The Pretty Black Chains

Last September, during the kind of drenching rainstorm that signals the end of summer, I was invited to a small practice space below Warpaint Clothing Company in the Plaza District to witness the “Awakening” of The Pretty Black Chains. The group had just completed its first album, “Ceremonies,” but it was clear from the sentiment and the sound coming from the band that evening that “Ceremonies” was a memorial service for the group that The Pretty Black Chains were just a few months before, and the band was now prepared to become something else and something greater.

I first met Kellen McGugan, Derek Knowlton, Jonathan Chuck Martin and Kurt Freudenberger two years ago when they first appeared on “Static,” and I quickly got used to the idea that the band is constantly five moves ahead of what they might be playing in public, continually absorbing new sounds, pushing forward like a long-distance runner who puts in 30 miles so he will be so much better when he has to run just 26.2. I loved the music on “Ceremonies,” particularly “19 6-4” and “Ambulance,” because they arrived so fully formed in their Britpop-inspired perfection and because they inspired such frenzy at PBC shows. I also knew that the band could not possibly play those songs forever; that stylistic parameters were for other, lesser groups.

Knowlton, in particular, was ready for something greater. Always a riffmaster at heart, the guitarist had spent the last several months studying Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and that constant rush of words from his mouth (anyone who spends time around The Pretty Black Chains is familiar with this phenomenon) was evidence of his enthusiasm. The proof came when the band’s expansive new approach reverberated through that small space. They were ready for that upcoming opening slot with The Smashing Pumpkins. They were ready for a whole lot more.

This brings me to “Awakening,” The Pretty Black Chains’ new album. The difference is like comparing the Yardbirds’ 1967 album with Page, “Little Games,” to what would appear two years later on the first Led Zeppelin album. Muscular riffology is matched by expert songcraft on “Lovers,” “Wicked Ways” and the epic “Color of a Tomb”; McGugan continues to amaze with the breadth of his vocals, and Martin and Freudenberger back it all up with power and grace. It is clear that in a relatively short time, The Pretty Black Chains achieved the kind of evolution it takes other bands years to accomplish, if the sound they hear in their heads is ever truly translated by their hands and their voices.

I am so proud of this band, and I am honored that they thanked me in the liner notes. And chances are, as improbable as it sounds, they are already five moves ahead of “Awakening.”

- The Oklahoman

Under any other circumstances, the announcement of this weekend's Three Days Grace concert at Brady Theater would have likely elicited a response of "OK. That's nice, I guess ..." When two additional factors played into the mix, however, the event moved from an afterthought to a highlight of the week, if not the month -- at least in my mind.

First, the show was announced as KMYZ-FM Z104.5 The Edge's Birthday party/concert. Second, the inclusion of Oklahoma City's Pretty Black Chains made the show far more intriguing. The marriage of local radio and local band (well, close enough for me) promised to make this more than just another showcase for another pair of active rock radio bands that are oversaturating airwaves and the market.

"This is something the station used to do in the '90s and got away from," said KMYZ-FM's promotions director Ryan Giles. "This is The Edge's 16th birthday and we wanted to do something special, so we brought it back because it's an important part of the station's history -- a lot like we did with The Homegroan CD the past couple of years."

Although DCF Concerts initially booked the event, the timing and lineup played perfectly into the station's birthday format, making the presenting sponsorship an easy fit. Featured guest My Darkest Days is the current "hot band" in alternative and active rock radio, working the concert circuit heavily on the back of its hit single "Porn Star Dancing" and growing airplay for current release, "Move Your Body."

Headliner Three Days Grace has been a radio staple for years, beginning with the station's near immediate support of debut single "(I Hate) Everything About You" and consistent airplay over the course of the band's career. This isn't the first time The Edge has worked exclusively with the band, however.

The first partnership between the two dates back to the summer of 2004, when Three Days Grace played a private lunchtime show for a limited number of Edge listeners at Yellow Dog studios, prior to its first gig at Cain's Ballroom. The band has obviously grown, now headlining theaters and being hailed by a number of people as one of the highlights of last year's Rocklahoma festival. Playing the birthday show only makes it all come full circle.

