http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBNvqIMAGE

Critters Buggin

Hello!
Things are swell here in the NW. I am painting houses with immigrants, working twelve hour days and smoking way too many reds. I thought I quit...
In May, Landon, Jack and I recorded "Bobbi Joe Riley" a play on The Who's  "Baba O'Riley". I wrote it when I was staying in New Jersey last summer and its going to be on the third record "Chief Blackhawk and the tailored red cape." We recorded it live. Let me know what you think!
Love
Adam Bolts

Hello all!
Beat Strings are not breaking up.
I am staying in Portland and writing songs. I am trying to change my voice after a AP review....

Landon is going to start singing in a band. Check out Birdsmith.
Brooks Strause and the suicide cult is everything.
I will be writing more soon. Running out of juice....
Love
Adam

Hello gangland,
Heads up!Adam Bolts is going to be in the New York area April 2nd-6th. He would appreciate food but doesn't seem to have a problem getting drinks. Respond to this and I can get the information to him.
Great review I just read on, "Fang In Rain"

Beat Strings

Fang In Rain ..

..XOXO Records..

..By Jose Fritz..
..
It’s
the worst feeling to hear a record, and to “get it” and then to lose it
and to spend a week trying to find that lost grain of sand somewhere;
in your coat, in your pants, in your bag, in your gut or your heart.
But I spent a week that way. At the bottom, I was on the corner of 33rd
street and seventh watching two under-dressed escorts enter the Hotel
Pennsylvania, freezing their fake tits off. I had The Beat Strings on
my cheap-ass RCA MP3 player and as suddenly as it had left, the feeling
returned.
It was the gratuitousness of fake tits
in the snow, of exposed thongs, pink wigs and mini skirts in the wet
and driving wind. That was them somehow. The bands they worship were
absurd manifestations of the rock ethos. They channel David Bowie and
his preening, Robert Smith’s face paint, Ram Jam playing extended
jammed out versions of “Black Betty” for no reason except they were too
stoned to play anything else. Then there’s the Jeff Buckley thing.
Never
has a band from Waterloo, Iowa sounded more like they were from
Brooklyn. They are Hidebound in that Jeff Buckley tunefulness and blue
collar glory. They riff, they maraud through songs of middle class
angst and they holler and harmonize like the king.
The
record is very well produced, not too slick but it courts danger
combining such studio competence with such an homage to cock rock. Cock
rock was, as the name suggests, equal parts rock and well… cock. It
takes no great leap to notice the androgen of glam, Ziggy Stardust,
Marc Bolan, Roxy Music, Slade etc. That whole bisexual alien motif went
a little too far. So if spelunking the modern possibilities of glam one
must take care, and not take stage wearing merkin silver shoulder pads,
a codpiece or glitter face paint.
William Tompkins described it thusly in 1953:
“In
the earliest stages of intoxication the will power is destroyed and
inhibitions and restraints are released; the moral barricades are
broken down and often debauchery and sexuality result. Where mental
instability is inherent, the behavior is generally violent.”
That
said, Buckley missed out by not getting down and dirty. The Beat
Strings sing odes to house-breaking, rehab and ex-wives. This art is
grittier, more like Canal Street than 42nd. The melodies seem familiar
because they are hidebound in all things great.
In
their lowest lows they sound like Radiohead or the Cure. “Lose a
Disguise” sounds maybe too much like the Cure. When the banjo pops up
mirroring the lead guitar melody on “In the Night” they sound like the
Beat Strings. When the Hammond organ rolls out that cycling sustain;
building tension under the choppy drum beat on “The Truth” and Adam
Bolt sings “I’m leaving my guard up, I lead with my left”… that sounds
like the Beat Strings.
In their best moments they sound only
like The Beat Strings. And that’s what we’re all looking for in the
wind, in the morning sun through the windshield. Sometimes they find
that unique voice of self that is truly great. When you do it is your
beating heart and the crashing sea in your ears.
Thanks for reading. Spring is here and the time is right for speed walking to Herbie Hancock.
Signing off,Larry Fishels

Hello.
Thanks to everybody who stuck around at the Amvets. The next local show is going to be at Spicolis in May. CORNSTOCK!!!!
"Fang In Rain" was reviewed generously earlier today...
Striking up a sort of punk agitation and the harmonic chirrup of bands like The Cure, Beat Strings glide through a stack of spacey, enjoyable songs on Fang in Rain.
Having rocked their asses off on the same stages as Cold War Kids,
The Gaslight Anthem, Modern Life is War, and House of Large Sizes, Beat
Strings have a certain rock pedigree to live up to. And they pull it
off fantastically, dripping pure sex, drugs, and rock and roll all over
each innovative pluck of guitar and each hard-hitting bass line. Adam
Bolts’ voice stretches out over the whole lot, catching the fissure
between Robert Smith’s apprehension and the assurance of David Bowie.
Fang in Rain, the Iowa band’s second record, is a gathering
of floating tunes that poke through slivers of punk, post-punk, glam,
indie, and possibly the always-elusive post-glam.
“The Truth” opens the record with a harmonious throwdown, laying out
a swift guitar romp that would be a perfect fit at a junior high prom.
One can almost picture Bolts and Co. strutting and swearing under a
showy banner and a set of scorching lights while some smartass
adolescent sneaks around to spike the punch.
It is that sort of glee and cunning that drives Fang in Rain.
The band pulls around each track with never-ending energy and ache,
allowing their true selves to blast through in a flourish of guitars,
keys, bass, drums, and vocals. Resisting movement when these cats are
doing their thing is simply futile.
Take a listen to “Mornings Were Never Good to You,” for instance.
Bolts is pure shoegaze now, grousing and bitching with agitation and
desperation. The guitar commotion and beautiful atmosphere conspire for
one hell of a beautiful pop rock song.
The glossy, noisy, fuzzy “Machines Keep the Rhythm” bangs and
crashes hard. Bolts struts, sputtering out a fist-pumping anthem and
veering up into his falsetto before plunging his voice on a roller
coaster of blistering sex appeal. It is the record’s best track, a
heaving and roasting heap of hot rock glory driven by guitar so
succulent that it all feels totally fucking wrong. Dig that fadeout.
With a big “fuck you” vibe coupled with a rumbling sensitivity,
these Beat Strings will keep you rocking with their novel sense of all
things rock and roll. Fang in Rain is a soaring record, pushing
emotional acoustic balladry (“Find a Love”) into the same simmering tub
of melodic righteousness that contains a pure glam-rock classic (“My
Medicine’).
So join the bash. “Borrow” some eyeliner from your lady, slip on
your sleeveless T-shirt, and get your ass ready for Beat Strings and
their towering, turbulent brand of rock and roll.


