On his new album Born Against, Amigo the Devil – the artistic moniker of Danny Kiranos -- has established himself as a multifaceted artist with a kaleidoscopic vision. The new record follows Kiranos’ beloved 2018 debut Everything Is Fine, an album that was chock full of violence, mayhem, and despair -- and one that augmented his long-gestating cult following. Kiranos’ new collection of songs reveals him to be more than a one-trick pony stylistically as he opens up the creative channels and delves deeply into thematic and musical influences as august as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and Fiona Apple. 

 

David was born in Houston, TX and grew up in a suburb called Sugarland. Although he took piano lessons as a kid, it was baseball that was his first love. He played baseball until his junior year in high school, when upon changing schools was invited by his new fellow classmates to audition for a school play.  He got the part and realized how much he enjoyed performing.  This new love of performing motivated him to pick up an acoustic guitar and begin writing songs.
 
While attending college in Dallas, he formed the David Ramirez band, an acoustic folk-pop act. After receiving local acclaim for his songwriting, he decided to move to Nashville to try his hand at becoming a professional songwriter. After about a year in Nashville, he realized the Music Row songwriting game was not his cup of tea. And after being fired from his job at a coffee shop, he packed his belongings into his Kia Rio car and hit the road. Without a booking agent or manager, he toured from city to city playing open mics, house shows and dive bars…anywhere that would pay enough money to make it to the next town. He got by on the help of strangers, new friends and local songwriters, sleeping on couches, in his car at truck stops or sometimes not at all. He was looking for something…for those experiences you cannot have in a college environment or working the same job every day. He was looking to experience life and humanity.
 
It was those experiences that inspired the songs on his first solo release, the 2007 EP, Birmingham, which included an early solo recording of the fan favorite “Fires”.
 
In 2009 he returned to Nashville to record his first full length album, American Soil.  This album and his constant touring helped build a small fanbase in most major cities throughout America. In 2011, the full band recording of “Fires” from this album was featured in the popular Grey’s Anatomy spin-off show Private Practice.
 
2011 saw the release of his second EP entitled STRANGETOWN, inspired by his experiences in his new home of Austin, TX. The song “Shoeboxes” received much critical and fan acclaim and for the first time he began to receive national press and attention. PASTE magazine tweeted after the release of the EP “David Ramirez – the best damn songwriter you don’t know yet”.  He was also asked to open a few shows for The Civil Wars during this period, which also helped raise his profile.
 
In August 2012, David released his second full length album, Apologies, which entered the Billboard Folk Charts at #4 and received rave reviews from The New York Times and PASTE. A co-headline tour with Noah Gundersen and a series of shows supporting Gregory Alan Isakov helped raise David’s touring profile during this time. He also began to sell out venues on his own in cities like Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and Nashville.
 
2013 saw the release of his third EP, The Rooster, which featured the fan favorite “The Bad Days”. Go to any shows of David’s and almost the entire crowd will sing the chorus to the song.  All releases thus far had been completely self-funded and self-released.
 
In 2015, FABLES was released. This marked the first time an album was released with a label partner, Nashville-based Thirty Tigers. And also for the first time, David had a proper budget to record an album and hire a band to tour with. The album was produced in Seattle by friend Noah Gundersen. The release gained critical acclaim from NPR, The Wall Street Journal and Stereogum. The lead single, “Harder to Lie” was a big hit on Spotify, being featured on New Music Friday and peaking at #9 US Viral Hits. It currently has almost 5 million streams and has become a favorite of fans. The FABLES Tour saw many sell out shows including for the first time, cities like Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and many more. He also sold out his very first UK show at Hoxton Square Bar in London on this album cycle, as well as receiving airplay and accolades by BBC’s Bob Harris. During this album cycle he also made his first major festival appearances at Shaky Knees in Atlanta and Free Press in Houston.
 
