Friday 1 June 2007
Baton Rouge’s own original rock band with an alt-country bent.
After playing around the country in rock and experimental bands such as Becky Sharp (MCA/Way Cool Music), Girl Scout Heroin and Liquidrone, the members of The Myrtles found themselves home in Baton Rouge, LA with a renewed appreciation for the roots music that is ever present in the region. Being members of the post-punk generation, however, they can’t help but deliver the songs with tons of energy, firepower and dynamics honed in their earlier projects as well as bits of noise and electronic effects. The bands strong local following ranges from teen aged punk and emo fans to older roots music lovers and they find a similar diverse response on the road. The Myrtles have to date shared stages with a wide range of acts including Spoon, The Rev. Horton Heat, Cub Country, Pat Green, Cory Morrow, Rainer Maria, Rilo Kiley, The Radar Bros., The Bottle Rockets, The Mendoza Line, Okkervil River, The Mountain Goats, We Ragazzi, The Trouble With Sweeney and others. Debut record “Nowhere To Be Found” garnered positive reviews and college radio airplay (especially on the east coast, holding the . 1 spot at WYBC - Yale University - for a couple of weeks) as well as specialty show broadcast and internet airplay and european radio airplay. “All Your Precious Things,” a track from the record, was included on two episodes of SPIN magazine’s syndicated college radio show. With the departure of violinist Talice Lee (off to graduate school) the band has brought piano, lap steel and guitar to the fore in its newer material, some of which explores territory beyond the roots rock sound of the first disc. Compared often to roots/indie minglers Whiskeytown and My Morning Jacket, The Myrtles count as influences everyone from The Replacements and Gram Parsons to Sonic Youth.