60s infused garage rock ‘n’ roll band Velvet Starlings announce the forthcoming release of their debut album, Technicolour Shakedown on August 27 via Sound x 3 Records/AWAL/The Orchard. That same day sees the vinyl release by Kitten Robot in the US. 

Hailing from Los Angeles and the beach cities of Southern California, the band was founded by guitarist and organ player Christian Gisborne.  And while known for his concert attendance record and impressive Lego collection, it is his musical prowess as a performer, writer, recording artist and producer that is putting him on the map. Gisborne not only tracked all of the instruments, but also engineered, mixed and produced the LP.  

The the band has shares the first single off the album, “Back of The Train.” Gisborne told another outlet, “The song is about struggling as a musician while taking nothing for granted. ‘Back Of The Train’ centers around a sneaky low note 60’s guitar riff and drums so over-compressed it would make The Sonics cringe. I think it’s awful in the best way possible.” He further describes it as the story of “paying dues and making sacrifices, while making sure to enjoy the ride along the way.”  The video for the single was directed by Megan Blanchard. 

After winning the “Emerging Stage” competition at Milwaukee’s Summerfest 2019, Velvet Starlings was invited to return to perform on September 17 on a main stage at this year’s festival, which also features the Black Pumas, the Struts, Pixies and Cold War Kids.

Technicolour Shakedown is the follow up to 2019’s EP Love Everything, Love Everyone.  Christian – who turned 18 in May – released his debut self-titled EP Velvet Starlings when he was 15.  Both EP’s charted in the top 5 at Specialty Radio and hit #1 on KROQ’s “Locals Only.”  Gisborne also caught the attention of, among others, BBC Radio, Shepard Fairey, and The Kinks’ Dave Davies who all count themselves as fans of Velvet Starlings.  

Gisborne wrote, produced, engineered and mixed Technicolour Shakedown himself – in the middle of his living room.  While it reflects influences that range from early Jack White, to Thee Oh Sees to Arctic Monkeys, the album showcases Velvet Starlings own take on neo-60’s-garage – best described as beach-fuzz-psych with a big cheeky nod to the UK Invasion. 

Speaking about the album Gisborne says “in the doom and gloom of Covid I found myself reminiscing all the time about the days when we would wait in line for hours to see our favorite bands.  The songs on the first album reflect everything I felt I was missing out on.”    

With a bevvy of new songs written and ready to unleash, Gisborne was craving the comradery of a band.  He turned to brothers Foster and Hudson Poling who play drums and bass respectively. They first met in line outside of a 2019 Cage The Elephant show and, discovering a shared love of The Who and SpongeBob, quickly found themselves making a plan to meet up at a rehearsal space to jam.  Gisborne had previously used session musicians to augment his live set but as his friendship with the Polings grew, so did his realization that they were the perfect fit for this new era of Velvet Starlings.