Blood on the Wall - FatCat Records

Blood On The Wall

Hailing from Brooklyn, NYC, Blood On The Wall is a three-piece indie rock outfit comprising brother and sister, Brad and Courtney Shanks, and drummer Miggy Littleton. BOTW first got started in 2000 when Courtney (bass, vocals) met Miggy (drums) on the way home from shopping for records with friends. As they got off their stop on the train, she noticed a man selling records on the corner. That man was Miggy, who ran the infamous Big Deal Records out of his own house. The pair struck up a conversation about music and rapidly became best friends and bandmates. Shortly after, Courtney's brother Brad Shanks (guitar, vocals) graduated from college in Lawrence, Kansas, moved into his sister's apartment in Williamsburg, NY, and was enrolled as the third band member.

Miggy has been in a lot of bands - from the hardcore outfit The Shit to Ida and most recently the NYC band, White Magic. Brad was in a two-piece drunk band called Bandit Teeth, whilst Courtney plays music with solo death blues man T.K. Webb in Laughing Waters. When BOTW come together to play, they do it just to get together and have some fun. They smile a lot when someone says they enjoy them and they feel like they are in the practice space when they are on stage. Their songs reflect that comfort you find with your best friends. They can be shaky and frantic or heartfelt and warm.

Initially slow-moving, the band first existed as a place for the three of them to get together and play music. In 2000, they played a total of just three shows. By 2001, they decided they should record their songs just to have them on tape. They spent one night in the Hall of Fame practice space on Orchard Street in Manhattan recording on an eight-track that only had five channels operating with Nicolas Vernhes (who has produced David Grubbs, Silver Jews, Animal Collective, Black Dice, and The Fiery Furnaces) and Dan Brown. Two songs came to the surface and were self-released as a 7" on the Big Deal / Rejoice label.

Vernhes has remained as the BOTW producer, and in 2004, a self-titled debut album was released on the NYC label, The Social Registry (home of Gang Gang Dance, Samara Lubelski, Jah Division). The same label released a second album, 'Awesomer' in late 2005 with minimal distribution outside of the USA. On hearing it we were totally blown away, but not being able to find a copy in shops, decided to get in touch with the band and try and put it out on FatCat. 'Awesomer' was released in the UK and Europe by FatCat in September 2006, and subsequently, the band released their most recent album, 'Liferz', on the Social Registry label in January 2008.