Back again and better than ever, Tim Corcoran, the founding member of the duo, and Mark Obitz have a sound that is unmatched in today’s rock music industry. Together the two make up The Weadon Boys, an eclectic rock duo create music that live by mottos like “don’t be boring” and “seek the ecstatic”. Making music for over twenty years, Obitz gave Corcoran the final push he needed to begin this stellar project. The Weadon Boys have spent the last two years in studio refining their craft and writing many soon to be released hits. Genre-bending and thrilling, The Weadon Boys have a story to tell and a sound that demands to be heard.
The Weadon Boys brand new EP “Life Is War” is out now! The intro track and my personal favorite is titled “City Of Angels”. Equipped with new visuals to match the explosive sound, The Weadon Boys have kicked off the EP to a spectacular start. “City Of Angels” is a song that takes full advantage of contrast and builds up through its various sections in a manner that feels perfectly united to the sentiments in the writing. The music video features The Weadon Boys in their true element -- performing in the heart of Los Angeles, surrounded by woman. Drawing a crowd and using their musical influence to form a sense of togetherness, The Weadon Boys come in strong with “City Of Angels”. Next up is the title track “Life Is War”! While that unmistakable voice is the first thing to reach out, later on it’s undoubtedly the switch to something of a harmonically-infused, partly blues-rock explosion of energy and color. There’s as much power in the instrumentation as there is in any of the lyrics or vocal inflections.“Mad About You” is a superb song and a great place to begin if you’re new to the band’s sound. A live show is where things really come to life, the first few seconds of this recording make you crave a gig setting. As it stands though, the recording offers everything it can to the blues and rock fans out there who’ve missed the raw power and purity of the genre. “Hell Yeah” leads with a fairly familiar set-up, providing that quickly seductive musical swagger required to draw an audience from afar. You also get some genuinely inspiring, empowering songwriting. There’s an inherent air of adventure to the song, which seems to float through in contrast with the original essence of blues music, but for all of these reasons it appeals, it brings freshness, and it works.
The EP “Life Is War” transitions into the intense ballad “Faithless Days” and we’re blown away. An equally brilliant bit of writing and performance, the vocal is familiar now, there’s character to connect with, and the melody and soundscape develop slowly. “Faithless Days” is something of a slightly smoother piece of music, the lyrics and the chord progression, and the melody all lean in a softly confident, mildly melancholic but ultimately cool and calm direction. The progression is actually superb, the melody on top of this meanders in a notably satisfying way to provide a simple but supremely effective trait that gives the song an addictive quality. The Weadon Boys consistently showcase different sides to their creative approach. From softness to weight, calm to chaos, they utilize every element involved in order to craft something artistically relevant to the song’s underlying concept. In the case of “We’ll Meet Again”, this creative angle reaches perhaps its most uniquely representative yet. With or without the backstory, the song sets an appealing scene, musically and lyrically. Though with it you’re given a little more context and realness, which ultimately offers a stronger connection.
“Life Is War” is an incredible new EP from The Weadon Boys! The music is heavy and funky, vibrant and loud, and the vocal offers a similar level of madness and desperation as the words pour through. It often takes far longer than the industry standard of three to four minutes to tell a story worth telling, and to do so in a new and captivating way. The Weadon Boys don’t take rules or recommendations into account. This duo always intrigues and impresses us, but this EP is easily their most immersive and powerful yet. Absolutely worth experiencing.
Listen to “Life Is War” here, and read more with The Weadon Boys in our exclusive interview.
Welcome back to BuzzMusic Tim and Mark! Congratulations on the release of “Life Is War! How would you introduce the sound, style and intention of this release?
Thanks for the interview! It’s much appreciated. This is Tim. On this release, we wanted to showcase our versatility. So we included songs with some real variation in styles and attitudes. As ever, we wanted all the songs to be loaded with character and musicality. We hope we’ve done that here.
