When Donovan Quinn, the streetwise rule-breaker from the California psych-folk group Skygreen Leopards, joined the force, Ben Chasny wasn’t too sure about him. Chasny, a desk-jockey with a checkered past, was just six months away from his pension, and all he wanted to do was fly under the radar, fill out his reports, and retire down in Florida. When the chief assigned them as partners, neither of them had any idea they were about to embark on the greatest adventure of their lives, an adventure where they’d learn just as much about South American horse racing as they would about each other — and about friendship itself. Sure, there were speed bumps along the way. Chasny wasn’t too happy when he had Quinn over for dinner with the family and Quinn brought his energetic ferret friend. Quinn wasn’t pleased either when Chasny got all stodgy about the rules and refused reimbursement forms that time they got Wendy’s on the way back from New Mexico. And when the chief took their badges and guns away three-quarters of the way through the movie, the two decided that, instead of going rogue and making sure justice was served, it’d actually be a better use of time to hammer out some songs about police friendship.
What’s that? You’re wondering what police friendship songs sound like? Well, you’re in luck, because Chasny and Quinn decided to record their friendship sounds, and they’ll be out on an album from Drag City on February 18 of next year. The band is called New Bums in honor of the fact that they were recently fired from the police force and are too unmotivated to complete any programs in the workforce education program down at the local community college. The album is called Voices in a Rented Room, mostly because they’re such good friends that they now share a one-bedroom apartment. Inspired by the “Old Drunk America” (because laid-off cop buddies looooovvee the sauce), the record is going to be pretty spare, mostly consisting of Quinn and Chasny’s acoustic guitars and voices. Check out the album’s first track, “Black Bough,” below, and preorder the album here.
Voices in a Rented Room tracklisting:
01. Black Bough
02. Pigeon Town
03. Your Girlfriend Might Be a Cop
04. Sometimes You Crash
05. The Killers and Me
06. Your Bullsh*t
07. It’s the Way
08. Welcome to the Navy
09. Burned
10. Town on the Water
11. Mother’s Favorite Hated Son
12. Cool Daughter
• New Bums: http://newbums.tumblr.com
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com
More about: Donovan Quinn, New Bums, Six Organs of Admittance
