: The Promise Ring is in the studio recording their ANTI debut with Stephen Street Pop/rock pioneers The Promise Ring will release their fourth full-length album (their first on ANTI through their Foreign Leisure imprint) in Spring 2002. The band is currently working on 10 songs at Jacobs Studios in Surrey, England with producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Morrissey, Blur, Cranberries) and while in the recording process The Promise Ring will be documenting their sessions (via video camera) and we'll have them for viewing on their section of the ANTI site. Click READ MORE for the full report. The Anti website has been redesigned too, check it out. Anti itself is a sublabel of Epitaph (like Hellcat or Fat Possum) which deals with non-punk artists who work with "punk ideals."
Formed in 1995, The Promise Ring's intriguing blend of hook-heavy power pop, playful harmonies and clever lyrics have won the band a devoted legion of fans and massive critical acclaim (to wit: SPIN magazine cited TPR as one of the 40 bands for the new millennium in its March 2001 issue). This notoriety has afforded the band the opportunity to collaborate with some revered producers. Over the summer, TPR recorded tracks with Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr. and engineer/mixer Robert Carranza (eels, Rage Against The Machine, Old 97s). Legendary keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish, Air, Moog Cookbook, Beck) played keys and synths on those tracks. Having demoed some 40-plus songs for their new record - the most the band has ever written for an album - THE PROMISE RING are deftly messing with their traditional mix of two guitars, bass and drums. This record will also feature drum machines, keyboards, the occasional junky synth and lots of other left turns trafficked by Caldato and Street.
"Making this record has had a real air of excitement for us. It's made being in a band an adventure again," says guitarist Jason Gnewikow. "We've all sort of given up our traditional roles in the band and it's become a free-for-all. There is no longer any musical territory that we feel is off limits to us. If we can make the sounds, it's us."