Biography
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Years Active
2011 – present (14 years)
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Founded In
Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States
From the blistering opening salvo of "White Lightning" on their debut disc "Recognizer," The Premiums make it clear that they're here to save rock and roll. The album states the group's intentions to free rock radio from angst-ridden post-grunge doldrums.
"The two things that really bother me are that rock is no longer fun, and pop is no longer cool," states Chris Public, the lead singer. "I could draw a list a mile long of music that's both radio-friendly AND innovative," he says, clearly irked by this. Guitarist Stevie Vibrolux agrees. "You look at the greatest bands of music history, from The Beatles to The Rolling Stones, from The Ramones and Phil Spector, from Dylan to Motown; they were creating music that was both accessible and challenging."
To their credit, the album lives up to their intention to merge cool garage-friendly noise with traditional pop song craft. All over the album you can hear echoes of great artists like Elvis Costello, The Cars, rubbing elbows with Lou Reed and Tommy James. "We set out to make a classic, trashy rock album, but all this new wave kept popping up," laughs Stevie. "At certain point the music starts telling you where it's going."
Although the album has a sonic consistency, there is a breadth of material. From trashy garage rock, to dreamy new-wave soundscapes, to whiskey-soaked ballads, they cover a lot of ground in 12 songs. And quickly, too. Clocking in at 38 minutes, each song is a marvel of economy. "I looked at all the classic songs I loved, and rarely did they last longer than two-and-a-half minutes! If you can't make your point by then, go home," asserts Stevie Vibrolux. Chris nods his head in agreement. "We have one or two songs that make it over three minutes. Those are our epics."
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