(antiMusic) Back in 2006 our very own Travis Becker wrote of the Bangkok Five's debut album, "These Hollywood gutter Garage punks kick the door in and ransack the place. Keeping the energy and not worrying about the cooler-than-thou posturing, the band fuses style and substance in a rollicking major-label debut. Forget trends or style, whether they have any or not, The Bangkok Five rock in that most satisfying of ways, completely." Well, they're back to rock us completely again! The Bangkok Five returns with their sophomore album, WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US, due out May 13 on Long Live Crime Records (distributed by MRI/ Red). WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US is the follow-up to the band's 2006 debut, WHO'S GONNA TAKE US ALIVE? (Universal). The first single from that album, "Spread Eagle," hit # 1 on several tastemaker indie rock radio stations across the country, leading to tours of Europe, Canada and the U.S. with bands such as Hot Hot Heat, The Cult, The Stooges, The Bronx, Buckcherry, (International) Noise Conspiracy and Papa Roach.
Produced by the band along with Manny Nieto (The Mars Volta, The Circle Jerks, The Breeders), WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US was recorded live to tape at Wetandry Studios in Echo Park, California. Manny also engineered and recorded the album. "When you record to tape, you have to play everything perfectly," says frontman Frost. "It keeps the music really honest. We rehearsed until we felt we would go insane. In the world of Pro Tools, you can fix little things like a missing kick drum, or a bad note. The world of tape does not forgive anything, so you have to play it right or do it again. We used all of our own gear to keep it sounding like we do when we perform live. It's great because you can hear buzzing all over the tracks. There's no sterility here. This is warm and fuzzy analog music."
For Frost, The Bangkok Five is the only way he knows how to live, complete with all the ups and downs: "I am homeless and broke because of this thing I have to do called music. My father sent me to a shrink a couple of years ago to find out what was 'wrong with me.' After an hour, the psychologist concluded that I had 'John the Baptist Syndrome.' I will do this or I will go crazy, or kill myself. I consider myself afflicted. I owe the government thousands of dollars. I don't have a driver's license because it's been revoked. I don't have medical insurance. I have warrants out for my arrest. I don't care...I am a punk in the true sense of the word. The music I make has destroyed my life."
