The self-titled, debut album from New York’s King Falcon has now been officially announced as being 27th October via Mascot Records. Ahead of that, and out now, is their latest single, ‘Rabbit Gets The Gun’.
Described as “a colourful electro-pop track with driving bass and drums-dominated verses and a deliriously fun sing along chorus,” you can check out the video for it here at RAMzine.
“The song is about an inversion of power,” frontman Michael Rubin explained. “The outcasts and weirdos rising up.”
Rubin is the creative driving force behind King Falcon, but drummer and sometimes recording engineer James Terranova is essential to the band’s spirit. His fastidious, plan-ahead persona is the perfect counterpoint to Rubin’s freewheeling personality, and the pair have an old-married-couple kind of connection. “I would take a bullet for him, but I may also be that person to shoot him,” the guitarist joked. Up until now, King Falcon has been a guitar and drums duo, but with Terranova now moving over to bass, they have been joined by drummer Tom Diognardi.
In 2020, still a duo, they released the funky ‘Shake! Shake! Shake!’ as a single. However, the pandemic cleared the band’scalendar before it even got a chance to play a show. They made the most of the situation by sending the unreleased song, ‘When The Party Is Over’ out to labels. “That song represented me trying to convince my parents, and myself, that I could get somewhere playing guitar,” Rubin said. Emailed the song to Mascot Record, and the next day they were awarded with a recording contract.
‘When The Party Is Over’ is described as an “irresistible, moody mid-tempo rocker teeming with ear worm melodies”. The song explores lonely New York late-night living with gritty candour, and it comes alive via a darkly alluring video. “We got chased through the park by a crazed man with a knife while making the song’s video,” Rubin remembered.
Back in June, ‘Ready Set Go‘ came out as a single – A supercharged indie rocker with a Black Keys sense of blues-punk dirt, produced by Marshall Altman (Citizen Cope) and mixed by 12-time Grammy-nominated mixing engineer and producer Mark Needham (The Killers, Imagine Dragons), ‘Ready Set Go‘ is said to capture the frenetic urban sprawl of the band’s hometown of New York City.
“The three of us are from New York, born and raised, so we wanted to write a song that captured the speed and the electric energy that we felt while walking around the city,” commented King Falcon’s Michael Rubin. “The drums represent that excitement and anticipation as you emerge from the subway station, then the bass and guitars come in for that big reveal as you make your way outside. Are you ready for it? Well, get set and go.”
The single was released alongside a cinematic music video capturing Rubin in the streets of Manhattan, rushing to get to a show on time. “This video was actually one of the more physically demanding ones we have filmed,” Rubin added. “We basically spent an entire day sprinting around New York at full speed while carrying gear! My personal favourite part of the video is where Tom’s car won’t start. While we were shooting that scene, James accidentally broke off one of the door handles on Tom’s car so he basically had to open it with his fingernails for the rest of that scene.”
You can check out the video yourselves here at RAMzine.
Altman and Needham were also involved the band’s previous single, ‘Cadillac’ – A song described as “brimming with earworm-worthy guitar riffage, a soaring chorus, soulfully melodic lead vocals, and vibrant indie-rock atmospherics” and you can verify that for yourselves by check out the video for the song here at RAMzine.
In talking about the genesis of ‘Cadillac’, King Falcon lead vocalist and guitarist Michael Rubin said: “My best friend has had this 1957 Cadillac Eldorado parked in his garage for as long as I’ve known him. Every single time that we saw each other, I would pester him about trying to get it started so we could take it for a joyride. The car hadn’t moved in years – but it wasn’t in bad shape or anything, it had just atrophied as all mechanical things tend to do when they sit around unused and unloved”. He continued “One day I decided to take matters into my own hands. I showed up at his house with a couple of tools and a can of starter fluid and before you know it, we were cruisin’ down the boulevard in this unregistered Cadillac with 40 year old tires. Totally unsafe and illegal, but it was the single most fun I have ever had riding in a car.“That old Caddy turns way more heads than any new Lamborghini or Ferrari! The second I heard the engine roar to life I knew that this was a special moment that I wanted to write about. The song came together after about 8 days of sitting in front of my computer screen listening to the bass part on loop (much to the chagrin of my neighbours). I felt that the song had to embody the coolness of the moment but also the excitement and danger of driving around in a 5000 pound car with crappy brakes and no license plates”.
The ‘Cadillac’ video snapshots an actual Ferris Bueller-like joyride with his buddy’s red, rare bird 1957 Eldorado Cadillac. Rubin continued “I got to drive this beauty with no brakes, no plates, and a flat tire—everybody, including the cops, waved as I cruised this spaceship around the neighbourhood. It broke down twice while we were filming, and we had to push that two-and-a-half-ton beast uphill on a gravel road. I now have a chronic injury from doing that – as a reminder of an experience I will never forget. We were able to mix in some cool animation to enhance the storyline of the video, we hope everyone enjoys it!”
King Falcon has resumed its pre-pandemic plans of playing its first live shows and touring. “It took two and a half years to get here,” the guitarist noted, pausing thoughtfully, “If you asked me when I first got my guitar if we would get a label and be where we are today, I would have said, ‘Oh yeah, no problem,’ but I’ve learned the reality of it all isn’t that simple. It is amazing to be where we are today, but it was definitely a challenging journey.”
You can order the forthcoming album by clicking here.
