No Age
is a two-person American indie rock group consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles and currently signed to Sub Pop records. The group takes its name from the title of a 1987 SST Records instrumental compilation, which Spunt discovered while working at Aron's, a record store in Los Angeles. [1] No Age has been listed as a mainstay of The Smell, along with HEALTH, Mika Miko, Silver Daggers, Abe Vigoda, BARR, and David Scott Stone. [2] Its strong ties with the Los Angeles underground community centered around the Smell and their DIY ethic is a throwback to the 1980s hardcore and punk underground, which is displayed through on much of the group's music. No Age has released two full-length albums, toured extensively in support of them, and is a strong advocates of the All-ages Movement Project, an organization that connects youth to each other and the arts through independent music. [3]
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History
Formation, EPs, and Weirdo Rippers
No Age formed in December 2005 out of the ashes of their previous band, the
hardcore punk group
Wives, in which Dean played
bass and Randy played
guitar. They played their first show at the New Image Art gallery for a show curated by friend and artist
Rich Jacobs on January 22, 2006.
[4] Their first proper show was at
Downtown Los Angeles venue
The Smell in April 2006 with sister band
Mika Miko. "The Smell is where we got to experiment and find what kind of band we wanted to be. It pushed the boundaries of whatever ideas we had about music—and we had a community to try out these new ideas," Randall told Drew Tewksbury in 2008.
[5] On March 6, 2006 Randy and Dean played one reunion show as their previous incarnation, Wives, for the underground film
40 Bands 80 Minutes! directed by
Sean Carnage.
[6] The band recorded 5 limited edition vinyl
singles and
EPs, and released them on 5 different
labels on the same day, March 26, 2007. The back of each record's sleeve was a different color, and had one of the letters that, when you collected all of them, would join to spell "No Age."
[7] These 5 EPs and singles were collected and released in
album form under the title
Weirdo Rippers
, on June 11, 2007 through
Fat Cat Records.
[8] [9] The cover featured the exterior of The Smell, re-done to read
No Age
and, below,
Weirdo Rippers
by Amanda Vietta, an artist and friend of No Age.
[10] This re-do can also be seen in the band's first music video for the song
Boy Void
. No Age are known for their community allegiance and playing un-traditional venues, such as their show at the
Los Angeles River (shown at left), to protest the Aqueduct.
[11] Among other places, they have also played at Food Fight, a
vegan grocery store in
Portland,
Oregon, and the
Los Angeles Central Library in downtown
Los Angeles.
[12] [13] A
New Yorker
article on the band from November 19, 2007 entitled
Let It Rip
earned them much acclaim and fans.
Sub Pop
, touring, and Nouns
Buoyed by positive reviews in the music press, No Age signed to the prominent
Seattle-based independent label
Sub Pop. The band have gotten support from many contemporary artists.
Deerhunter's Bradford Cox named No Age his favorite new band in an interview with
Pitchfork Media on February 2, 2007.
[14] Radiohead's Colin Greenwood has also shown his support, most notably when he wore their signature rainbow font t-shirt in their January 16, 2008 live online concert broadcast.
[15] On January 25, 2008, No Age began their profile building month-long, 23-date tour with
New York band
Liars.
[16] Liars and No Age also released a joint
7" single limited to 1200 copies to coincide with the tour. 200 copies of the two-song single were sold on tour, with unique cover art for each individual city designed by Brian Roettinger, and the other 1000 featured hand letterpress-printed covers with different ink and vinyl color for each one.
[17] [18] Fulfilling their tendency to play at un-traditional venues, No Age played a show at an
Ethiopian restaurant named Queen of Sheba in Philadelphia.
[19] The change of venue took place at the last minute when Liars'
Angus Andrew got sick beforehand. In April Randy Randall accompanied the
Altamont Apparel skate team to
Paris,
France to film them for a short tour film entitled "The Foreigners," with the soundtrack featuring exclusively No Age music.
[20] [21] The film is being distributed for free, at skateshops and accompanying certain Altamont products, and also features the video for
Eraser
.
