Empty Cellar Records has announced the third full-length release by San Francisco’s Cool Ghouls, ‘Animal Races’. Fans of their self-titled debut and 2014’s ‘A Swirling Fire Burning Through the Rye’ will be similarly happy to hear how this band has continued to evolve. If the first album was a celebratory debut, and the second an earnest venture into deeper waters…this third album is like the crystal born of the murky womb that was the second, fertilized by the initial intention of the first. Not only have the ghouls reaped the crop they sowed; they’ve baked it into some new kind of bread!
Cool Ghouls have shared the third track Spectator lifted from ‘Animal Races’. The album will be available on LP/CD (8/19) in the USA via Empty Cellar Records and the EU/UK via Melodic Records; and also, on cassette via Burger Records. Click here to pre-order the album on Empty Cellar Records. Take a listen via Soundcloud below.
All versions feature full-color artwork painted by Shannon Shaw (Shannon and The Clams). Distributed by Revolver/Midheaven (USA).
Cool Ghouls play rock’n’roll. That’s about all there is to it. They’re California natives. They try to do a good job. They like to try to elevate and get far out. They also like to keep it real. They like to make friends and have a good time. They don’t like bullshit. They want to keep growing and learning how to become more powerful musicians. This record reflects the discoveries they’ve made over the last five years about live performance, themselves, and each other.
The eleven tracks, recorded to tape by Kelley Stoltz in his backyard studio and mixed and mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control), are first and foremost documents of the four-piece’s live performance of the tunes. Many of the songs were road-tested, but – unlike the prior records – a few of them were not. This opened the door for some new looks: an acoustic guitar, some synth, upright piano, a little pedal steel wizardry from Tom Heyman, etc. It’s Cool Ghouls doing what they’ve always done, but in more ways and better.
Track list:
1. Animal Races
2. Sundial
3. Time Capsule
4. When You Were Gone
5. Days
6. Just Like Me
7. The Man
8. Brown Bag
9. Never You Mind
10. Material love
11. Spectator
Tour dates:
8/11 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
8/16 Los Angeles, CA – The Resident
8/17 Tucson, AZ – TBA
8/18 El Paso, TX – Monarch
8/19 Austin, TX – Barracuda
8/20 San Antonio, TX – Limelight
8/22 Denver, CO – TBA
8/23 Salt Lake City, UT – TBA
8/24 Boise, ID – The Olympic
8/25 Portland, OR – Baker Ballroom
8/26 Seattle, WA – TBA
