Name: Justin Fallen
From: Austin, TX
Genre: Indie Country Soul, Rock and Roll
Contact: webpage / bandcamp / facebook / CD Baby

MUSIC

PRESS PHOTO (credit: Ashleigh Pedersen)

PRESS PHOTOS (credit: Dustin Eastes)

COVER ARTWORK

TRACK LISTING
The Rock & Roll Kids EP:
01 Rock & Roll Kids
02 Jukebox in Heaven
03 Dancehall (Rhythm of a Saturday Night)
04 Love Junkie

BIO
“I’ve written a lot of songs sitting beneath an image of Townes Van Zandt,” says Austin, TX singer-songwriter Justin Fallen. “I’ve been drawn to the poetic, storytelling tradition of Texas songwriting since I started writing songs.” Originally from Virginia, he learned to write songs in a little apartment in South Austin, primarily on a 1967 Epiphone Texan or a Mexican Fender Stratocaster given to him by a friend who was leaving town. His songs, largely influenced by the sounds of Austin, are a blend of the roots and lyrical folk that have a rich tradition in the city: the country music at the White Horse, the rock and roll scene at the Hotel Vegas, the soulful songs at the Continental. Fallen brought in musicians that would become “the Angels”, well-versed in more indie pop worlds—Voxtrot, Belaire, Phil Ajjarapu, Blue Healer, Sons of Fathers. “Together, I think we capture a kind of Austin sound without fitting into an exact genre.”

Fallen and his most recent project, Justin Fallen & The Angels, put out an album in 2013, The Country Hero, about which KUTX said “the scenery; the long, long roads; the sunsets; creeks and rivers; the myths and legends; all the wayward souls, aimless and self-destructive. He can shape those images into song with his trusty 1967 Epiphone Texan…and put it all together into a country-rock soul-shaker.”

Fallen has played shows with Shakey Graves, Danny Malone, Omar and the Howlers, The Lonesome Heroes and Ramsay Midwood, and his band became the first Artist of the Month at Spiderhouse Ballroom. Now they’re preparing to release a new EP this fall, The Rock & Roll Kids. Says Fallen, “I had a fantastic band playing really well together, so we recorded it mostly live to catch some of that looseness in the feel.” Matt Simon recorded, engineered, produced and mixed at Eastern Sun Studios, which has since closed – this project was actually the last tracking done at the studio – and Nick Landis mastered at Terra Nova.

The Rock & Roll Kids EP is influenced by older luminaries like George Jones, Lou Reed and Fleetwood Mac, with more contemporary vibes brought to the project by The Angels. Fallen was also interested in capturing some of the sexy, darker pop undertones of music by artists like Lana del Rey, with the healthy groove found in the music of artists like Hiss Golden Messenger or Iron and Wine. “I have one of the better rhythm sections in town on here, and it’s important to me that you can dance to all of the songs, or at least that it gets your body moving a little,” says Fallen. “It’s one of my favorite things in the world to play on a stage for a room full of dancers—something great about Austin is you can two-step any night of the week.”

Beyond Austin, one more geographical region finds its way into Fallen’s songwriting. “I’m fascinated by our cultural mythology around the California dream—we’ve got a sort of cultural ethos around Hollywood and chasing dreams and it’s kind of a transcendent ideal.” The songs on the EP were originally conceived of as a larger story, based around the exploration of competing desires for success and romance and spiritual pursuit. Fallen enjoys creating a scene with the music as an emotional backdrop to let the story come alive for the listener as a core transcendent feeling. “It’s Justin Fallen and the Angels for a reason,” he says. “There’s always a bit of darkness in my songs: that struggle within human drives but that lifting up of transcendence that happens in pursuing dreams.” In the hero’s journey, the hero falls and is lifted up by guides or mentors. That’s Justin Fallen and the Angels.

PRESS

His mind’s eye takes it all in – the scenery; the long, long roads; the sunsets; creeks and rivers; the myths and legends; all the wayward souls, aimless and self-destructive. He can shape those images into song with his trusty 1967 Epiphone Texan, or his Stratocaster, and put it all together into a country-rock soul-shaker like The Country Hero. He fell in love with Austin, and he wears those feelings on his figurative sleeve. – KUTX Music Minute

I guess that’s what you get when you cross the manners of a Virginian, with the country swag of a Texan, and you strap him with a 1967 Epiphone Texan – Live at KUTX

West Texas, heroes & outlaws, bourbon, creek beds & rivers, cross-country hitchin, the sun in your eyes & the windows down, heat-stroke gospel prayers for rain on the radio, rolling thunder in the summer and songs that strike your heart clean open like lightning, keys & drums & guitars that leave the stage smoking, that sweet strike zone where country music meets rhythm & soul and sounds like rock & roll with harmonies overlapping like a venn diagram of everything you ever wanted to dance to. – Starsong

A Texas songwriter by way of Virginia, Justin Fallen blends a modern troubadour’s poetic sensibility with song structures that are simultaneously simple and intricate. Along with drummer/producer Matt Simon (Voxtrot, Belaire), Bassist Phil Ajjarapu (J.C. and Co., the Black), Bryan Mammel (Sons of Fathers) on keys and Richard Kentopp (Belaire, Books Died On), the band paints a dynamic, country and indie rock influenced landscape that can range from intimate and emotive to high energy chorus driven sing-alongs. Expect a big sound, hook driven narratives, swelling crescendos and the Texas Two-step. Justin’s album, the Country Hero, was released at the end of 2013. – Matt Simon, Eastern Sun Studios

TOUR DATES
8/13/15: Portland, OR – Mother Foucault’s
8/14/15: Nehalem, OR – Electric Fences
8/16/15: Seaview, WA – Sou’Wester
8/17/15: Portland, OR – Galen House
8/18/15: Olympia, WA – Le Voyeur
8/19/15: Anacortes, WA – TBA
8/20/15: Whidbey Island
8/21/15: Port Townsend, WA – Up Town Pub