FIREBALL is out on Sunnyside Records!

In the fall of 2019, Double-Wide went into the studio to record our 4^th album.  I had been writing music for podcasts, and I was reflecting on how to use the studio as a place of discovery, rather than as just a place to hurriedly document a preconceived vision.  

Part of the joy of this band for me has always been the seemingly infinite color palette.  These instruments in combination, particularly in the hands of these extraordinary musicians, have endless potential for storytelling.  They can be raucous and bombastic, they can whisper and growl, or they can be simple and earthy, conjuring memories of the hymns in the country churches I was in as a child.  On the backs of these instruments, we can go on wild carnival rides: frantic, humorous, jarring.  We can be recklessly dissonant or fearlessly consonant and everything in between.  

And so we went into Andy Taub’s studio in Brooklyn for several days that September, and we explored together: keyboards, mutes, woodwinds, whistling.  We worked together to craft each song, like collaborative sculptors carving away the excess, allowing the ideal form of each song to emerge. 

When I was a kid we used to get fireball candies out of the vending machine of the gas station: sweet, spicy, a little too large, a little painful to try and crunch with your teeth.  They were irresistible, but there was a bit of pain in their sweetness.  They burned and consoled simultaneously.  Eating one was a delicious rite of passage.  I hope this album brings you the same fire and comfort.

Featuring:

John Ellis – tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet

Alan Ferber – trombone

Gary Versace – upright piano, organ, accordion, fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer

Matt Perrine – sousaphone

Jason Marsalis – drums, whistling

Rogerio Boccato – percussion (track 04 only)

Buy it here: https://sunnysiderecords.bandcamp.com/album/fireball