Down And Outlaws

Down and Outlaws is a killer new rock & roll band out of San Francisco. They’re also the subject of the Last Call Snapshot.... - Last Call With Carson Daly

Thirty-five years ago, Neil Young told us “rock and roll will never die.” Down & Outlaws are here to remind us how true this is. With a tight but dirty guitar-based sonic blast, the band erupted at Bottom of the Hill at the start of Memorial Day weekend. Blues undertones, gritty vocals, hard rhythms, and non-stop motion echo the early days of punk at CBGB’s, leaving shoegazing and indie trends in the dust.

Peter Danzig plays guitar, occasionally with a slide, and harmonica, and provides lead vocals with searing intensity; his brother Chris plays bass. Lead guitarist Kyle Luck and drummer Jon Carr round out the band. Everyone sings although Carr does it without a microphone, complementing Peter Danzig’s raspy voice. Nine no-frills songs comprised the set, each one played with the rustic virtuosity of musicians who know exactly what they want to play.

And these songs are not love songs. Most deal with daily life, sometimes existential daily life. Lyrically, the band reaches a high point with “I Don’t Care,” a more complex and less nihilistic view of the same subject the Ramones tackled with their song of the same name, if not all Ramones songs. The band does play at least one song about heartbreak, but singing about the devil fits the music better.

On stage, the motion never stops. Band members leap onto speaker cabinets and the bass drum, off the stage and into the crowd. Carr comes out from behind the drum kit carrying one drum up to the front edge of the stage and playing there. Luck plays guitar the way James Brown would have if he hadn’t been the singer. On his knees, bent over backwards, launching his body he, like Brown, has his fingers in a musical electrical socket. Late in the set on “Don’t Call My Name,” Luck ended up on the floor with his guitar, bent over like a manic preacher telling everyone they were on their way to the gates of hell.

Down & Outlaws will release their first album, Above Snakes, later this year. With a strong fan base in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the album should launch them onto the national scene. - SF BAM Magazine

The San Francisco based garage rock band, Down and Outlaws are the winners of 2014's The Deli Magazine San Francisco Artist of the Year Poll! Their thrilling live show, great tunes and hard work ethic has won them this acknowledgement. Lead singer and guitarist, Peter Danzig spoke to us about the highlights of Down and Outlaw's year and what they have planned for the future.... - The Deli Magazine

The members of bluesy S.F. rock outfit Down and Outlaws refuse to ignore the negative talk about the current tech boom and its effects on the local music scene. Vocalist Peter Danzig pays $400 a month to live in a closet in bandmate Kyle Luck's apartment, just so he can contribute to the dialogue.

"Rent is always going to be expensive for musicians who live in cities. That's nothing new," Danzig says. "Everybody is always going to be a product of the times. It's about figuring it out."

Down and Outlaws haven't completely figured it out, but they're adapting. The band emerged in 2012 from a scene of starry-eyed musicians at San Francisco State University. Each member moved to San Francisco for school and music — or, rather, they went to school in San Francisco so they could pursue music. "The only [acceptance letter] I cared about was the one from S.F. State, because that meant I could come to San Francisco," says Luck, who's originally from Santa Cruz. "S.F. State allowed me a reason to move out here and pursue my actual goal."

Down and Outlaws play straightforward gritty rock with a presentation devoid of theatrics. The band's sole release, the 2013 EP Backwards From the Dead, starts with the western-sounding "Burning Off," which follows in the steps of the Brian Jonestown Massacre: A harmonica melody weaves through a tambourine and kick-drum section, building to guitar leads that evoke imagery of pole dancers in a sleazy, red-lit room. Other songs, like "Took a Ride," move in the vein of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, with all the intensity you'd expect of a band trying to carve a place for itself in the S.F. music scene.

"Rock 'n' roll is not a sound. It's an attitude." Those are the opening lines of Down and Outlaws' bio — and, appropriately, a summation of each member's demeanor. In person, guitarist Luck, drummer Jon Carr, bassist Chris Danzig, and his younger brother and vocalist, Peter Danzig, speak with a nonchalance that's as blunt as their music. As for the title of this weekend's Not Dead Yet fest, Down and Outlaws mean it to be a little tongue-in-cheek. "It's just to raise an eyebrow and to get attention — because that's the point," Peter says. The bandmembers recognize that San Francisco is changing, and with that change also comes shifts in its arts culture. But with Not Dead Yet, the band hopes to shed positive light on the city's music community.

