Earlier this year, the Portland, OR-based Blitzen Trapper accomplished a unique feat for a rock band who has been releasing albums and touring for the better part of two decades: a staged musical titled Wild & Reckless that ran for 28 performances at Portland Center Stage.
The album Wild & Reckless was born from the stage production that the band spent the better part of a year producing and was released as a companion to their 2008 breakthrough album Furr to much critical acclaim in early December. The half musical, half rock-opera dealt with heroin abuse, desperation, true love and western power structures. The story evoked a bygone era of Portland with this sci-fi love story, featuring a rock-and-roll score that paired unreleased songs with favorites from the band’s catalog.
Following the success of the production, the band took 7 original songs from the production and developed the theme further into the 12 songs that comprise the new album Wild & Reckless.
Frontman Eric Earley also sees the record as a companion and extention of their 2008 album Furr. ‘Wild and Reckless” is something like a cross-eyed stepchild to Furr, in that it chronicles the darker dystopian stories of rural and suburban west coast death-drive via a riffing psychedelic landscape. Ten years after Furr with all its talk of murder and the end of the western world, it seems there’s more to tell.’
Blitzen Trapper is Eric Earley (songwriter/singer), Erik Menteer (guitar, keyboard), Brian Adrian Koch (drums, vocals), Michael Van Pelt (bass) and Marty Marquis (keyboard, vocals). Wild & Reckless was produced by Eric Earley and Michael Van Pelt and was recorded by Gregg Williams at The Trench, in Portland, Oregon. It was mixed by James Brown (Foo Fighters, Kings Of Leon, Blitzen Trapper’s All Across This Land) at The Union.
Wild and Reckless is out now in Europe on British indie label Lojinx. Out on heavyweight vinyl LP, CD & digital. The band will be playing a selection of venues across Europe to promote the release during April 2018.
European Tour Dates
04/04/18: De Zwerver – Leffinge (B) [tickets]
05/04/18: Fluor – Amersfoort (NL) [tickets]
06/04/18: Roots of Heaven – Patronaat – Haarlem (NL) [tickets]
07/04/18: Heartland Festival – Hengelo (NL) [tickets]
08/04/18: Down of the River – Venlo (NL) [tickets]
10/04/18: King Tuts – Glasgow (UK) [tickets]
11/04/18: The Brudenell Social Club – Leeds (UK)
12/04/18: Hoxton Bar & Kitchen (UK) [tickets]
14/04/18: Little Waves – C-Mine – Genk (B) [tickets]
15/04/18: De Oosterpoort – Groningen (NL) [tickets]
16/04/18: Hafenklang – Hamburg (DE) [tickets]
17/04/18: Kulturkvarteret – Kristianstad (SE) [tickets]
18/04/18: John Dee – Oslo (NO) [tickets]
20/04/18: Bryggarsalen – Stockholm (SE) [tickets]
21/04/18: Pustervik – Gothenburg (SE) [tickets]
22/04/18: Loppen – Copenhagen (DK)
23/04/18: Lido – Berlin (DE) [tickets]
24/04/18: Conne Island – Leipzig (DE) [tickets]
25/04/18: Club Manufaktur – Schorndorf (DE) [tickets]