiest song” of the bunch “Alpha Dawg” pays homage to a “funky werewolf mofo” inspired by Teen Wolf. Then, there’s “Stoning the Devil”. So catchy it might be Satanic, the tune flips tradition upside down.

“I wanted a different spin on the act of stoning the devil”, states Brandon. “Muslims take a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia to throw stones at these pillars. The act is supposed to ward off evil spirits and cleanse one’s soul. It’s a different culture for the devil’s storyline in our genre”.

In the end, “meat, strings, and emotion” might just be what rock ‘n’ roll needs in 2019 and beyond…

“When people hear this, I hope they say, "Yeah, that’s Crobot"”, the front man leaves off. “We want to maintain our identity from record to record. We always want to be genuine. It’s going to evolve, but it will always be Crobot”.

Brandon Yeagley, lead vocals, harmonica
Chris Bishopm, guitar, vocals
Dan Ryan, drums
James Lascu, bass



Crobot
There was a time when rock radio was dominated by great riffs. From Deep Purple’s “Smoke On the Water” and Derek And The Dominoes’ “Layla” to Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” and Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing In The Name Of” it was all about that unmistakable guitar sound that instantly identified a band or song. The members of Crobot have united to bring that back.

Blending funk, blues, metal and good old-fashioned rock and roll into a howling vortex of Yeagley’s vocals and Bishop’s guitar, Crobot have crafted an album of endless good time rock hooks that sound as inspired today as they would have on AOR radio in 1974.

“We grew up with the same riff rock and it’s seemingly lacking in today’s music. We really seem to like the rock of old and felt that was missing,” Yeagley says.

Crobot is a band that can rock at all tempos. Whether it’s the slow-building groove of “Skull Of Geronimo,” a methodical sludge-rocker that calls to mind Soundgarden in the chorus or the more up-tempo funkified “Nowhere To Hide,” a track that sounds like the Black Crowes driving a Camaro, Crobot display stellar musicianship and lyrical depth.

For example, on “Queen Of The Light,” the powerful closing track of Something Supernatural, Yeagley sings the story of a girl yearning for a new life. “She lives the darkest life/but all she wants to be is the queen of the light,” he sings against the plaintive wailing of the slow-moving melody. It’s one of the songs destined to strike a deep chord with fans in the same way the single “Nowhere To Hide” has become a good-time anthem.

“Nowhere To Hide” is one of the songs Yeagley cites as getting his feet wiggling. And he promises that on Something Supernatural there will be plenty more grooves to get fans moving, as those who’ve experienced Crobot live have already seen.

“’Night Of The Sacrifice’ is one that’s coming out off the full length and that always gets me excited to play,” he says. “It’s usually the introduction to the funkier side of what we do in our set, it’s usually the first funky track that we play. So it’s really exciting to switch that mode from more riff based stuff towards to the classic metal sounding stuff with the heavier side of things and to flip flop and see people’s reactions when we totally hit the other end of the spectrum with the funky stuff.”

Musically, “Skull Of Geronimo” is one Yeagley sees as being undeniably representative of Crobot. “That’s a little on the heavier end of the spectrum, but it’s still got that funkiness to it,” he says. And lyrically, “Wizards” might be the Crobot statement song.

“It’s an epic tale of two wizards. One is on the side of wizardry and technology while the other is the side of natural spiritual wizardry and it’s a clash of funkiness and classic metal too in the same sense. So it’s a battle of epic proportions on all sides,” he says. “It’s just a song that fulfills all the ends of the spectrum of what Crobot is.”

Then there is the storytelling ability they show on a song like “La Mano De Lucifer,” a Biblical tale that starts off, “A failed rebellion/against the one creator/exiled to the fire.”

As another side of the band, Yeagley is a devout sci-fi buff. Asked what one film Crobot does the score for, he replies without hesitation, “2001: A Space Odyssey. That movie has its own special place amongst the sci-fi world.” And for contemporary sci-fi he picks Ender’s Game. “I’m such a huge fan of that series and to see that come to life on film was really cool. It’s got battles of epic proportions and everything you love about sci-fi, just nails it,” he says.

A modern rock band with a sense of humor, as well as their own hot sauce, CROBOT has already been making their mark among peers with their wild live performances. But for Crobot, at the end of the day, it is all about the sound.

“All I care about is that people walk away after hearing the album thinking, ‘Man, Crobot is the funkiest, heaviest band I’ve ever heard,’” Bishop says.

This album contains no booklet.

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