Rock sound issue 120 should be hitting the shelves in America next week and it includes, "In the night." on the cover cd and has a nice interview. Also check out this months Big Cheese magazine. Nice review.

New songs by Brooks Strause www.myspace.com/brooksstrause and All Rattle And Dust www.myspace.com/allrattleanddust. Check them out and keep jamming "Fang In Rain." Its doing good on the college music charts but could be doing better. Much love from the underworld.
Sincerely,
Larry Fishels.

Thanks to everybody who made it out to JD's last Saturday. It was really cold all weekend in Iowa and this late winter cold makes one crazy bad for a good time.
Everybody should check out Sudden And Subtle. They put me in a trance before All Rattle And Dust took the floor.
I had to tell John the punk that our studio still isn't done to record his music. Things take soooo much longer when your part of the working poor. Most people are I guess....either way, It will get done John.OH YES!
We played a REALLY late.
Our music made some crazy 300lb man on drugs go crazy and start fighting people.Zach Ragsdale had to go to the hospital. Glass was everywhere.
Went to Nick Beards and wrote a song called,"Brad brings drugs to the party." and the next day started a morning show called, "The Good Morning Dudes."
Single 45's are the new Jordan's
Good Times INC
Adam

Hello. My name is Larry Fishels.
Recently there has been some interesting things happening in the Beat Strings world. Adam Bolts finally has the internet. Jack Christensen has been laid off.Cody Brown moved to a different house in Waterloo. They have been recording new songs which don't fail to make you smile. All the while maintaining a mirror image of imagination. CHA! CHA! CHA Cha cah.
The gents are also featured in this months Rocksound magazine and "In The Night" is on the cover CD. Who would have thought this could happen? Not me.
No, Larry Fishels keeps the balance with the boys.
My negative outlook keeps there opportunistic asses out of institutions. Speaking of asses, Adam has a very hard time not poking fun and lying when put on the spot. He'll often weave a tail of some splendid grandeur, when all you asked was if he drinks alone. And for some reason the interviewer wanted to talk to him.WARNING.- BULLSHITER
I am also writing to inform that Beat Strings,Birdsmith, All Rattle And Dust, and Brooks Strause all have new material recorded. It is going to be posted on the internet very soon.
Take care till then....
and then...
Buy Fang In Rain
GOODNIGHT
larry

Saturday January 10th we will be hosting SEXY PARTY III at the Beat Strings house in Waterloo, IA. If you were at the first two, than you know you gotta be there. If you have never been to a Beat Strings SEXY PARTY then you need to pack a bag, put on a dress, and smell nice, cause its a classy mother fuckin time. This year it is going to be ten dollars. OH MY GOD! They can't fucking do that! Well, yes we can. This is what will persuade you to hand over your hard earned cash to us pirates. 1. You will recieve a copy of Beat Strings new album on XOXO records, "Fang In Rain" before it is released on February 10th. 2. FREE ALCOHOL! And lots I might add...to all of age of course. 3. DJ Jeff Eaton (Remember Modern Life Is War?) DJ Ben Driscoll (Remember James Dean?)and DJ Terry Stokes (Remember the year 2066?)will be kicking the jams. 4. A respectful daring time with loose cannons tightly knit by an uncommon understanding of true American freedom. The gathering starts at 9 PM and ends at 1 AM. The address is 921 W 2nd st. Waterloo, IA. See Yall Beat Strings  

Hello world,
The release date of "Fang In Rain" is going to be Feb. 10th and its going to be on XOXO and distributed by Sony so you can get your hands on it anywhere. We will be putting up new songs hopefully next week.Until then Cody had the brilliant idea of putting up our first EP for download. We pressed this ourselves and maybe sold 300 so download it for the archives!
We will be playing with our friends The Gaslight Anthem, The Old Scratch Revival Singers, River City Rebels, and a bunch more so check the shows page because its going to be updated daily. THIS ALSO MEANS WE ARE BOOKING AND TOURING AGAIN!! Hit us up if your interested!
Much Love and see yall soon!
Adam
Beat Strings

"You Shake When You Rattle,Now Roll" is a song we really like but it did not end up on "Fang In Rain." Enjoy.