Long-distance relationships — not to mention incestuous ones — generally are a bad idea. But somehow the rules don’t apply for Able Baker Fox, the latest indie rock offering from guitarist Nathan Ellis of The Casket Lottery and three key members of Small Brown Bike.
Those members — drummer Jeff Gensterblum and brothers Mike Reed (guitar) and Ben Reed (bass) — have been trading MP3s with Ellis, who resides in Missouri, since June of 2006. Despite being scattered throughout the midwest and east coast, Able Baker Fox eventually arranged practices in Chicago.
Though the group’s forthcoming release on Second Nature Recordings, titled Voices, doesn’t yet have a release date, two of its tunes can be heard on the Able Baker Fox MySpace page. As one can imagine, the songs aren’t far removed from the sounds of The Casket Lottery or Small Brown Bike, and Ellis and the Reeds all make vocal contributions.
Ellis also moonlights as the bassist for hardcore math monsters Coalesce, who added a blistering new track, “Son of Son of Man,” to their own MySpace page this week. The tune is the first on Salt and Passage, Coalesce‘s upcoming seven-inch that will soon be available on a short tour with Rhode Island hardcore outfit Daughters. Both bands hit the road from August 15-25, although Daughters then traverse Europe in September and October.
Small Brown Bike will soon reunite for a set of benefit shows that ALARM wrote about last month. Able Baker Fox has no shows scheduled at this time.