Two Gallants
The story here starts a little further back than most. In 1914, James Joyce published a short piece of characteristically shady fiction called ‘Two Gallants’.
We can then skip forward a while, to a point in 2002 when Adam Stephens (Vocals, Guitars) and Tyson Vogel (Drums –all that’s required to tell a tale) decided the name of something with such ragged charm would fit their heartbreaking, ramshackle country punk like a glove, and took it out on the road.
People, especially the discerning music lovers of San Francisco, were evidently listening, but not as forthcoming with their cash. Deciding to slog it out without the help of an agent, website or a particularly noticeable amount of promo, they booked their own shows, sold their own home recordings, ran a self sufficient farm and made their own lumberjack shirts from scratch. True. Somewhere along the line they penned their first rough diamond of a record, the painfully brazen ‘The Throes’ enabling them to swap the back of a van for, we imagine, at least the deep vein thrombosis inducing comfort of economy class airways, if not better.
It’s here we catch up with them, at last summer’s pint sized goth commune the Reading Festival, in front of an audience not yet familiar with but completely spellbound by their long, winding, sonically abrasive and melodically beautiful stories, delicate, intricate and utterly winning. By this point, the chaps at Saddle Creek had snapped them up and wheels were in motion for ‘What the Toll Tells’, their most recent effort, one which takes the charming, rickety blueprint of ‘The Throes’ and colours in the gaps to create a fuller, even more moving piece, and the first great indie find of 2006. Search it out. Press the button, turn the lights down low, and let someone tell you a story.
TWO GALLANTS INTERVIEWED: Joshua K shuffles over to San Francisco to question singer / guitarist Adam Stephens in his natural habitat about albums, touring, and their reluctance to acknowledge the twenty first century.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: Check out a couple ‘o videos of them doing their thing and find out exactly where you can see them at it in the flesh, so to speak. Then buy a T-Shirt with their name on it. This sepia sketchbook of a site’s got it all, mate.
STREAM \'WHAT THE TOLL TELLS: ‘Hell, Rockfeedback were right, this really is great…’ you’ll say, in submission.
TWO GALLANTS ON MYSPACE: Haven’t you heard? Nobody has real friends any more. You’re only someone’s real buddy if you’re on their friends list! So, hurry here, and become one of the boys’ one thousand three hundred and one REAL CLOSE PALS and counting.
SPEND SOME TIME IN \'LAS CRUCES JAIL\': The opening juggernaut to \'What The Toll Tells\' - rockfeedback lets you \'ave it.
TWO GALLANTS ENTERTAIN READING \'05: The first moment of the festival that had us truly hooked. Gaze upon our gushing praise
\'WHAT THE TOLL TELLS\' ASSESSED \'05: A ramshackle, future classic in the making