The real x-factor and reason I'll be attending, however, is Pretty Black Chains. Guitarist Derek Knowlton and bassist Jonathan Martin have worked together for years and had a degree of success with their previous band, The Stock Market Crash. Shortly after that group disbanded, Knowlton and Martin dove headlong into Pretty Black Chains and found a near perfect chemistry with drummer Kurt Freudenberger and vocalist Kellen McGugan.

Instead of playing to retro new wave and indie movements, the band settled in and found its rock 'n' roll soul. When I first saw the band open for Smashing Pumpkins at Cain's Ballroom last fall, Knowlton handed me a copy of the band's debut CD, Ceremonies, which was about to be released the following week. He quickly capped it, however, with a three-song demo disc and told me "We didn't play any of the songs on that CD tonight -- we've already moved past it. These are the tunes you need to hear."

Ceremonies was far from weak, but the disc was no indicator of what was about to come. The band was more raw and emotional than Stock Market Crash, but still walking out the forest, if you will. The guitars and production were still a touch jangly and reminiscent of bands like The Alarm and Dandy Warhols while hinting at the classic rock influences that were truly boiling underneath.

Just a few weeks ago, however, Knowlton sent me an advance of Awakening, the just-finished disc that the band recorded in Norman's Bell Lab Studios with Jared Evans and Chad Copelin.
On this latest disc, the band has truly found its muse and capitalized on it. A celebration of classic rock 'n' roll, Knowlton has come to grips with his true influences and embraced them instead of working against them.

Led Zeppelin is the obvious keystone, but listen closely and there's more to it. Elements of The Who and The Doors as well as contemporaries like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Queens of the Stone Age and even Rage Against The Machine ass intermingle into an explosive, groove-oriented sound. The Cult jumps forward as well, based largely on McGugan's vocal style, but a closer listen reveal flourishes of David Bowie, Robert Plant and Jim Morrison as well.

In other words, classic rock is back, but with Pretty Black Chains it doesn't sound dated or like a cheap imitation. Instead, it's a logical progression into modern rock. Knowlton's inspiration manifests itself in the groove and he consciously writes the melodies in counterpoint, to keep things from getting to busy or cluttered. Listen once to the opening track and try not to be enveloped in the fuzzed-out groove and immediately singing back "Let me breathe, Let me in!" It just won't happen.

The band's excitement about the new album is tangible. Each musician bounces with nervous energy and Knowlton gets a wild sparkle in his eye. These guys know they've got something special on their hands and they're absolutely right.

Live, the songs are just as impressive, emitting an energy that both the band and audience feed off of. When opening for Fiawna Forte at Crystal Pistol earlier in the year, the Pretty Black Chains was springing with energy. On a larger stage, like the showcase at SXSW or opening for 311 at the Diamond Ballroom, that energy is only magnified as additional shows with this material have only added to the band's swagger.

If you've yet to experience Pretty Black Chains, make sure to show up early for the show at Brady Theater this Friday night, April 1. Three Days grace may have a track record playing larger shows and theaters, but I'll guarantee that Pretty Black Chains will come out with guns blazing and guitars blaring, with all intentions of stealing the show. - Urban Tulsa Weekly

It's been a long few years for the guys in The Pretty Black Chains. After The Stock Market Crash broke up (TSMC is still emblazoned on at least one guitar case that I noticed), the guys formed TPBC. After finding some success with their new band, they decided to drastically retool their sound from pop-rock oriented tunes to Led Zep-era hard rock. They finally make it down to Austin to spread their new sound on the world, and their van breaks down. In Texas.

But if all this chaos had them down, they didn't show it. Their riff-heavy, old-school hard rock set had people excited. Lead singer Kellen McGugan was enthusiastic as always, stalking around the stage before breaking into wild dance moves. The only time he shared vocal duties was when Jabee came to the stage, making his second cameo appearance in the day. The rapper threw down an electrifying rap on top of the rock'n'roll, and people responded to his cry of "Put your hands up!" The atmosphere was triumphant.

