Revered Texas rockers Riverboat Gamblers will be release a 7″ vinyl featuring two new songs last Friday with Anxious & Angry Records. Today, the band revisits their hometown on the record’s second single, “Denton,” which is available for stream everywhere.
“Our lil town that formed and fed us is a strange thing to go back to. The same but different. Intense emotions of youth float around like ghosts through old buildings and new buildings that used to be old buildings. The ghosts challenge you to process the past but you never will…. also it has groovy beat, man. The addendum to writing this melancholy hit is that we felt the town needed to be represented by a song from a band that lived there. Suck it Mountain Goats! (J/k you guys are great and wrote a good song too).“ said vocalist Mike Wiebe
The Riverboat Gamblers had the good sense to die young, they’d be legends by now. Hailing from Austin by way of Denton, the Texas five piece are almost an institution. Their fiery garage punk has spanned over two decades and has spread the world over. People from countries worldwide, aliens from universe-wide, spirit entities from dimensions unknown, would all come to whatever dirty dive club, amphitheater, or festival
The Riverboat Gamblers were playing to watch the band collectively impale themselves on the sharpened stake of Rock and Roll. Raucous and unpredictable live shows have become the stuff of legend as injury and blood took center stage, sometimes overshadowing the absolute brilliance of the songs themselves.
With full-throttle attack and an iron clad pop sensibility, the band have the rare ability to combine Cheap Trick-like hooks, gang vocals begging to be screamed, and a pathos and self-lacerating wit that is on par with any more congratulated “smart” band. But God is fickle. The Gamblers didn’t die as advertised. Everybody wanted them to be the Johnny Thunders Party Bus or whatever cliche narrative was most desired deep in the fair-weather fan’s heart.
But The Riverboat Gamblers recognize no master or silly pit boss. When they were expected to stagnate, they changed. When they were expected to change, they revisited their roots. Now they’re expected to fade away and they’re saying, “Actually, no thanks. Here’s some brand new fire for your ears.”
Riverboat Gamblers will perform a special 7″ release party show in Austin, TX at The 13 Floor on December 9 Tickets are available HERE.
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