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Jul 19, 2021 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Sean Dunn

Blunt Bangs is a new indie rock outfit out of Athens, GA, featuring names straight from the 2000s indie blog rock explosion, including Reggie Youngblood (Black Kids) Christian “Smokey” DeRoeck (Woods, Deep State, Meneguar, Little Gold), and Cash Carter (Tracy Shedd, The Cadets). Together the band explores the intersection of power pop and indie rock, pulling from ‘90s greats like Teenage Fanclub, Superchunk, and Built To Spill on their upcoming debut LP, Proper Smoker. The band have already shared “Decide,” their first single from the project, and are now back with their follow-up, “Silence Is Golden,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Silence Is Golden” is one of Smokey’s songwriting contributions to the record, written while he was a member of Woods and originally appearing in a more raw form on How to Survive In/In the Woods. The track’s latest iteration is a far more polished affair though, sanding down the original demo’s rough edges for a fantastically hooky reworking. As Blunt Bangs the band’s latent punchy melodies and pop sensibilities are brought to the fore, making for instantaneous power pop joy.

DeRoeck says of the track, “‘Silence is Golden’ is an old song that we wanted to resurrect. I wrote it in 2005 I think? It appeared as a demo on the very first Woods recording How to Survive In/In the Woods. It’s about good friends growing apart, and the ambiguity and negativity that goes along with trying to keep the friendship intact. As for the video, Reggie and I are avid tennis players and just thought it would be fun to make a tennis-themed video.”

Check out the song and video below and watch for Proper Smoker, coming September 14th via Ernest Jenning Record Co.