[22] [23] The band has collaborated with the company before, making "No Age" t-shirts featuring the distinctive Altamont font, and the band wearing the company's clothing frequently in concert. No Age appeared on a straight-to-
VHS edition of Juan's Basement on April 22, 2008. The episode was broadcasted on Pitchfork Media's Pitchfork TV site.
[24] On May 6, 2008, No Age released their debut record for Sub Pop,
Nouns
. No Age appeared in an episode of VBS.tv "Practice Space," showing their
Bushwick,
New York practice space, which used to be a metal shop. In May 2008,
UK music magazine
Mojo
named No Age one of the top ten best new acts, beside
Bon Iver and Sub Pop labelmates
Fleet Foxes.
[25]
Nouns
Videos and High School Record
The music video for No Age's song "Eraser" debuted on June 27, 2008.
[26] It was directed by Andy Bruntel, also responsible for the videos of artists such as
Will Oldham,
St. Vincent, and
The Mountain Goats.
[27] [28] The video begins with No Age's
instrumental song "Impossible Bouquet" from
Nouns
, before it segues into "Eraser". Another video for the track "Keechie" was posted on Bruntel's website, filmed at the same location along the Los Angeles River that No Age once played at.
[29] The video ends on the same character and framing as the beginning of the "Eraser" video, making it a companion video or prequel.
[
]
The band have also published a video of their song "Impossible Bouquet" on their blog. [30] A No Age music video for the song "Goat Hurt" has appeared on the band's blog, and is included on a new DVD entitled New Video Works
released by Dean Spunt's label, Post Present Medium. [31] The song is off of the band's out of print Dead Plane
EP, but was also available through a limited edition 10" EP made available at the Fuck Yeah! festival held in L.A. on August 30, 2008. The video was directed by "sister band" Mika Miko's Jennifer Clavin. [32] The movie High School Record
, co-starring Dean Spunt, was shown for a week on Pitchfork.tv, starting on September 26, 2008. [33] The movie, directed by Ben Wolfinsohn, also features Randy Randall, members of Mika Miko, The Minutemen's Mike Watt, and music by Dean and Randy. [34]
Shred Yr. Face
, Teen Creeps
, and Losing Feeling
through current
The band supported British band Los Campesinos! on six shows in the UK in October 2008. [35] Going under the name of the 'Shred Yr. Face Tour', the band Times New Viking
also accompanied No Age and Los Campesinos!. [36] Like the No Age/Liars Tour EP that accompanied that tour, the three bands will also be releasing a joint 7" single in a limited run of a thousand copies. Released on October 13, 2008, the EP features Los Campesinos!' "Death To Los Campesinos (Death To Napoleon IIIrd remix)", "Revolving Credit For Kitty" by No Age (a version appeared in an early state of the "Sick People Are Safe" song off the EP of the same name), and Times New Viking's "Anything Could Happen". [37] [38] Some in-store performances have also been added, and Seattle artist Carlos Ruiz has designed a limited edition poster and t-shirt for the tour, available exclusively at the shows.
No Age released a single for "Teen Creeps", the third track off of Nouns
, on November 4, 2008 via Sub Pop. [39] The single's B-Side was the previously unreleased "Intimate Descriptions", and the cover a still taken from the Falls Hardly, Queen
short film that featured Dean Spunt. [40] The band had been scheduled to feature in an episode of The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
, taping their performance on October 2, 2008, with the episode scheduled to air on the 27th of the same month. [41] However, soon before they were to perform, the CBS management demanded Randy remove his Barack Obama t-shirt, citing the Equal-time rule which designates equal time for political candidates on most U.S. television and radio broadcasts. [42] After they briefly considering walking out on the show, Randy instead scrawled "Free Health Care" on the shirt and obscured Obama's image. However, the episode actually aired on October 9, 2008, for reasons unknown, with an intro from Craig Ferguson promoting the band's cause. [43] During the summer, Urban Outfitters and Toyota Yaris hosted a series of shows called Free Yr. Radio aimed to promote independent radio stations around the country. [44] Many notable indie bands were involved, No Age among them, and on January 27, 2009, a Benefit Compilation will be released for 99 cents via Insound. [45] Among the 12 tracks are an assortment of remixes, live versions, and new songs, including the previously unreleased No Age song "Padded Chair." [46] In a surprise for both the band and their fans, No Age's Nouns
, designed by the band and Brian Roettinger, was nominated for Best Recording Package Grammy. [47] [48] [49] No Age will accompany bands such as The Hold Steady and Stereolab as part of the 2009 St Jerome's Laneway Festival, which will start January 31 in Brisbane and will finish on February 8 in Sydney. [50] These dates necessitates the duo missing the Grammy's award ceremony to do the festival, however.