From the vocal heroics to the guitar heroics, The Pretty Black Chains threw it down. - Oklahoma Gazette

Next up was the explosion of the night. Pretty Black Chains' new CD is finished and it's an explosion of hard rock with swagger and groove: Led Zeppelin, Cult, Who, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Queens of the Stone Age all slammed together into a beautiful storm. The band had the room packed shoulder to shoulder and front to back with a line to get in and people on the street were still buzzing about the Oklahoma City group outside at 2am as everything concluded. - Urban Tulsa Weekly

It's a scorching September day. The Cain's Ballroom is a historic music venue seen through quavering heat waves bouncing off the baking asphalt. At 4 PM a line has already formed outside of the Cain's. My press pass lets me slip ahead, break the ranks, and enter hallowed rock ground.Before I pass through the black doors of the Cain's, I ask the fans who they have lined up to see. A joyous chorus of surprisingly young voices gives me their answer, "The Pumpkins!!!"As I enter the Cain's, Billy Corgan, the only remaining member of the original Pumpkins' line up, is poised to take the stage for warm up. I steal a moment to watch Corgan strap on his guitar before I move on to my business. I'm not here to interview him. Instead, I have traveled a couple of hundred miles to embed with the band who the fans are not lining up to see.... yet.The Pretty Black Chains.For a band who's career only spans two years, The Pretty Black Chains confidently overtake any stage, at any venue. Derek Knowlton, lead guitar and vocals, Kellen McGugan, lead vocals and guitar, Jonathan Chuck Martin, bass and vocals, and Kurt Freudenberger, drums, furiously attack their music with the possessed fervor of seasoned rock gods.Band founder, Derek Knowlton, is no stranger to the fickle bedfellow rock and roll can be. The past decade of his life has been spent nurturing his music career. After investing five years into his previous band, his only reward was a front row seat in watching the project crumbled to ash. But Knowlton became reborn from those ashes and The Pretty Black Chains is the phoenix rising out of the flames.Perhaps this is why The Chains have the swagger of a band who's been together for decades. Knowlton doesn't see the Cain's show as a Oklahoma City band opening for The Smashing Pumpkins. Knowlton sees tonight as a chance for a sold out crowd to discover his band, their sound, and to become life long converts.As Billy Corgan's discerning voice reverberates throughout the ballroom, The Pretty Black Chains have tucked themselves against a side wall, coolly and collectively, watching one of rock's most recognizable  figures begin to sing.Drummer Freudenberger sits behind his kit adjusting a cymbal. Lead singer Kellen McGugan is running through cords on his guitar. Knowlton rests easy next his girlfriend, and Jonathan Chuck Martin is hanging back on the bleachers. To an outside observer, The Pretty Black Chains appear unaffected by The Pumpkins presence.Unfortunately, The Pretty Black Chains are about to become the most affected band by The Pumpkins. Corgan's practice runs longer than planned and the Chains are bumped from having rehearsal on the stage. There will be no warm up before the Chains groundbreaking show.Knowlton takes the news in stride. "Doesn't matter. We will still own this room." You can't help but smile at Knowlton's attitude, especially since the quality of his band can back up his mouth.PBC has undergone a transformation from my last encounter with them at SXSW. In March of this year, they stormed the stage for the Oklahoma Film and Music showcase. The PBC's were more british pop meets american mainstream rock then the heavy, complexly composed, guitar chord driven band who awaits to take the stage.At SXSW, PBC's sound was massive enough to bring in the casual passerby. "Their sound is just explosive," said Julie Porter, Deputy Director of Oklahoma Film and Music."We sound nothing like what you heard at SXSW," said Knowlton. "We changed everything. We might as well have changed our name."Knowlton was right. The Chains have grown into serious musicians. They have found their niche, their voice. As the sound of Knowlton and McGugan's guitars rip into the darkness of the Cain's, it is so powerful the faces of the fans (here for the Pumpkins) grip the barricade as their mouths open in an awe inspiring scream of acceptance.The Chains waste no time sweet talking the crowd. One song after another is hammered out of their instruments. The Chains are here to take no prisoners. They want every person inside the venue to leave with with one question on their tongue: who was that and how can I get more.Knowlton's strategy works. After twelve songs, the crowd who came for the Pumpkins is enthralled by The Pretty Black Chains. Their fists pump in the air as their mouths fail to contain their excitement.After the Pumpkins set, a throng of new fans seek out the band at their merch table. Autographs are signed, cd's are purchased, and the fans all sing the same statement. "You guys are amazing! I can't believe you are from Oklahoma."The reason for the disbelief is because The Pretty Black Chains have the quintessential it factor. The it that separates the gaggle of garage bands and hordes of underground rockers on myspace from the band's who go on to become The Rolling Stones of their generation.A decade from now, The Pretty Black Chains at the Cain's will be the concert 2,000 people reflect on and say, "I saw them when no one else knew who they were."As the Chains travel back to Oklahoma City they return to their daily lives. Lives which revolve around creating music as unique as their beliefs.Knowlton owns War Paint Clothing. Warpaint Clothing or Warpaintstore.com and Martin, McGugan, and Freudenberger share a united idealism. Not for love of money, nor love of fame, but for love of art, life, and music. Each works their day jobs, but nothing gets in the way of band practice, which is held in the basement of War Paint.Knowlton, "We write songs. That is what we do. That is what we want. And it feels so fucking good to be standing there playing a song you surprise yourself with." - Rockville Music Magazine

