Porcupine Listening Party! [Fixed Link USE THIS]

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Join us to listen to our new record Porcupine by Sean McGovern recorded at The Toy Box Studio and mixed at Relay Recording by Jon Fintel and Lij Shaw. A collective of friends make up the band: Dave Melson (bass), Mathew Korbfort (drums), Peter Brooks (guitar), Lij Shaw (bv, guitar), Andrew Royal (guitar), Jon Rich (keys), Sean McGovern (vocals), and Chris King (lyrics). Much thanks to Meghan Gohil at Hollywood Recording Studio Records and Chris Hessian assistant engineer.

Liner Notes by Chris King:
Porcupine" by Sean McGovern

"Porcupine" by Sean McGovern is a bold rejuvenation of 20th century rock & roll, from the classic rock he and his collaborators grew up on to the post-punk grunge of their own musical youth in the 1990s. McGovern leads a nervy, agile band through songs that evoke mid-period electric Dylan, vintage Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Big Star at their most cryptic and acoustic, Nirvana at their most brash and pop.

This is not to say "Porcupine" is derivative. These reference points are indications for what listeners would enjoy this music rather than blatant name-that-riff inspirations or melodic rip-offs. At the mic, McGovern embraces a wide range of moods - lusty, questioning, wounded, apprehensive, prophetic, jubilant, scared, swaggering - while remaining recognizably the same man, the same voice.

The band on "Porcupine" is a refreshing mix of older (McGovern, producer and bandleader Lij Shaw and bassist David Melson are in their mid-50s), younger (lead guitarist Peter Brooks and multi-instrumentalist Jon Richardson are in their early 30s) and even younger (drummer Matthew Korbfort is in his early 20s) musicians. This makes for a complex mix of depth and energy, urgency and perspective. It's a thinking-person's rock & roll.

Lyrically, "Porcupine" presents a man on the edge but trying to hang on and connect. The record opens with a cautionary tale about pain ("pain is a wild horse until you break it but it will try to kill if you try to break it") and ends on pure caution: "come back tomorrow - now is not good." In between, we have love and loss and not a little hilarity. "Space Aliens in Spanish" is the definitive send-up of white boys trying to pass as a little less blindingly white ("that is his dancing face - that's the best he's got") whereas "I Saw Seven" cracks wise in the face of the Apocalypse itself: the notorious horsemen report for apocalyptic duty piled on top of the same sagging nag - it's the Apocalypse as clown car.

"Porcupine" was produced at The Toy Box Studio in East Nashville, Tennessee, by Lij Shaw, who is better known to many as producer of the Recording Studio Rock Stars podcast (nearing three million downloads as of September 2023) and leader of the successful effort to decriminalize home recording studios in Nashville. He makes it rock! McGovern's lyricist (and lifelong friend from Granite City, Illinois) Chris King served as executive producer.