Bio: Decadent Nation


Rising from the ashes of Columbia, Mo. alternative stalwarts Red Letter Day, drummer Tony Schulte and guitarists Keith Schulte and Tom Troesser were searching for new blood to take their already energetic sound to the next level. The trio, frequenters of local music e-community comomusic.com, placed a classified ad on the site in 2002. Former Dionysus singer Colin LaVaute quickly responded, and from their first practice, the chemistry among the group was readily apparent.


A year and a half later, after a previous bassist departed to pursue a serious romantic relationship, LaVaute suggested bringing childhood friend (and classically-trained pianist) Ryan Smith on board. “He had never played bass before, but I knew he had the capabilities of doing it,” says LaVaute. “He plays guitar too, so after a few practices he was right in there with us. He’s an amazing musician.”


The new blood inspired Decadent Nation to overhaul both their sound and song catalog. As LaVaute puts it, “We just revamped ourselves and started all over. We completely threw everything out that we had before and basically have been working to where we are now.”


New lineup solidly in place, the quintet focused on its musicianship, its visceral live shows and the eight songs that would comprise its debut release.


Recorded over a week at St. Louis’s Phat Buddha studios in September 2005, PuLsE was released that November and heralded with a packed show at Columbia’s famed Blue Note.


From the rolling thunder heralding its arrival to the scenic sprawl of closing instrumental “Tequila Kisses,” PuLsE is a pounding, meditative assessment on the state of the modern world that builds to the breaking point time and time again. The effort unabashedly wears its influence on its sleeve; echoes of Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age -- not to mention the cinematic works of the Coen Brothers and Stanley Kubrick – bleed from every furious vocal howl and thick guitar groove.


Much of the band's ethos is embodied in key track "Breaking the Vein." “It’s definitely the sickest, dirtiest song on the album.” LaVaute says of the heroin-themed epic. “I’m screaming though most of it, so a lot of people don’t hear what I say at first. Then they’ll come back and be like, ‘Wow, that song; that’s something special right there.’ ‘Break the vein just to soothe me/And fuck me like you wish you knew me’ definitely comes out of the gutter, for sure. Then ‘Roll’ is pretty much drug metaphors for sex. But at the same time, the other side of Decadent Nation is socio-political. ‘Sound the Horns’ embodies that. It’s pretty much a situational song that talks about my perspective, how I view things right now in the political realm. And Lord knows there’s just as much decadence in that realm as there is in the nightlife of anyone who listens to our album.”


LaVaute also shoulders some of the band’s visual elements; his photos grace the EP’s liner notes as well as Decadent Nation’s Web and MySpace pages. “I am very influenced in my photography by German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans,” he enthuses. “Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) changed everything for me as well. Those two instill in me the kind of feelings I want to instill in others with my work.”


In both its recorded and live incarnations, Decadent Nation’s overriding goal is clear cut: urging audiences to be comfortable with being bad. “There are so many taboos in our society about stupid bullshit like sex and drugs and stuff like that, but there’s a release in our music that we like to try to instill in others,” LaVaute explains. “Nonchalantly talking about those kinds of things -- being a part of the Decadent Nation -- just means allowing yourself not to worry about those taboos and give into the beast every once in awhile.”



Full PuLsE tour coming spring 2006…



http://www.decadentnation.com
http://www.myspace.com/decadentnation

Band contact: soundthehorns@yahoo.com
Booking: Rain Moon Productions/573.999.2080




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Upcoming Decadent Nation Shows: (next 30 days)
  Thursday, 5/22/08, 8:00 pm @ The Blue Fugue