Pretty Black Chains stage their opening ‘Ceremonies’

For most bands, underground rock is just an expression, a vague term for music that is not being played on the radio. But underground rock is truly happening in a basement below Warpaint Clothing Co. in Oklahoma City’s Plaza District. The ceilings will just barely allow 6-foot-tall singer-guitarist Kellen McGugan of the Pretty Black Chains to sing without ducking or suffering a major cranial abrasion.

The idea of band practice might sound to wage earners like teenage kicks, but anyone who has read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” knows how greatness is achieved. While it’s unlikely that McGugan, lead guitarist Derek Knowlton, bassist Jonathan Chuck Martin and drummer Kurt Freudenberger have hit that magic 10,000-hour mark Gladwell wrote about as the benchmark needed for true greatness, it’s not for lack of trying. The Pretty Black Chains are racking up the hours in that subterranean space, and it’s all about work ethic.

“If you’re sitting around drinking at Electro Lounge, that’s time you could have spent writing a song,” Knowlton said.

In less than two years, the Pretty Black Chains have channeled that determination into becoming one of the most popular live bands in the area. The combustible energy of the group on stage, coupled with an early sound steeped in Brit-pop, made the Pretty Black Chains stand out in the scene. Now the group is ready for its close-up: the PBCs will open for The Smashing Pumpkins on Sept. 24 at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom, and will host a CD release party for its debut album, “Ceremonies,” the following night at the Conservatory, 8911 N Western.

The irony is that the band has worked so hard, progressing and refining its songs that “Ceremonies” feels like a time capsule, a vestige of what where the band stood creatively in 2009. In the basement at Warpaint, a clothing company that Knowlton and business partner Travis Pickett opened earlier this year, a DVD of Jimi Hendrix performing with the Band of Gypsys plays silently in the corner, and the sound coming out of the Pretty Black Chains’ amps is harder, less poppy, and far more influenced by Hendrix, late-model Beatles and Led Zeppelin. “Ceremonies” now sounds like the innocent beginning chapter to a story that has become deeper and more resonant as the pages turn.

“It just feels good to progress,” Knowlton said. “I mean, all that stuff has its place, but it was a stepping stone to where we needed to go, just like this stuff will be a stepping stone to where we go next.”

“For the CD release show, we’ll probably play only three or four songs from ‘Ceremonies,’” said McGugan. “We quit trying to write specific (types of) songs.”

So while the Pretty Black Chains built up a lot of love from audiences thanks to songs such as “Ambulance” and “1964,” the hours of woodshopping resulted in a band staking out new territory, and is ready to record a new album in January 2011.

“The stuff we were doing before was immature, poppy, kind of bratty — ‘We wanna break sh — ,’” Knowlton said. “It really is a weird transition, because we have the album out, but realistically, that album should have come out five months ago.

“It’s a lot more mature, a lot more musical,” Knowlton said of the Pretty Black Chains’ new songs. “I really just fell in love with the classics again, like Led Zeppelin. When you’re a musician, you really have to choose what you’re stamp is going to be.” - The Oklahoman

You might have noticed a new Oklahoma band popping up on concert bills across the state. With a name that basically screams rock ‘n’ roll, The Pretty Black Chains has quietly — scratch that — loudly been stealing the thunder of nearly all the alternative rock bands on the Oklahoma music scene.

