Product Description
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- It’s So Late 3:49 | MP3 Clip
- Halved Heart 4:07
- Lies Like Prayers 4:28 | MP3 Clip
- Drift Towards Home 3:50
- The Passion of Lovers 4:07
- This Stolen Moon 5:54 | MP3 Clip
- Away To Nothing 3:48
- Can’t Be True 6:52
- They All Denied 4:19
- Fifteen Times 4:05 | MP3 Clip
- Alate Ardor 5:58 | MP3 Clip
Doc Hammer (also known as one of the creative minds behind the Cartoon Network show The Venture Bros.) brings us his new album, Alate. It was the #1 seller in our webstore in June.
Merging Doc’s husky croon, post-punk guitars and catchy 80’s bass-lines/synths, WEEP creates a dark yet satisfyingly upbeat pop album painted by WEEP’s passion and unflinching take on contemporary music. Alate, written and produced by WEEP’s guitarist/vocalist Doc is the perfect epic follow up to WEEP’s impressive debut, Worn Thin (PRO243, 2010). Taking us on a sonic journey through thunderous drums, wailing vocals, grand ballads, raging guitars and everything in between, the album is fused together perfectly: melodic, driving and catchy. Alate teems with dark distorted anthems for the modern age. The album positions WEEP as successors to the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen and The Cure, up through guitar bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins and Placebo, then on past White Lies and Interpol… ’til eventually WEEP is compared with only one sound: WEEP.
Alate takes the listener confidently through eleven future classics. Huge guitars, huge drums, and huge choruses work to create a sound that moves the listener through WEEP’s epic creation. As timeless as it is contemporary, WEEP screams in brooding pop and alternative rock languages to create something that, in its strength, has the ability to sound fragile and even a little delicate.
As a vocalist, Hammer finds his voice on Alate. What was once a somber murmur has become a growl that confidently pilots the drama within. Doc’s voice has developed into a controlled yell that even dips into a croon when necessary. Throughout Alate his voice is assured enough to be beautiful.
DOC HAMMER – “I hate singers. They’re these overly confident douche bags for the most part. But when I look up and see a microphone in front of my face, I’m forced to face the facts: I’m that asshole now. I’m the guy I’ve always hated, so I better at least deliver. I thought about what I like in a singer and it came down to “They sound like only themselves, and aren’t afraid to show me what they feel.” So that was my job. To not crap on the songs. To be honest and brave. To throw away all that, sometimes crippling, self awareness and just feel it. To express the passion without worrying what they’re gonna say about me in homeroom tomorrow. I mean, I can’t be that confident guy that naturally bears his shallow soul as if it were as deep as the Atlantic, but I can be that guy that steps up, and gives the songs he loves (too much) some respect. So I did. It was freeing. It changed everything. It was like WEEP opened a door and walked through it.”
DOC HAMMER – “I wanted to make something that one person thinks is the greatest record of all time, while their friend is like ‘I don’t get it, it’s stupid.’ Does that make sense? When I was a kid I heard The Smiths, and my head exploded. I played it for my best friend and he didn’t like it AT ALL. That’s the kinda Truth I was shooting for. To lock into the heartbeat of that person that’s like me and give them something that they can adore. You can’t make something like that and not be constantly thinking that you may have gone a little too far. You gotta just keep going and remember that nothing smells as bad as cowardice. Look, it’s just music. One more thing to enjoy in life. If you make something that you honestly believe in, there is a chance that someone will join in and be pleased for a minute and a half. Oh! And my friend who didn’t get The Smiths? He loves them now and denies that there was a point that he didn’t. It’s so annoying.”
DOC HAMMER – “When we started on this record, I wanted every instrument, every note, every breath to have a desperation. We wanted it to be brave and just lay it all out and go ‘This is exactly what we like… I hope one of you agrees with us.’ Ya know? We wanted to make a classic, and not some smarty-pants release that critics and hipsters chew up and spit out, but a thing that delivers its milky payload for years to come. Not everyone wants a shower of WEEP’s pearly idea of drama, but for those that do, we wanted Alate to deliver. I think it does.”
From the dark, yet strangely upbeat pop sound of the opener “It’s So Late”, all the way through to the ballad-like closing track “Alate Ardor”, WEEP infuses Alate with a dramatic new energy and assertiveness.
WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
“Hammer found his voice on Alate. What was once a somber murmur has become a growl that confidently pilots the drama within.”
“The choruses explode with almost radio-ready hooks…”
“Unashamedly dramatic. In fact, I’d call ‘cinematic’ in the way it plays with the dynamics of the chorus and the use over the top orchestral elements.”
“They (Weep) have become a confident band this time around.”
“Broadening their musical palette, Alate pays off with more clarity at every listen…”
“…Confident enough to be beautiful.”
“It’s as strange as it is refreshing. I was reminded of the first time I heard Placebo or Smashing Pumpkins and thought ‘Do I even like this? Hmm. I think I do.’ Ultimately, I’m just happy that it’s not one more singer trying to be someone else. That’s a refreshing breeze when you concede that most of the vocalists in this genre are content to drone on with one robotic note so they can play Ian Curtis make-believe.”
“(Alate) brings new moods and styles to Weep’s repertoire. Some of the material has the familiar, drum-driven gallup of Worn Thin, but with this release it expands into other pastures that maybe a Mazy Star would have fed upon…”
WEEP: 6 Interpretations (Maxi-CD)
Doc Hammer’s Weep: Worn Thin (CD)
