“There is no peace for the wicked”–God
Defying gods and expectations in equal measure are Lexington, KY-based southern power pop-rockers Wicked Peace. In support of their latest EP, 2016’s The Edge, recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville and released by Cherrymoon Media, the band is currently embarking on a 2017 Wicked Winter Tour across Kentucky and state lines. The record is the first to pair the ferocious liveliness of their performances with a professional sound and fleshed out
Defying gods and expectations in equal measure are Lexington, KY-based southern power pop-rockers Wicked Peace. In support of their latest EP, 2016’s The Edge, recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville and released by Cherrymoon Media, the band is currently embarking on a 2017 Wicked Winter Tour across Kentucky and state lines. The record is the first to pair the ferocious liveliness of their performances with a professional sound and fleshed out instrumentation.
Combining the playful indie energy of Dr. Dog, the hooky, guitar-driven pop eclecticism of Cheap Trick, the angsty drive of Third Eye Blind, and the rootsy melodicism of Sheryl Crow, Wicked Peace draws from a range of influences as seemingly disparate as the band members themselves to create a singular sound that hints at their Appalachian roots without being beholden to them. The group is just as at home unplugged in an intimate folky setting letting their natural harmonies fly as they are in a boozy nightclub cranked to 11 letting their instruments do their persuading.
College is a natural breeding ground for many unsavory things, but for Wicked Peace, all that was spreading was creative synchronicity. In 2013, frontman Tanner Blevins and guitarist Patrick Brumback shared a Morehead State dorm room hallway and musical dreams, and their combined ambitions birthed the band in earnest. With Tanner’s older sister/songwriter Amanda and drummer Logan Fields on board, the band quickly self-released 2014’s charmingly-DIY debut Conclusions, featuring personal, scornful laments of love lost, softened only by the abundant loose, acousti-pop catchiness at play that would become their template moving forward. Cutting their teeth with their earliest live gigs, they followed this up with 2015’s self-effacingly titled Growing Pain, which found their sound and focus sharpening as their ambitions grew (sometimes faster than they could afford).
With another year of touring festivals and bars under their belts (including headlining the 2016 Kentucky Apple Festival) and the addition of bassist Jared “Da Funk” Davis to their lineup, Wicked Peace traveled down to Music City to cut the fullest realization of their musical visions yet: The Edge EP. And clocking in under 15 minutes, it serves as the perfect appetizer of what’s to come next for the band: a full-length release in 2017.
