http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4AuYH5JZtI

Gospel Claws playing new jam, "Stars In My Heart", at Madcap Theaters in Tempe. August 22, 2009.

Absolutepunk.net is streaming our entire EP for your listening enjoyment. You need to have or set up an account with them, but it's free and they do not spam you.

Check it out and let us know what you think. The record release date is February 17th, but you can pre-order it now with some different free goodies at these fine locations:

SMARTPUNK

MERCHNOW

STINKWEEDS

Love
The Claws

Martin Cizmar of the Phoenix NewTimes had some pretty nice things to say about us when mentioning our show last night. Check it out:

Up on the Sun Blog

Well, our EP has gone out to pretty much every college radio station in the US and Canada. So, if you happen to listen to college radio in your town, call up and request some Gospel Claws.

One highlight of college radio play so far was WBER spinning us this past Tuesday on their "First Impressions" show. Check out the playlist here. Not bad company to be in.

If you work at a college radio station and have not received the CD. let us know and we'll get one out.

Love
The Claws

Thanks to College Times for spreading the word about what we are up to.

Here's a link to the article:

Gospel Claws in College Times

Love
The Claws

Hi folks,

Our debut self-titled EP is now available for pre-order on MerchNow and Smartpunk.

MerchNow pre-order comes with a special edition gold-foil sticker.

SmartPunk pre-order comes with a free button set.

For folks local to AZ we are doing a special in-store only pre-order at Stinkweeds where the first 25 pre-orders will get one of the split 7" with What Laura Says for FREE when it is released.

Love
The Claws

Our new EP art was featured today on Buzzgrinder.com. Click here for to see the post and click on the album art in the post to see front and back:

Buzzgrinder.com - Grand Design - Gospel Claws

http://www.westtimes.net/show_item.php?i temnum=662
you can read below or click link above for the official thing...
-YELLOW CLAW

Arts and Entertainment

..tr>..table>

Gospel Claws shred convention

posted date: 04/03/2008By Lauren Cusimano
Special to West Times

The deeply enjoyable Gospel Claws from Tempe has mixed its profoundly eccentric music, personality and live performances to cement the band as one of Phoenix’s best.

Gospel Claws is comprised of Haendel Balzora, Joel Marquard, Sloan Walters, Scott Hall, John Mulhern and Wesley Hillsabeck, better yet known as Orange Claw, Yellow Claw, Gold Claw, Black Claw, Red Claw and White Claw.

Each member participates in vocals, wood blocks and other various instruments as much as their assigned positions during recording and on stage. The instrumentation ranges from the traditional guitar, bass and drums to piano, recorder, tambourine, the kazoo and magic.

The band got started in August of 2007. "We were actually going to call the band August Rush," Marquard said, "but then that movie came out."

Marquard and Walters have been friends since adolescence, not to mention the fact Marquard used to be in a band with Mulhern’s brother. Hall came with Walters, Mulhern picked up a bass last August and Balzora joined Gospel Claws in January.

"We all have good chemistry ... because we all get along it kind of works," Walters said. "You can have a bunch of technical guys but if there’s no chemistry..."
The sound of Gospel Claws lies somewhere between indie, Americana and Negro-spiritual, perhaps even "Radiohead meets Pink," as Mulhern said. Maybe even Balzora’s suggested "mathcore."

"Just don’t put us in a box," Walters says, in all seriousness.

Their sound holds true to the bands they love. Their influences include The Walkmen, The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, and Arcade Fire.

Gospel Claws has just finished recording either a full length album or an EP. That decision has yet to be made.

The band chipped away at finishing the demo on its own. The only hurdle? "We’re really bad a time management," Balzora said. The recording took place in Mulhern’s home and involved some hard work, some laughs and a weekly visit from the local police.

Walters is not a fan of the recording process. "I hate recording," he said, referring to the two months spent finishing the demo. "I just think you lose it all after you do it more than once and you’re not doing it with the whole band."

Each member has other prospects of course. Mulhern will be graduating from ASU in May in computer science, Hillsabeck plays solo, acoustic shows, and Walters is the one-stop shop for conference and financial planning.

"I work a lot, so this is super fun for me to do," Walters said. "This is pretty much what I look forward to all day ... getting up, going home and playing music."

"I’m always so moved by that story," Balzora joked.

Their innovative talent effortlessly pulls off live shows. They have a knack for combining their campy persona with their apparent musical talent along with lots and lots of wood blocks.

Gospel Claws has thus far played such venues as The Trunk Space and Modified Arts. They hope to soon move the operation to the Tempe area.

What’s that on Joel? Marquard wears V-shaped palm tree bark on his person while on stage that holds little speakers. "I was driving along and an angel told me to put that on," Marqaurd said.

Gospel Claws has two upcoming shows. The first of which is on April 4 at Chyro Arts Venue in Scottsdale with Houseman’s Athletes, Lennore, Seasons in Reverse and Lestra. The second is on April 11th at The Trunk Space in Phoenix with White Coyote, Brother Nature and Marble Stress.

Gospel claws break all the conventions. Photo courtesy of Gospel Claws

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