Four Stroke Baron have signed to legendary metal label Prosthetic Records, and today reveal a video for Planet Silver Screen – the first cut and title track from their forthcoming album, due 9th November.
Guitarist and vocalist Kirk Witt states, ‘We wanted to come out of the gate with as much energy as possible, and we think Planet Silver Screen does exactly that. It showcases all of our strengths–the heavier side, the catchy side, and the technical side. We like to make something abstract that you can still sing along to – there’s a lot of joy in pushing the edge of what someone is used to hearing, and this song does an awesome job of seeming familiar while also doing something entirely different’
Teaming up with animator Thomas Yagodinski, who landed under the band’s radar following his animation for Mastodon’s Bedazzled Fingernails, the band perform as alien caricatures. ‘Unfortunately none of us in the band are visual artists, so our stomachs dropped at the prospect of what we’d do for a music video’, explains Kirk, ‘I had seen a fan-made stop motion video that Thomas had made for Mastodon years ago, so we decided to shoot him an email with links to our music. As luck would have it, Thomas ended up being a big fan of our tunes. We gave him a rundown of the story behind the song, and he instantly came back with a super creative idea to have us playing as a bar band on a cyber-alien planet. He’s a true creative that absorbs himself in his work, and it absolutely shows. We couldn’t be happier working with him, and his creative ethos really matches our own–he’s just a fan of the art and story’
It’s apt that Four Stroke Baron hail from Reno in Nevada. Otherwise known as ‘the biggest little city in the world”, the trio embody this paradox referring to themselves as “the band that 7 billion people don’t know about”, however their sound is by no means humble. It’s colossal and multi-dimensional – progressive and blisteringly technical, abrasively heavy and beautifully melodic.
We’re in a data driven age of the music industry. Record labels factor statistics, streams, likes, followers, views into potential new signings, and risks aren’t often taken. Here is where Four Stroke Baron go against the norm, landing a record deal with the hallowed metal label Prosthetic with no social media presence, four live shows to their name and their debut album King Radio uploaded to bandcamp for free listening. Bassist Keegan Ferrari explains, “We cannot fully express the level of excitement we feel to have been signed to Prosthetic! Each one of us in FSB have had a favorite band or album come from their ranks — to be included amongst such a prolific roster is surreal’.
With such a wealth of motivation fueling the band, Four Stroke Baron set out to produce their biggest and most ambitious record yet for their label debut. Recorded over the majority of 2017, Planet Silver Screen is an amalgamation of all the band has come to represent musically thus far, while also pushing themselves into previously uncharted sonic territories. From having their hardest-hitting riffs to date, featuring a guest saxophone solo by blackjazz rebel Jørgen Munkeby of Shining, to commissioning a full-blown stop motion animation music video for their debut single, Four Stroke Baron have truly arrived in full force and will make even the most diehard muso take note. Kirk states, ‘Our goal was to simply make this an explosive laser beam of rhythm and melody, and that’s exactly what you get’
Four Stroke Baron are set to make one hell of a mark in the world of heavy music. Watch this space for further news.