Bristling with rebellion and a signature punk rock attitude, PBC has been cutting loose and showing Okies what music is all about.

Rising from the ashes of the now-defunct The Stock Market Crash, with additions from The Boom Bang and Third Grade Scuffle, The Pretty Black Chains already has risen toward the top of the Oklahoma music food chain.

And for good reason. The band crafts simple garage rock that is nearly impossible not to hum along to.

If early demos like “Ambulance” and “King Faker” are any indication, it is only going to get more outrageously catchy.

Think of it as sort of ’70s garage rock revival with a modern twist. Its music brings to mind the melodies of Locksley, the spirit of The Horrors, the grit of Sonic Youth and the energy of The Hives.

The Pretty Black Chains’ music is wild, rebellious and most of all, fun.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect to the band is that all of this translates live. In fact, it is probably where it shines the most. PBC is quickly becoming the most notorious live band in Oklahoma — a goal of the band from the start.

Lead singer Kellen McGugan announced an energetic show as a sort of mission statement.

“We have all been to far too many shows where artists get up on stage and try to be artists,” McGugan said. “It’s boring. We play rock ’n’ roll for people who like to have a great time. When we’re on stage, it’s the most fun we all have collectively, and we like to give that back to our crowd.”

There seems to be a growing market for fun, balls-out garage rock, and The Pretty Black Chains seems to have a corner on it.

If you want to witness PBC’s meteoric rise for yourself, you can catch them Thursday at the Conservatory in Oklahoma City or July 24 at DFest in Tulsa. - The OU Daily

Oklahoma still hearts the 90s, as evidenced by the sold-out Smashing Pumpkins show Friday night at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa.

The Chicago-based act rose to the ranks of Nirvana and Soundgarden in the early part of the decade on the heels of a barrage of smash singles, huge tours and critically acclaimed albums.

The later part of the decade began a downward spiral that ended with the band breaking up in 2000. Smashing Pumpkins resurrected with half the original lineup in 2006 for a single album (“Zeitgeist”) and transformed into its current lineup — with Billy Corgan standing as the only original member — in 2009.

Smashing Pumpkins is currently in the midst of releasing the 44-track “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” — a series of EPs that will eventually culminate into a physical, box set release. However, the quartet opted to do a set that spanned the full breadth of the band’s tumultuous career on Friday night and shed any doubt that it won’t continue strongly for another 20-years.

The evening launched off with Los Angeles upstart Cherri Bomb, an all-girl group with a median age hovering around 13 that pumped up the crowd with surprisingly competent hard rock tunes and the sort of energy you would expect from a group of teenage girls.

Next up was OKC’s own The Pretty Black Chains, who nearly stole the show with an explosive 45-minute set of new material that felt all-too suited to the historic Tulsa venue. The four piece played with the swagger you would expect from a band who played sold-out shows nightly, even though this was the band’s first time to play for a crowd this large. Lead singer Kellen McGugan’s vicious howls finally had the space they deserve, while Derek Knowlton’s nasty guitar licks and Kurt Freudenberger’s hammering percussion meshed into a sound that felt arena-ready. And the crowd ate it up.

Of course the group of the hour was the Pumpkins, and it hardly disappointed.

The band played a decidedly heavy set, favoring the hardest songs in its repertoire and bringing a rougher edge to its more delicate material.

The band dipped into its earliest and newest material equally, beginning with the Zeppelin flavored “A Song for a Son” and finishing its opening set with the cherished 1995 single “Tonight, Tonight.”

The crowd roared with each opening chord of hits like “Today,” “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “Cherub Rock,” but were equally excited for newer singles like “Tarantula” and the band’s latest, “Spangled.”

The crowd was forgiving of a few key missing entries (“Disarm,” “Zero” and “1979”), and enamored with the slurry of hard rock riffs it was continually being bombarded with. The tunes came fast and hard, annihilating the crowd of generally thirty and fortysomethings who were pining for the glory days of good tunes and good times.

Corgan is one of those fortysomethings — now at 43-years-old — but showed only the slightest wear-and-tear of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. His voice is no longer as effortlessly high and eerie as it once had been but still plays the crowd like a rock star.

