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THE BANGKOK FIVE Press Release, February 12, 2008
THE
BANGKOK FIVE
Somewhere along the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, one remaining emergency flasher blinks out from a run-down ex-LAX airport shuttle van. The shuttle, with its transmission frozen and only allowing the bus to move in reverse, leans on the uneven shoulder of a blind curve, 5,800 feet above sea level. Its inhabitants, The Bangkok Five, now five months into a self-booked, semi-disastrous MySpace tour, sleep in makeshift beds that make Chino prison cots seem like the Four Seasons Hotel. From their one functioning
cell phone, they call 911. The Highway Patrol arrives. Instead of
trying to save the band from the imposing doom of barreling logging
trucks, they pull them out into the freezing cold and make them
unload their equipment onto the shoulder of the highway in an obvious
search for contraband. The search for “your hidden drugs,
guns, knives, speed,” as the patrolman suggests, turns up
nothing except the mantra for the bridge on “We Love What
Kills Us,” the band’s first single from their Long Live
Crime Records debut, WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US. The band gets
a ticket for the busted emergency flasher, and the cops simply leave
the band to figure out how the hell they’re gonna make it
to the shitty gig in Denver that night. But the story of The Bangkok
Five did not begin there. Equally at home playing in Silverlake, a benefit at a loft downtown, or a private affair for some organized crime figures daughter’s graduation party, the band cut its teeth in the back alleys of the Los Angeles underground. Between the junkies, dumpsters, Aston Martins, hookers, pimps, Lindsay Lohans and Latino street gangs, the band has not only seen it all, they have truly lived it all. “This record reflects the treachery, deceit, manipulation, loss of love and identity that surrounds us everyday in Los Angeles,” states bassist Coatez. The band's talent has
been recognized and awarded, not with gold-plated plastic trophies,
but with tours and opening slots from the likes of Peaches, Hot
Hot Heat, The Cult, The Stooges, The Bronx, Buckcherry, (International)
Noise Conspiracy and Papa Roach, to name a few. Regarding the creation of WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US, lead guitarist Sweeney chimes in, “These songs were written by a band on the road being a band. There is a brutality that you will hear in every guitar note, word and drum beat.” The new record marks the first time the band will release music in two languages, English and Spanish. Vocalist Frost breaks it down, “I left for Europe when I was a teenager to escape the banality of California life and the feeling that I had no future. I ended up in Spain and lived there for a few years, learning the language, the music, and the lifestyle. I started to DJ clubs and picked up a real love and deep respect for the scene. When I came back to Los Angeles, I discovered the Latino culture I loved was here all along, living, breathing and making great art. It was a natural progression to translate WE LOVE WHAT KILLS US into Spanish. This record is about L.A. and what goes on here. To ignore the Latin culture and its people would be to ignore the real Los Angeles.” The Spanish language-voiced
tracks on the new record display absolute brilliance, with a cultural
awareness of the true Los Angeles, and sheer artistic craft. WE
LOVE WHAT KILLS US fulfills the promise that the band’s
debut album WHO'S GONNA TAKE US ALIVE? (Universal 2006) merely
hinted at, with its first single “Spread Eagle” hitting
# 1 at several tastemaker indie rock radio stations across the U.S.,
allowing them to take their vision global, getting the band in front
of music fans worldwide--from the U.K. to the Netherlands. They’ve
played across Canada as well as extensive coast-to-coast tours across
the United States. www.thebangkokfive.com
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