Battleme

Battleme
Origin Austin, Texas U.S.
Genres Folk rock
Years active 2009–present
Labels El Camino, Trashy Moped Recordings, Get Loud
Associated acts Lions
Members Matt Drenik

Battleme is the stage name and band of Lions singer Matt Drenik, an American musician. It was started as a creative outlet to other projects Drenik was involved in during 2009.[1]

Career

Battleme first appeared in the season 2 finale of Sons of Anarchy on FX Network with the song, "Burn This Town." It was a departure from the guitar heavy band Lions that Drenik fronted.[2] These spurts of lo-fi acoustic folk produced numerous songs that began to see Drenik breaking away from the heavy psychedelic outfits he'd previously played in, one of which "No Time For Blood" was featured on NPR's KUT "Song of the Day." [3]

In the summer of 2010, Drenik relocated to Portland, Oregon to solely focus on the project. He built a studio in the basement of his house and began recording the demos of what would become Battleme’s self-titled debut full length. After tracking over 40 songs, the record was narrowed down to 10 and sent out. Thomas Turner of Ghostland Observatory responded and signed Drenik to his Trashy Moped Recordings label. The two began working on the final version of the record in the fall of 2010 with Turner producing. In conjunction to working on the full-length record, Drenik released a quieter solo EP, Big Score, on his own imprint Get Loud. The record consisted of six previously recorded concrete folk numbers.[4]

Several Battleme songs appeared in Sons of Anarchy season 3, including a cover version of Neil Young’s "Hey Hey, My My," which has received over 10 million YouTube views and an assortment of remixes by the likes of Stefan Biniak and others.[5]

On March 8, 2012, the video for Battleme single "Touch" made its premiere on MTV Buzzworthy.[6] That same year, band also appeared at Music Fest NW (Portland, OR), Capitol Hill Block Party (Seattle, WA), and Lobster Fest (LA, CA) in 2012.

Battleme's collaboration with Bob Thiele (Sons of Anarchy, Forest Rangers) on songs "Time" and "Lights" was released on November 19, 2012 on the Sons of Anarchy Volume II soundtrack via Columbia Records.

On December 6, 2012 Esquire Magazine picked the Battleme / Thiele collaboration "Lights" as one of the 10 Best Songs of the Week, stating, "Because if the Flaming Lips had written an original song for their Dark Side of the Moon live shows, this is what it might've sounded like.".[7]

In the spring of 2013, Drenik left Trashy Moped and signed to El Camino, an LA imprint headed by former EMI Publishing VP Matt Messer. He went into the studio in April to work on his 2nd full-length album with producer Doug Boehme (Girls, Guided By Voices, Tokyo Police Club).[8] The record was released to positive reviews coming from such outlets as Magnet Magazine, USA Today and American Songwriter with American Songwriter stating, "a timeless collection of rock anthems." [9] The video for the first single, Just Weight, premiered at Filter.

In the summer of 2014, Battleme opened for Veruca Salt for 10 shows on the Midwest and East Coast legs of the tour.[10]

On October 29, 2015 Billboard Magazine premiered the first track, Shake Shake, off Battleme's upcoming record "Habitual Love Songs" due January 15, 2016 via El Camino.[11] On December 19, 2015 the track was featured on Seattle's KEXP as "Song of the Day".[12]


Discography

Appearances

References

  1. ↑ "Exploding in Sound". Matt Drenik speaks with Exploding in Sound. Exploding in Sound. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  2. ↑ "Austin Sound". No Time For Blood. Austin Sound. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "Song of the Day". No Time For Blood. Exploding in Sound. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "Austin Sound". Battleme I Got Fire. Austin Sound. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Stefan Biniak - The Johnny Rotten Bootleg". Video. YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "MTV Buzzworthy". Video Premiere : Battleme 'Touch'. MTV. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Esquire". Songs of the Week. Esquire.
  8. ↑ "Stunt Company". Battleme. Stunt Company.
  9. ↑ "American Songwriter". Battleme. American Songwriter.
  10. ↑ "BATTLEME ON TOUR WITH VERUCA SALT IN JULY!". battleme.tv. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Billboard". Battleme Premieres "Shake Shake". Billboard. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Song of the Day: Battleme - Shake Shake". kexp.org. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
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