Your sound is brilliantly passionate yet also impressively professional and easy to get into. How long have you been making music, and how have you honed and perfected your approach over time?
Tim again. Thank you! My strategy, as a rank amateur starting out, was to surround myself with professionalism and talent! Being based in LA that’s easy to do. This city attracts artistic talent, of course, and I’ve been lucky to be able to team up with guys who’ve spent their whole lives in the business of making music. Mark has never worked a real job in his life. It’s always been music, and he has an impressively wide experience as a guitarist and producer. I’m grateful that The Weadon Boys has been able to provide him a platform to spend untold hours in the studio, with all the time and resources he needs to fulfill his genius. Sasha (keyboards), Mike (drums/mixing), Rudiger (recording engineer), Harley (bass), Trent (harmonica) and Camille (backing vocals) are extremely talented, experienced and passionate about what they do You can hear it. As for me, I spent a long time as a non-performing musician, hanging with gypsies in Spain, in the local flamenco scene there. That’s where I cut my teeth - and I think that the “brilliant passion” you hear is me translating the passionate character of gypsy flamenco, and converting it into American rock. Every song I write and sing, I consciously think of doing that.
What did you hope to achieve with the music video for "City Of Angels"?
Our main goal in the video was to have a blast. Jen Rosenstein directed that for us. When she first asked me my vision for it I said, “well to start with, let’s think about me in the middle of Hollywood Blvd on a busy Sunday afternoon standing on a stripper pole and singing as loud as I can!!” The rest just emerged from there. We wanted the city itself to be a main character - but not all the usual iconic Los Angeles stuff. We wanted to capture some of the grit of real LA.
This EP is fairly eclectic! How do you decide what to write about and in which direction to take things?
That’s an interesting question. We always start with the music, and the words come in later. And when we’re making the music, which we usually form into an acoustic guitar arrangement to begin with, we’re just looking for grooves and styles that appeal to us. We have absolutely no words, or lyrical themes, or even titles, in mind. At that point, I usually retreat for a few days and listen to the arrangement over and over and I let themusic speak to me. Piece by piece themes emerge, maybe a vignette, or a hook, or just a few cool phrases. Sometimes just a title. And from there, it’s then a question of filling it out by repeat play-along, with the words coming in bit by bit, often with substantial revisions along the way. It’s a true voyage of discovery for me as the writer, and I’m usually very surprised to find out what the music had been “speaking” to us all along.
If people only have time to listen to one song of yours, which would you recommend and why?
I’m gonna say “Hell Yeah” from the new EP because it showcases the prodigious musical talents of all our guys. Trent blows it up on theharmonica on this song - he’s got a real gift for giving heart and grit to his riffs. Sasha’s piano made the song for me - he really knows how to fit that instrument right into the groove of a rock song. Mike’s drums are always the best - there’s a reason he’s such a sought after session guy in LA. And he mixed this song too, putting together all its varied elements deliciously - it’s a classy mix. Mark, of course, is inch-perfect on guitars - beautiful orchestration. And his production vision on this was pure gold. For my part, when I first showed the guys this song, they were like, man, that’s “gutsy”, or maybe they even said “ballsy”. I have to really lay it out there in the choruses and outro to make this work best. So I put it all on the line cuz I had to. The end result is a banging rock ‘n roll song and a fair representation of what The Weadon Boys are about.
What are your thoughts on contemporary rock, specifically the rock music of 2019 so far?
Hahaha. I was trained by Spanish gypsies in the south of Spain. If anyone asked them what music they listened to, the stock answer was “I pluck my own chickens”. That basically meant that they were really about making music all day long more than listening to it. And I have to say that I carry that ethos with me even today - I’m all about writing, refining, critiquing and fixing my own music. And when I’m done, my favorite thing to do is take victory laps by listening to what I created. So I honestly have no idea what anyone else is making on the scene today. I’ll leave it to you, and the audience, to decide if we fit in or not.
Stay updated with the latest on The Weadon Boys regarding releases and shows via their Instagram!