According to the band's official blog and later confirmed by Pitchfork Media, Spunt and Randall began work in May on an EP entitled Losing Feeling
due out on Sub Pop Records on October 6.
Discography
Studio albums
- Weirdo Rippers
CD/12" (FatCat, 2007)
- Nouns
CD/12"(Sub Pop, 2008)
EPs
- Get Hurt
12" (Upset The Rhythm, 2007)
- Dead Plane
12" (Teenage Teardrops, 2007)
- Sick People Are Safe
12" (Deleted Art, 2007)
- Losing Feeling
12" (Sub Pop, 2009)
Singles
- Youth Attack 7"
(Youth Attack, 2007)
- PPM 7"
(Post Present Medium, 2007)
- Liars + No Age
7" (Post Present Medium/Hand Held Heart, 2008)
- Eraser
(Sub Pop, 2008)
- Goat Hurt
10" (Self-Released, 2008)
- Shred Yr. Face
7" (Coalition, 2008)
- Teen Creeps 7"
(Sub Pop, 2008)
DVDs
- DVD #1
(Self Released 2006)
References
- Pitchfork Feature: Interview: No Age
- No Age: Nouns: Pitchfork Record Review
- AMP
- S/FJ: LOS ANGELES, THE SMELL AND NO AGE, OCTOBER 27-30, 2007
- Interviews No Age
- 40 BANDS/80 MINUTES!
- No Age - Singles Series « Seven Ten Twelve
- No Age: Weirdo Rippers: Pitchfork Record Review
- Amazon.com: Weirdo Rippers: No Age: Music
- Let It Rip: Musical Events: The New Yorker
- i wish god were alive to see this: When It All Comes Down, We're Gonna See A Real Masterpiece
- Ground Control - No Age - Lunarcast.009 - [Video]
- Of No Significance
- Pitchfork Feature: Guest List: Deerhunter
- Radiohead Are Weirdo Rippers - Stereogum
- Liars, No Age Announce Joint Tour Pitchfork
- Liars / No Age - Liars + No Age
- Liars / No Age : Hand Held Heart
- Of No Significance: NO Age Interview
- Altamont x No Age = The Foreigners Teaser
- NO AGE - NO MORE R&R: Links to The Foreigner reviews
- Altamont Apparel Tour Video Directed By Randy Randall
- Blog « Altamont Apparel
- Eraser
- MOJO's Mid-Term Report - News - Mojo
- No Age - "Eraser"
- Andy Bruntel / Eraser
- MTV Search
- Andy Bruntel
- NO AGE - NO MORE R&R: new video clip
- "Goat Hurt"
- NO AGE - NO MORE R&R: New Video Jerks
- No Age, Watt, Becky Stark High School Flick Hits DVD
- HIGH SCHOOL RECORD
- Los Campesinos!
- Matador Records
- Los Campesinos, No Age, Times New Viking Split Tour 7"
- latest news
- No Age Craft "Teen Creeps" Single
- Sub Pop Records : No Age : Teen Creeps
- No Age Tangle With CBS Over Obama T-Shirt
- NO AGE - NO MORE R&R: No Age vs CBS
- NO AGE - NO MORE R&R: Wow, the blog was on TV!
- FYR2008
- No Age, Walkmen, Jamie Lidell on Free Yr Radio Comp
- FYR2008
- No Age - No More R&R: Holy Crap!!!
- Grammy Nominations Surprisingly Relevant
- GRAMMY.com
- Hold Steady, Stereolab, Girl Talk, No Age Play Laneway