All The Saints - Biography
Atlanta-based All the Saints are an amalgamative blues-rock band, with heavily nuanced leanings into 1970s psych rock, grunge and full-blown metal. As a trio—featuring Matt Lambert (vocals/guitar), Titus Brown (bass/vocals) and Jim Crook (drums)—their stamp on rock music through touring and one full-length album is to be decisively loud and to carry lyrical substance through the maelstrom. All the Saints have developed a loyal fanbase by performing intense live shows.
Originally from Alabama, the band formed in 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia. After playing locally and regionally, All The Saints began working with engineer/producer Billy Bennett, who’d worked on The Whigs debut album. In 2007 the band began recording what would become their debut album, Fire on Corridor X (2008 Touch & Go) with Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective), so named because of an actual sign on I-22 on the border of Alabama and Mississippi. They spent two weeks recording at Nickel & Dime.
Fire on Corridor X was originally released on vinyl and on MP3 formats, before being released on CD in 2008. The song titles are misleading in their homage’s—“Leeds” and “Sheffield” are not titles related to England, but interstate towns in their native Alabama. The group was cut from an entirely different cloth than fellow Atlanta indie outfits Black Lips and Deerhunter, with more in common with Jane’s Addiction or Loop. In establishing themselves against the stereotypes of southern rock (rebel flags, alt-country), All The Saints unleashed a full-on blitz with the album, drawing comparisons to The Gun Club and early Smashing Pumpkins. “Leeds” was said to have been recorded in one take on a six-dollar acoustic guitar that Lambert bought. The track “Regal Regalia,” with its “all the saints” refrain, was the first song the band wrote as a band, and they “blitz synapses” on the song “Papering Fix.” Songs like “Hornett” strayed into psych-rock territory, and the end track, the folk song “Mil Mil,” is a forlorn send-off. Most of the album contains arena-sized riffage and weighy atmospherics.
In spring of 2009, All The Saints played SXSW in Austin, Texas, and were one of the buzzbands to watch.