1,2,3 Return With Their Sophomore Double Album 'Big Weather' (out 5/27)

Pittsburgh's genre-defying band 1,2,3 is back with the news of their sophomore double album Big Weather, which will be released through their newly-founded label American Hermitage on May 27th. Combining classic rock with the best elements of lo-fi soul, punk, garage and even classical music sampling, along with detailed narrative lyrics full of equal parts pain and humor, this is the first new music 1,2,3 has released since their critically-acclaimed debut album New Heaven (2011). In turn, the band is now sharing the first two singles, "Big Weather Pt. 1" which is bundled with "Leave Me In The Sky With The Lawnchair". Dubbed 'disaster ballads' by the band, they're meant to listen to back-to-back… as is Big Weather in its entirety. 1,2,3 had a turbulent few years since the release of New Heaven. Lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Nicolas Snyder quit the band at the end of 2012, burnt out after touring on the heels of their debut and writing/recording the follow-up for over a year. Several months later, after a few nights of drunken persuasion, he re-convened with the rest of the band and coaxed them back, wanting to finish what they had started. Snyder had been inspired by 70's dystopian movies, combined with a pattern of strange weather and its resulting destruction (a tornado ripped through his aunt's house in Pennsylvania… something that shouldn't happen in PA), along with the tsunami that devastated Japan two weeks later.  The band began recording storms through a screen door in the house they were renting on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, which often flooded, halting production. While recording, the band listened to nothing but local oldies radio stations. Big Weather was recorded entirely on primitive gear, using nothing but creaky old guitars, a bass, and things to bang on. Eventually some classical vinyl sampling was brought in to conjure certain feelings, and add new textures to the short stories and spoken word interludes. The lyrics had all the usual lovelorn, loneliness and death-questioning the band had previously written about, but this time it was more vivid, usually recorded during or after storms.  In the words of Snyder, "it's more interesting to be lonely in the eye of the hurricane than it is to be in a bedroom. This album is undoubtedly ridden with flaws, but so are its creators, and the circumstances under which it was created… and in that regard, this album feels very special to me." Upcoming Shows 5/30 - Pittsburgh, PA - Brillobox (Album Release Show) Big Weather Tracklisting:  1. Big Weather Pt. 1 2. Leave Me In The Sky With The Lawnchair 3. Pontoon Song 4. Waiting For The Horsemen 5. Mile High Grass 6. Bus To Babylon 7. Refusal Bop 8. Shapes of Wrath 9. Fear/Pure Elevation 10. Rebuilding 11. Stone Haus 12. Porch Swing Song 13. Big Black Car 14. Big Weather Pt. 2 15. In The House of The Locust 16. When The Levee Broke at The County Fair 17. Strawberry 18. Faith Hill 19. Where We Lived 20. Sick of the End crash-avenue.com