“I prefer to listen to music on a turntable because it sounds better to me, but my affinity for analog runs deeper. Vinyl takes effort. Some of my most cherished records came from checking one more bin at a record shop. I’ll never forget when I scored a copy of Elton John’s 11-17-70 (great record) in Missoula, Montana. I couldn’t tell you where or when I downloaded any song on my phone.”
I also prefer to record analog for reasons beyond its sonic qualities. The entire process feels a lot more handmade. When we got done with our first day of tracking our producer didn’t hit ‘save,’ he took the tapes off the reels. There was a chance that our tapes didn’t make it in the mail to Detroit to get mastered.
‘Bily Goat’ is a pretty stupid name for a song. Ironically, it came from a typo while saving a demo I recorded when I first wrote it. I was really into billy goats at the time and shorted one ‘l’ and that was that….’Bily Goat’ was born. It was the first of a few songs on Drugs To Roses that we recorded in one take, and it all started with my two favorite words, ‘roll tape.'”
—Joe Bockheim
Garage rock juggernaut The Legal Immigrants continue long tradition of Detroit’s analog blues revival.
We have the pleasure of premiering the quartet’s single “Bily Goat” which showcases their knack for distorted powerhouse riffs, sprinkled with sentimental “puppy love” lyrics. While this combo may sound odd on paper, it clearly separates them from the more derivative bands working under the garage rock banner.
Attracted to the sound that analog recording could provide, the band recorded entirely to tape, which given the cost and time constraints, forced them to be very exacting in their performance. The resulting album, Drugs to Roses, is as cool and confident as the work of their predecessors—The White Stripes, Wolfmother, The Black Keys—while remaining completely authentic to their love of ’70s rock.
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PHOTO: ANTHONY NORKUS
