American Bang

by Mark DemingPlaying raucous, strutting hard rock with a classic sense of style and a contemporary sweat and swagger, American Bang are a four-piece band from Nashville who prove there's still room for rock in the world's capital of country music. American Bang were formed in mid-2005 by members of two busted Nashville rock acts; lead guitarist Ben Brown and drummer Neil Mason had worked with Llama, who released an album for MCA in 2001 that largely fell on deaf ears, while lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jaren Johnston played drums with the Kicks, who released an album for TVT in 2004 before splitting up. Johnston has been writing songs after the collapse of the Kicks, and invited longtime friends Brown and Mason to help him put them into shape; teaming up with bassist Kelby Ray, the four friends began playing Nashville rock clubs as Bang Bang Bang, and were packing 300-capacity venues within months of their debut. By the end of 2005, Bang Bang Bang had self-released their debut album, I Shot the King, and within a year they were sharing stages with acts as diverse as O.A.R., Shooter Jennings, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In 2006, Bang Bang Bang signed a recording deal with Warner Bros. Records, and they began work on their first album for the label in the summer of 2007; however, before the project was completed, the group learned that another band was already recording under the name Bang Bang Bang, and in August 2007 they announced they would now be known as American Bang. The group's first Warner Bros. release, an EP called Move to the Music, was scheduled for release in October 2007, with a full-length album following in early 2008.