In the Fall of 2016, David embarked on the BOOTLEG TOUR. A solo tour of 53 cities in North America over 2 months, where…inspired by the Grateful Dead, each show was recorded in full by a sound engineer and offered as a free download link to any person who purchased a ticket to the show. “Buy a Ticket, Get a Download” was the credo of the tour. No opening act, just David playing almost 2 hours every night for 53 nights. The tour was a huge hit with fans, and one that will occur every few years moving forward.
 
The new album is David’s 4th full length, entitled We’re Not Going Anywhere and is quite the leap forward, sonically. It’s an expansive sound influenced by some of David’s favorite 80’s bands like The Cars and Journey, and lyrically reflective of the intense political landscape in America and his bi-racial viewpoints . It releases September 8, 2017 via Thirty Tigers.

Brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman and their band The Silent Comedy know trouble. Facing that trouble head on permeates their work. Rough-hewn, expansive American rock & roll with dirt under its nails and whiskey on its breath, the music of The Silent Comedy channels the iron spine of the blues, Honky-Tonk sweat, and punk swagger into a euphoric declaration that when trouble rears its worrisome head it’s time to crack knuckles, lock arms, and lift our voices high.

The brothers spent their formative years traveling the world with missionary parents before settling in California. In search of catharsis, the teens found solace in songwriting and stage lights. The young band proved capable of raucous shows and word spread. Years of touring followed, performing with Dave Matthews Band, Queens of the Stone Age, Mumford and Sons, Arctic Monkeys, and Vampire Weekend, and festival plays at Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Under The Big Sky, Summer Meltdown and more.

 

The band recorded and self-released a series of albums including Sunset Stables (LP), The Silent Comedy (EP), Common Faults (LP) and Cruelty & Clemency (EP). Studio collaborations with Kris Kristofferson and members of Dave Matthews Band followed. Still, the brothers weren’t satisfied. They needed to capture the magic of their live show. They found the answer in Grammy-nominated producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith (...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Jet, The Darkness). The resulting sessions led to a body of work that includes the EP Friends Divide and LP Enemies Multiply.

The brothers channeled a time of conflict into Enemies Multiply. Born of a rough patch in the Zimmerman’s lives, it was too personal, too raw. The project was shelved. As the United States entered a period of elevated tensions and discord in 2016, the band decided to revisit the album and release it on their own “I realized that the feeling of this type of era in history is what we wrote this music for.” Joshua recalls.

 

Near the end of recording Enemies Multiply Joshua found himself struggling with an acute mental health crisis. After a tour of Europe, the band took a hiatus. Joshua returned to visual storytelling, filming and directing content for television including material for the series Vikings and Wild Crime. Jeremiah channeled his talent for songwriting and production into scoring and sound design for television and podcasts (including breakout Stephen King project Strawberry Spring).

This time away from the band has sparked a creative renaissance. After six years spent on opposite coasts the brothers find themselves both living in Nashville, TN. Collaboration on film opened new artistic doors. “We are writing together in a different way now” explains Joshua. “The guard rails have been taken off a bit.”

As was the case with Enemies Multiply, the churn of contemporary reality has driven The Silent Comedy to action. While their lyrics are often focused on the darker side of humanity, they also bring catharsis and comfort to people who find themselves in difficult times. Heeding the call, The Silent Comedy is ready once again to bring their medicine to the masses.

 

Fittingly, the band’s first release in years is a diesel-fueled, anthemic reinterpretation of the Fleetwood Mac classic “The Chain”. Recorded at the end of the Enemies Multiply sessions, there is a raw urgency to it that is unique among their recordings; Joshua’s mental health crisis peaked during vocal tracking. “Fleetwood Mac was in a period of turmoil when they recorded the original,” explains Joshua. “this seems like a fitting tribute in a strange way.”

The road these brothers have wandered has been fraught, and not without peril. Yet, the music of The Silent Comedy has always served as a source of comfort in the face of uncertainty, chaos, and despair. “If our music continues to have that effect on anyone at all, then we will be here, making more of it” says Joshua. “Dark songs for dark days.”