The inaugural event, presented by local music blog the Bay Bridged along with Down and Outlaws, boasts a lineup of nine Bay Area up-and-comers: Annie Girl and the Flight, an experimental indie outfit with entrancing melodies; the folk-pop five-piece Bonnie and the Bang Bang; and psych-pop rockers Cellar Doors, among others. The fest also features one special guest performing under the moniker Theee Rock Wolfz.

"These bands are the people that are here doing what they love," Carr says of the lineup. "It's not that they've been overlooked. It's that you can't get rid of the music, regardless of the change in the city. It's a battle cry."

Like Down and Outlaws, psych-pop group Down Dirty Shake moved to San Francisco for the music scene in 2010. The band members grew up together and founded the group in Merced in 2005. "This is our home, where we want to create a scene," guitarist Kyle DeMartini says. With musicians fleeting the city, he sees the market as wide open: "It's like, 'Oh shit, maybe it's our time to shine.'"

Luck explains that every band playing the festival either calls the Bay Area home or has a strong local following. Bonnie and the Bang Bang are an S.F. outfit that's taken up residency in L.A. for a few months. Strange Vine is from Fresno, but performs in S.F. so often that many think it's local. With this fest, Luck hopes that bands from other genres and communities will spin off their own festivals, building a more unified Bay Area scene.

"On the ground level, not everyone is feeling negative," Chris Danzig says. "So it's just us trying to change the way of thinking. Let's do something to show that this is our home, we're going to be here, and our scene is fucking awesome." - SF Weekly

San Francisco band Down and Outlaws have been given a big opportunity to record their debut album at Studio 606, the recording facility owned by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and captured in the documentary Sound City.

The band will be in the Los Angeles studio for nine days in December and the members are looking to the public to help defray the cost. Down and Outlaws hope to raise $4000 via Kickstarter by November 29 and are already three-quarters of the way to reaching the goal.

Incentives to donate include vinyl copies of the album, T-shirts, pins and, for high rollers, the chance to have the band make you dinner while serenading you with an acoustic performance. Your contribution will help Down and Outlaws realize a dream to create an album in the same space that legendary acts like Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and Neil Young have created classics. - NBC Bay Area

"They leave the fluff and filler at home in favor of gritty, grimy, whiskey-soaked tunes, bridging western blues vibes with classic rock and sounding exactly how an outfit called Down and Outlaws should sound." - The Bay Bridged

Ready for another kick ass San Fran band?! This is not only a band that plays rock n roll music because they absolutely love it, but they also are on a mission to strengthen SF’s music scene by uniting bands via their ‘Not Dead Yet Fest’. A band after my own heart. Badass Band 92 is Down and Outlaws.
I first heard of Down and Outlaws via another music media site, the rad folks at Blind Blind Tiger had them as a resident band a few months back and I knew I had to catch these guys live. Luckily, those same folks brought the band down to play with them, along with a couple other badass bands, at a festival-like birthday celebration for Deus Ex Machina in Venice. I knew I had to make it for their set. Clearly, since I’m writing this, I was not disappointed. Within a couple songs it was made very clear to me (and the audience) that these guys love playing rock n roll and they are damn good at it. Live they are powerfully energetic and their dirty, bluesy rock n roll will nearly literally rattle your bones... - Badass Bands Blog

"From the first track on its debut EP, Backwards from the Dead, Down and Outlaws sets the tone for refined songwriting and tight technique in a genre often plagued by showy, loose compositions. It's the unexpected touches that make Down and Outlaws' gritty, barroom blues so refreshing: soft vocal harmonies; metal-inspired guitar solos; and clean, simple drumming. Similar to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Down and Outlaws has a dark and moody edge that makes its brand of blues seem sincere, rather than cheesy." - East Bay Express

SF Sonic reviewed Down & Outlaws last year, impressed with their dirty rock’n’roll performance that delivered on the promise of the best garage bands, dripping with sweat and emotion.

Fifteen months later, the band is headlining at the Great American Music Hall, the music still drips sweat and emotion, and it’s still dirty, but from the moment the band hit the stage, Great American Music Hall filled with sound that emanates polish. It’s that sound that screams “breakout,” starting with their anthemic signature song, “I Don’t Care” and ending with a cover of Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.”

