With the imminent release of Kal Marks’ upcoming fifth album, Wasteland Baby, the band are excited to share the album’s culminating third single and title track. The resonant heart of the record. While the band have alluded to classic rock influence in the past, “Wasteland Baby” sounds something like Springsteen for the end times. It’s as important a piece of the album’s compositional make-up as it is a narrative conclusion, finding a semblance of happiness in a crumbling world.
“Wasteland Baby is an apocalyptic love song, and really it’s an ode to my wife. She and our family make this often miserable world worth living in and I’m so lucky to have that. This is my favorite Kal Marks song and it’s definitely the most proud I’ve ever been about a set of lyrics. I was very influenced by the morose and beautiful songwriting of Stephen Merritt (Magnetic Fields) and that helped guide me to find a way of saying what I wanted to: It get’s really ugly out there, but love makes it worth it. This is the closer of the record. For me, It’s the payoff and the whole record builds up to the song.” -Carl Shane
“I usually start by letting the music inform the visuals. Wasteland Baby is already a visual song, so the imagery came naturally. The song’s pacing felt like a heist film with a firework finale, a last desperate attempt in a dead world. To me, this is a very sincere song, it’s talking about love and it’s talking about it honestly. I wanted to make sure the video was as simple as that. I used 3D models in Blender to create the video, as the program is great for sci-fi world-building and the ability to achieve that creative scale. This was my first attempt at this method of animation.” -Austin Morris (video director)
Wasteland Baby is out Sept. 13th on Exploding In Sound – Fall tour dates announced below!
Tour Dates
09/06 – Providence, RI @ Riot At The Red Door Fest
09/12 – New Haven, CT @ Witch Bitch Thrift
09/13 – Portsmouth, NH @ WSCA Radio
09/14 – Salem, MA @ Moon Over Salem Fest
09/24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Cousin Dannys *
09/25 – Richmond, VA @ Banditos *
09/26 – Raleigh, NC @ Neptunes *
09/27 – Baltimore, MD @ Holy Frijoles *
09/28 – Queens, NY @ Trans-Pecos *
10/10 – Ithaca, NY @ Forest City
10/11 – Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
10/12 – Kent, OH @ Zephyr Pub
10/13 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village w/ Cusp, Babe Report
10/14 – Iowa City, IA @ Helter Skelter Skatepark
10/15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer’s
10/16 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge ^
10/17 – Kansas City, MO @ Farewell ^
10/18 – St. Louis, MO @ Sinkhole ^
10/19 – Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr ^
10/21 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Brass Rail
10/22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto Project
10/23 – Washington, DC @ Pieshop
11/15 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery w/ Paper Lady
11/16 – Medford, MA @ Deep Cuts w/ Paper Lady
*w/ Shutups
^ w/ Nightosphere
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