If you’ve been covering and following music as long as I have, the NYC-based quartet The Giraffes are a band that you’ve likely encountered in one way or another over the years — mainly for me, I had read about them repeatedly over the course of a year or two stretch in the 00s. and while I was writing for Ins&Outs Magazine, my friend and Audrey Dimola, was a huge fan of theirs and would talk about them both breathlessly and endlessly. And although the band has gone through a number of lineup changes — they’re currently comprised of Aaron Lazar (vocals), Damien Paris (guitar), Andrew Tootles (drums) and newest member, Josh Taggart (bass) — there’s one thing that they’ve consistently been known for brutally intense shows since their formation back in 1996. And as a result they’ve toured with the likes of Local H, Eagles of Death Metal, Vacation, and Skeleton Key have opened for Interpol, Fishbone, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes, and have made appearances at Amsterjam, Voodoofest, Monolith, SXSW and Bonnaroo Festivals, which have all expanded their profile to the point that by 2010 the band received national attention.
Last year, saw a number of reunion shows in Brooklyn and Denver featuring the band’s best known lead vocalist, Lazar, who had left the band in 2011 — and bolstered by the support of fans across the country, the members of the band began writing new material, which would eventually comprise their sixth and forthcoming full-length effort, Usury slated for an October 2 digital release and physical release in January 29, 2016.
Usury‘s first single “Product Placement Song” is a bluesy, swaggering bit of stoner rock-leaning power chord rock comprised of scuzzy guitar chords, Lazar singing ironic, highly tongue-in-cheek lyrics that offer a withering critique on consumerism and capitalism to craft a song that equally channels Queens of the Stone Age, as much as it does Motorhead. And holy shit, does it kick ass with a forceful and primal abandoned.
Catch the band live in October. Check out some live show dates below.