The stage shows remains dynamic in the extreme. Peter Danzig (vocals, guitar) is stuck at the mic much of the time while Chris Danzig (bass) and Kyle Luck (lead guitar) whirl around the stage, bending over, reaching up, clearly enjoying being out there. Even drummer Jon Carr gets into the act, standing up behind the kit while still banging at the skins. When Peter Danzig does get away from the mic, he’s got the fever too, leaning into the crowd late in the show and even launching into the crowd to dance.

The show celebrated the release of the band’s first full-length album “Above Snakes,” also the first recordings with Carr. SF Sonic’s review of the album (link below) used words like “meaty,” “gripping,” “refreshing,” “exuberant.” All of that comes through on stage but it’s got even more “urgency,” (another word used in the review), it’s louder, and it’s got that presence that only comes from a live show. And with songs like the aforementioned “I Don’t Care” and the bluesy standout “Backwards From the Dead,” the band made sure nobody needed Red Bull to stay up late.

And to demonstrate that even further, the crowd stuck around the Great American Music Hall after the show ended. Instead of pouring out onto the street, about half the venue stuck enjoying the long hang time of the show’s vibe. - SF Sonic

San Francisco based rock n roll band, Down and Outlaws return with their latest release, “Above Snakes,” a record that drips with intensity and grit. Recorded in a six day span at studio 606, the album has a great sense of urgency and directness throughout: arrangements are sparse and hard hitting, songs are economical and to the point. Producer John Lousteau, known for his work with both Against Me! and the Foo Fighters, gives the band just the right amount of punch without harsh distortion. The record has a certain amount of warmth to its sonic profile, transporting you into the control room as the band bashes through their material. Each of the ten tracks bristles with life and energy, as if the band’s only way of communicating with each other is through music. The majority of the songs are based around meaty blues based guitar riffing from Peter Danzig and Kyle Luck while the rhythm section of Chris Danzig and Jon Carr keep everything grounded in gripping fashion. Their sound as a whole hearkens back to ancient rock and blues artists, lacking the hip appeal of many modern rock bands. However there is something so refreshing about this approach to music, by drenching their sound in old school rock’n’roll, Down and Outlaws come off as a wild and exuberant bunch of guys.

This record kicks off with the relatively mellow Roll That Stone before launching into the driving I Don’t Care (I Don’t Care), featuring some of vocalist Peter Danzig’s rawest vocals on the record, particularly in the rollicking chorus, which features some slick guitar/vocal harmonizing. Lead guitarist Kyle Luck finishes things off with an explosive solo, providing a great counterpoint to the vocal lines. Add it all up and you have the album’s first standout track. The next few songs are all winners, with Obsession (the lead single) and Fever standing out the most. The latter features some of the best riffing on the record, with the song opening with an impressive guitar figure that simultaneously recalls both The Stooges and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fever also contains a highly danceable and grooving drum part courtesy of Jon Carr. Bassist Chris Danzig weaves in and out of the mix, driving the band from a fierce-some mid song breakdown into a captivating outro. What is most impressive upon multiple listenings is just how much these songs swing, how much these songs roll. Down and Outlaws have mastered not only the art of rocking but the art of rolling: the rhythms never feel stiff or forced, and that makes for a much better listening experience.

Special credit must also be given to vocalist Peter Danzig, who manages to combine the tunefulness of Tom Petty with the rawness and directness of Iggy Pop. Danzig really shines on the penultimate track, Gone, which features some fantastic multilayered vocal lines which perfectly blend with the raw instrumentation. Danzig manages to perfectly capture the angst of loss and the regret that comes with it, lamenting that “I don’t know where to go, everyone is gone, all moved on.” Once again Luck manages to close out the song with a super short guitar solo that leaves the listener wanting more.

The only real misfire here is the final track Every Time I Use You, a ballad which sees the band in full Bob Dylan mode, complete with strummed acoustic guitars and harmonica. While this does serve as a great contrast to the ferocious rocking of the previous nine tracks, it never really manages to catch fire in the same way the other songs do, though it does serve to wrap up the album on a melancholy and introspective note.

This album is definitely worth checking out for anyone into old school rock n roll or looking for some fun and energetic music. Down and Outlaws have put together a really solid batch of songs on this record, one that is deserving of greater attention. In a day and age where far too many bands rely on gimmicks and a hip image to sell their band, Down and Outlaws show that there is still a place for honest rock’n’roll in the modern music scene. - SF Sonic