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It’s been three years since the release of Robbers on High Street’s second LP. Now, with a new line up, some time off and a third album in the can, the band has grown into themselves - confident and unabashed in their grasp of late-60s Anglophilia a la the Pretty Things, and the brassy romp of early ‘70s AM rock. It’s a new sound for the band that, if anything, hearkens back to the rough, instantaneous pop appeal of their Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) produced 2005 debut album, Tree City. But much has changed for group the since they were traveling the country with the likes of Hot Hot Heat, Cake, Fountains of Wayne and Brendan Benson in support of that album. 

In 2006, after parting ways with their original drummer, the trio (now with bassist Morgan King) entered the studio with Italian composer/producer Daniele Luppi (Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells) to make their “L.A. record” – Grand Animals. Released the following year, and now as a quintet with drummer Mikey Post (Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, The Jay Vons) and keyboardist Dave Sherman (Grand Mal, The Silent League), the Robbers did several tours with The Redwalls, The Sea and Cake, Great Northern, and Brooklyn pals Longwave; released a video for the song “Crown Victoria”; and watched their single for “The Fatalist” end up on top-ten lists as well as in more film and television spots, including the movie Georgia Rule.

 

Returning to Brooklyn in 2008, the band took a needed breather, but new songs and rehearsals emerged following the New Year. Recording started on their third album, Hey There Golden Hair, in October of 2009 on the boys’ newly purchased Tascam MS-16 1” tape machine, which was lovingly dragged to several studios across Northwest Brooklyn before settling at Tommy Brenneck’s (Budos Band, Menahan Street Band) Dunham Studio for mixdown this past May. Produced by Trokan with engineer Matt Shane (Flight of the Conchords, Rosanne Cash) this was the current line-up’s first foray into a proper recording session, drawing little help from the outside save that of a horn section borrowed from Daptone Records.

 

Two tunes from Hey There Golden Hair, “Electric Eye” and “Face In The Fog,” were released as a limited-run 7” single through NYC indie Engine Room Recordings. Jon Pareles of the NY Times stated, “There’s a lot of the Beatles, especially their piano-pumping side, in the songs of Robbers On High Street, updated with Elvis Costello’s gruffness and a matter-of-fact desperation,” and fans of the Robber’s previous work recognized the calculated strut of “Electric Eye,” which was well received and in its first week was the #11 most added song at CMJ. The new jam quickly made the rounds online, including a giveaway on WNYC, which they called, “an aggressively catchy tune that harks back to the big, beautiful, horn-filled pop-rock of the '60s and '70s,” and a Tripwire podcast.

Always an exciting live act, coolly walking the line between syncopated bursts of song and Miller High Life, the Robbers on High Street spent parts of June and September touring in support of the “Electric Eye” 7-inch. After performing at CMJ and a select number of showcase slots around the city, the band eagerly await their multiple SXSW shows, where they were accepted early as showcasing artists.

 

As the band prepares for 2011, influential radio station KEXP has begun previewing tracks from Hey There Golden Hair and the team is coming together. Led by Matt Lee at Blaster Music and Jeff Kilgour at Tijuana Gift Shop, Jenn Lanchart is extremely excited about licensing the record at Syncalicious and Big Loud Bucks in Nashville will be administering publishing.
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Movie Placements
  • “Love Underground” in Wedding Crashers end credits and soundtrack
  • “Debonair” in Fast Food Nation
  • “Big Winter” in Just Friends
  • “The Fatalist” in Georgia Rule
  • Cover of “Season’s Greetings” in Four Christmases
Television Placements
  • “Bring on the Terror” in The Ghost Whisperer
  • “Love Underground” in The O.C.
  • “Japanese Girls” on Californication and Six Feet Under
  • “You Don’t Stand a Chance” on One Tree Hill
Television Appearances
  • Musical guests on Last Call With Carson Daly in 2004 and as the house band in 2005
  • Appeared on the show Love Monkey
Commercial Licenses
  • “Japanese Girls” was used in a Pontiac TV and radio campaign

Discography

Albums
  •  Tree City (2005, New Line Records)
  •  Grand Animals (2007, New Line Records)
Singles and EPs
  •  Love Underground (demo) b/w New Evil 7" (2003, Scratchie Records)
  •  Fine Lines EP (2004, New Line Records)
  •  The Fatalist and Friends EP (2006, New Line Records)
  •  “Season’s Greetings” (cover) (2008, Holiday Song)
  •  “Electric Eye” b/w “Face In The Fog” 7” (2010, Engine Room Recordings)
Compilations
  •  Wedding Crashers Soundtrack (2005, New Line Records) song: "Love Underground"
  •  Just Friends Soundtrack (2005, New Line Records) song: "Big Winter"
  •  Georgia Rule Soundtrack (2007, New Line Records) song: "The Fatalist"
  •  Guilt By Association, Vol. 2 compilation (2008, Engine Room Recordings) song: "Cool It Now" (cover)
  •  The Lifted Brow No.4: Fake Bookshelf book/CD (2009, The Lifted Brow) song: "The Duke's Dilemma"
  •  Buffet Libre Rewind 2 compilation (2009) song: "Shout to the Top" (cover)