Webb Chapel – SPEEDING (SM032)
Strange Mono is announcing the release of Webb Chapel‘s new album SPEEDING.
Webb Chapel’s second outing with Strange Mono delivers another hefty dose of psychedelic pop songs. Primary songwriter Zack Claxton took a new approach to creating SPEEDING adding new layers of emotional urgency to Zack’s music. Comprised of new originals and original new takes on classic songs from post punk band Mary Goes Round and contemporaries Acid Freek.
Zack had this to say about the recording process “SPEEDING was made in a little studio space on germantown ave. It felt like there was a Tom Parker/Kathy Bates character who wouldn’t let me stop or leave unless another band was in there practicing. I didn’t see sunlight for what seemed like quite a while. I remember watching ‘all the king’s men’ about the Memphis mafia on YouTube and deep diving into Elvis as an entity or spirit. It seemed like he was commiserating or communicating with me on some level. Also Patti Duke interviews. By the time I was making Rosaline I was having trouble hearing notes or music, it all sounded like street noises. SPEEDING is an ode to 50’s/60’s workhorse bands with shitty contracts.”
This album features the titular cover from fellow Philly band Acid Freek. “I met Ben (drummer in Tagabow) when we were playing some shows together on a mini tour in the hudson valley. He told me about his other band Acid Freek and explained that he thought the recordings were basically unlistenable. I remember staying in a motel that night and everybody was watching Tombstone on TV and I listened to their record just by holding my phone up against my ear. I knew that it was something special pretty immediately and speeding stuck out as the flagship track as it were. For whatever reason I became kind of obsessed with it and my initial concept was to cover it 9 or 10 times in different variations but I bottomed out after 2.“
SPEEDING also features covers of three songs (Useless Day, Mary Sleeps Alone, Mary’s Garden) by the french post-punk band Mary Goes Round. “When I gave up on the idea of a full release of speeding covers, I decided to try my hand at covering other songs that I love. I was initially going to try to cover the whole album Sunset by Mary Goes Round but I gave up on that as well. I eventually decided to make the release a combination of both attempts with my own songs wedged in as some kind of fried smorgasbord.” After recording the songs Zack reached out to Jerome Avril (Mary Goes Round) to ask for permission to use the songs. “It felt like getting a blessing from the pope. They were both like ‘yeah, Awesome!’ I’m also thrilled I even got to communicate with Jerome Avril.”
All proceeds from this album are being donated to PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society).
PAWS is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving Philadelphia’s homeless and at-risk pets. Each year, PAWS finds loving homes for thousands of animals in need, and enables thousands of families to keep their cherished pets. PAWS is working to make Philadelphia a no-kill city where every savable pet is guaranteed a home.