together PANGEA is releasing the title track from their upcoming album Badillac, out next Tuesday, January 21st on Harvest Records. “Badillac” premiered the song today.

https://soundcloud.com/togetherpangea/badillac

together PANGEA do rock ‘n’ roll as it was meant to be – raw, unpredictable, and probably dangerous, but also blazing with intelligence, emotion, and edgy experimentation. The Los Angeles-based trio made their bones as purveyors of post-millennial punk, but with their third full-length release – and Harvest Records debut – Badillac, they pay their debt to the supersonic 90s rock that first inspired them. The band has not sacrificed a spurt of precious energy, instead integrating nuance and dynamic momentum to songs like “No Way Out” and the undeniably badass title track. The volcanic riffs and massive melodies are matched by an equally provocative lyrical stance, with songs like “Sick Shit” and the album-closing “Where The Night Ends” casting an acerbic eye over the wreckage of the party they helped start.

“It might be confusing for people, assuming we’re like this garage punk band and then hearing this record,” says singer/songwriter/guitarist William Keegan. “But we really don’t want to get trapped at all.”

Keegan first started writing and recording in his Santa Clarita bedroom, his teenage tapes eventually coming to full flower with the aid of bassist Danny Bengston and drummer Erik Jimenez. Known then simply as Pangea, the band played countless beer blasts in and around CalArts, their boozy mayhem and breakneck pop hooks quickly earning them frenzied crowds throughout the Southern California DIY scene and beyond. A string of seven-inches, cassettes, and LPs – including 2011’s ace second album, Living Dummy, released by Burger Records and The Smell’s Olfactory label – followed, as did gigs alongside a veritable who’s-who of like-minded rockers, including Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin, Wavves, and The Black Lips (not to mention 2013’s epic “Burgerama Caravan of Stars” US tour).

Badillac was recorded with their longtime producer/engineer Andrew Schubert over three intensive sessions at his Tarzana studio, their roster augmented by second guitarist Cory Hanson (of the electronic pop outfit, W-H-I-T-E). While many bands in their position would have simply continued banging out the party punk, together PANGEA decided to throw a curveball at themselves and their fervent fanbase.

“We wrote like 30 plus songs for this record,” Bengston says, “half of which have the same punky bubblegum vibe of our last record. Then we had this other batch of songs, a little more melancholy, a little heavier, a little darker. I think in the end we just decided to try to not make the same record twice.”

“When I write, there are certain songs that I feel fit the band,” Keegan says, “and then there are songs where it doesn’t feel like they fit. At some point, I was like, maybe we should try some of the songs that don’t necessarily fit. Because I realized that they do fit – they’re just different.”

Though Keegan cites such unexpected heroes as Pete Seeger and 21^st Century K Records artists like Little Wings and the Microphones, he fully fesses up to Badillac’s most primal inspirations. Indeed, songs like “Why” and the cello-laced “No Way Out” fuse classic post punk ambivalence with fist-pumping stadium rock, their neurotic hooks, throat-rending vocals, and fat, distorted riffs hearkening back to the glory days of the alternative nation.

together PANGEA Tour Dates:

1/21 – The Smell – Los Angeles, CA #

1/24 – The Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA

2/1 – Last Exit – Tempe, AZ

2/2 – Club Congress – Tucson, AZ

2/4 – Three Links – Dallas, TX

2/5 – The Mohawk – Austin, TX

2/6 – Circle Bar – New Orleans, LA

2/7 – Alabama Music Box – Mobile, AL

2/8 – 529 – Atlanta, GA

2/10 – Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC

2/11 – Black Cat Backstage – Washington DC

2/12 – Boot & Saddle – Philadelphia, PA

2/14 – Rough Trade – Brooklyn, NY

2/15 – Great Scott – Allston, MA

2/17 – Casa Del Popolo – Montreal, QC

2/18 – The Drake Hotel – Toronto, ON

2/19 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL

2/20 – The Frequency – Madison, WI

2/21 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN

2/22 – Record Bar – Kansas City, MO

2/24 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO

2/25 – Kilby Court – Salt Lake City, UT

2/26 – Flying M Coffee – Nampa, ID

2/27 – Bunk Bar – Portland, OR

2/28 – Media Club – Vancouver, BC

3/1 – The Bartlett – Spokane, WA

3/2 – Barboza – Seattle, WA

3/5 – Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA

3/23 – Burgerama @ The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA

% – w/ Bleached

# – Record release show

All other dates w/ Mozes and the Firstborn

http://www.harvestrecords.com/