In 1999 Stiv
Cantarelli and his band Satellite Inn signed their first record deal
with MoodFood Records of Cary, North Carolina. Funnily enough, they’d been
asked to replaced Ryan Adams’ Whiskeytown who were moving to Outpost Records
and already bound for glory. After months of hard Stateside graft, MoodFood got
the roots rock classic Cold Morning Songs out of the deal; Stiv gained
firm friends in Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine, who wound up backing
him on his 2011 solo album Innerstate (released on RF’s El Cortez
label), mixing the raw edges of punk rock with border stories that could have
come from both sides of the Atlantic.
“Plenty of
promises here, not least the lowdown delights of The Rookie” – Uncut Magazine
“It’s a
gentle gem of an album with songs built to last” – R2 Magazine
“Excellent stuff” – ElectricGhost
If Innerstate was
the soulful chronicle of a roadtrip, then Black Music/White Music may be considered a change of pace
that was much needed, mainly by Stiv himself. Uncertain about what to do, he
decided to wipe the slate clean and start over. To allow a real change Stiv
needed his family's help. He returned to the days of Satellite Inn. Together
with his pals Antonio Perugini and Fabrizio Gramellini, they became Stiv Cantarelli and the Silent Strangers.
An abandoned church in their homeland
in the middle of Tuscany’s Romagna hills provided the perfect scenery for a
series of recordings. The raw energy of those sessions and the stripped-to-the
bone music that came out from them, blended with large doses of swamp blues and
massive injections of never hidden post-punk roots (recently rediscovered on
dates with Bob Mould) became the mainline. Even Stiv's often obscure lyrics
became deeper, and darker, to give birth to what was in the plot from the very
beginning. A change.
In order to get the complete picture, enter Petrushka
Morsink (Willard Grant Conspiracy, Transmissionary Six, Cords). Stiv's longtime
friend and collaborator took the master to her own Studio Metro in Enschede,
Holland, to enlighten the songs with razorblade guitar riffs, outerspace sounds
and melancholic backing vocals. She crafted Black Music/White Music by creating a unique spectrum of
sounds that very much explains the working title and tells a lot about what Stiv Cantarelli and the Silent Strangers’
music was made with.
Black Music / White Music is released on Stovepony Records on Monday 18 February when Stiv and the band will be touring the UK...
Tues 19 Feb Buffalo
Bar, Cardiff
Wed 20 Feb The
Greystones, Sheffield
Thur 21 Feb The Birkbeck Tavern, London E11
Fri 22 Feb The
Betsey Trotwood, London EC1 (with LOWLANDS)
Sat 23 Feb The
Railway Hotel, Southend
Sun 24 Feb The
Apple Tree, London WC1 (with LOWLANDS)
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