Rotary Downs

Last updated
Rotary Downs
Rotary Downs - Voodoo Music Experience Day 2 10 29 2011.jpg
Background information
Origin New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Genres Rock, indie rock
Years active2002present
LabelsRookery Records
MembersJames Marler
Chris Colombo
Zack Smith
Jason Rhein
Alex Smith
Past members Tiffany Lamson
Cory Schultz
Michael Girardot
Anthony Cuccia
Matt Aguiluz
Website Official Website

Rotary Downs is an indie rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana. The band is made up of vocalist and guitarist James Marler, guitarist Chris Colombo, guitarist Alex Smith, bassist Jason Rhein, and drummer Zack Smith. [1]

Contents

History

Rotary Downs is a two-time winner of the "Best Rock Band" category at Gambit Weekly's Big Easy Music Awards. [2] NPR's Morning Edition considers them "outsider artists" and characterized their 2007 album Chained To The Chariot as "a stunning collection of psychedelic art-pop songs that play like brilliant mash-ups of Neutral Milk Hotel and Odelay -era Beck". [3]

Chained To The Chariot was recorded in the months preceding and following Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, as described in a feature on Current TV. [4] Some of the band's recorded work on the album was damaged by the flood, but later salvaged. In the wake of the disaster, band members described a sense of increased artistic collaboration and cross-pollination in the music scene in New Orleans. [5]

On March 9, 2010, Rotary Downs released Cracked Maps & Blue Reports, described by Filter magazine as "perfectly New Orleanian: both high and low, in and out, joyous and mournful." [6]

Discography

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References

  1. Rotary Downs on Facebook, "Facebook", August 2011
  2. "Archived copy". bestofneworleans.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Top 10 Great Unknown Artists of 2007", Robin Hilton, Morning Edition, 28 December 2007.
  4. Rotary Downs, Thomas Green, CurrentTV 24 November 2007
  5. Remix: Juggled band arrangements have resulted in new music and a reinvigorated live local music scene. Alison Fensterstock, Gambit Weekly, 19 December 2006.
  6. Rotary Downs - Cracked Maps & Blue Reports. Marty Garner, Filter Magazine, 25 March 2010.