Howlin Rain Sign to American

HOWLIN RAIN SIGNS TO AMERICAN RECORDINGS
Rick Rubin signs Howlin Rain to American Recordings
New album, Magnificent Fiend, out Spring 2008 through Birdman Records and American Recordings

Howlin Rain

Howlin Rain, the epic spin-off project of Comets on Fire (Sub Pop) co-founder and lead singer Ethan Miller, has just been signed by Rick Rubin to American Recordings. Progenitors of the heavy psych/folky sound that has been branded “The New Weird America” by the press, Miller has put together an outfit that exudes the magical musical legacy of their Bay Area blues-driven homebase (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Grateful Dead), taps into the psychedelic brotherhood of the 13th Floor Elevators and calls to order the songmanship of classic CSNY, while possessing the originality to create their own visionary sound. Howlin Rain’s spring 2008 release, Magnificent Fiend, will be a joint venture with San Francisco’s Birdman Records.

Says Miller: “Magnificent Fiend is the product of our desire to make a rock record not out of asphalt, fiberglass and cheap lumber but out of ivory, bone and glass with a marble foundation. A place where strange and wild birds and animals could fly and run the halls beneath great vaulted ceilings and cathedral windows that open outward to the world. We worked to make a thing of beauty that will last the weathering of time and kick against the suburbanization of rock music.

“Rick’s work has had an enormous impact on my understanding and love of music. I am honored for Howlin Rain to reside on American Records next to some of the greatest artists in the history of rock & roll. The joining of our paths is certain to produce music made of the highest energy, honesty and quality.”

Road-tested on tour with Queens of the Stone Age, Howlin Rain’s songs on Magnificent Fiend are freeform and transcendent, expansive and mind-blowing. The arrangements employ a greater use of dynamics within the songs – laid-back grooves and breakdowns explode into anthemic choruses with cosmic, mind-melding guitar riffs and soaring, string-bending solos. Magnificent Fiend rolls from the speakers like a half waking vision made of dreams and nightmares, ignited and guided by the power of the new band and the velvet roar of Miller’s vocals.

The album will be released on CD/LP in the early Spring of 2008. The band will spend December 2007 in Europe and Scandinavia.

Howlin Rain tour dates
11.17 San Francisco, CA at Amnesia
11.25 England, London, Scala with Damon and Naomi and Sun Burned Hand
11.26 England, Nottingham, the Maze
11.27 Scotland, Aberdeen, Lemon Tree
11.28 Scotland, Glasgow, Mono
11.29 UK Show TBC
12.01 Belgium, Pauze Festival. Gent, Voorhuit
12.02 Holland, Utrect, DB’s Studio
12.03 Holland, Amsterdam. Paradiso
12.04 Denmark, Arhus, Spanien 19c
12.05 Sweden, Gothenburg, Pusterviksbaren
12.06 Sweden, Malmo, Debaser
12.07 Norway, Oslo, The Garage
12.08 Sweden, Stockholm, Nalen