But the two-hour set was something that all generations could, and did, enjoy. The first half of the show was no nonsense, a relentless flurry of gothic alt-rock, but a bout of crowd surfing — taking place after a mind-blowing 10-minute drum solo by 20-year-old drummer Mike Byrne — did get Corgan to stop and chat with the crowd. For nearly 15-minutes, Corgan talked about the honor of playing at Cain’s, his admiration of Bob Wills, the meaning of “Mayonnaise” (jerking off, he joked) and, of course, his aversion to crowd surfing.

“What a new idea,” Corgan said. “That’s such a f*cking nineties thing to do.”

So very appropriate. - The OU Daily

He went from a crowd of 1,600 to an audience of two in a matter of hours.
OSU alumnus and musician Kellen McGugan sat quietly in the passenger seat of his roommate's dusty white Pontiac Grand Am Saturday. The two left Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa for home in Oklahoma City.
McGugan is the frontman of the Oklahoma City-based band The Pretty Black Chains. Hours earlier, the rock quartet opened for The Smashing Pumpkins on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd.
McGugan's music career rang at high note.
It would be cliché to say he was on top of the world, but the song pulsing through the speakers suggested otherwise.
Lyrics to the Nas song "The World is Yours" belched through the stereo and bass rattled seatbelts while McGugan lifted his skinny, 6-foot-tall frame and pushed his hands through the moon roof.
The rush of wind made the car sound like a rollercoaster.
"I sip the Dom P, watchin' ‘Gandhi' til I'm charged/Then writin' in my book of rhymes, all the words pass the margin/To hold the mic I'm throbbin', " Nas rapped.
The music and the drive home to Oklahoma City was a quiet celebration for McGugan. His band performs in Stillwater 10 p.m. Friday inside of a garage at 4820 S. Country Club Road.
Show business
About a month ago, tickets went on sale for The Smashing Pumpkins show at Cain's Ballroom.
It sold out in less than a day.
Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan chose one local band to open.
His selection was The Chains, so bandmates Derek Knowlton, Kurt Freudenberger, Jonathan Martin and McGugan performed in front of 1,641 people.
"I think everything I've done was a stepping stone to get there," McGugan said in an interview.
His roommate spun records on two turntables in their apartment as he connected thoughts about the night he opened for a band that has sold millions of records.
"I'm just lucky to play with who I play with," he said.
McGugan started hanging out with The Chains guitarist Knowlton two years ago, shortly after Knowlton's now defunct band The Stock Market Crash dissolved. The same night the two surfed the Internet for a leather jacket, they wrote a song together.
"I can't even remember the name of it," McGugan said.
His remark reflected the dizzying pace of The Chains' lifestyle. This summer, the band crafted two albums worth of new material. At Cain's Ballroom, the quartet didn't play a single song off "Ceremonies," the band's debut album which was released Saturday.
After the Tulsa show, empty plastic cups and aluminum beer bottles littered the Cain's Ballroom dance floor: evidence of an enjoyable concert. The smell of stale beer lingered in the air as The Chains were bombarded with autograph requests, digital cameras and dozens of new fans.
The soft scratching of brooms against the hardwood dance floor contrasted with the loud, bustling effort the band made in order to arrive for a sound check earlier Friday afternoon.
On the Road Again
Led Zeppelin's 1969 track "Dazed and Confused" blasted inside The Chains' tan minivan. The trip from Oklahoma City to Tulsa on Friday was supposed to be a two-car adventure, but nine managed to squeeze into the seven-seat van.
The car lacked air conditioning.
Inside the van, Knowlton stripped to his shorts, the kind everyone's dad wore in those old basketball photos from the ‘60s.
"I'm used to being hot and uncomfortable," Knowlton said. "I'm in a band. It's fun. It's like family."
Everyone clutched the top of the car when Martin turned sharply.
McGugan said Martin isn't the best driver, but he can back up the trailer better than anyone.
The Chains drummer Freudenberger talked to a roadie sitting next to him in the van about the cost of playing two shows in a single weekend. He will lose about $300 in night shifts at Oklahoma City's Café do Brasil.
"I not about money," he said. "It's about playing."
He wasn't the only member making a sacrifice last weekend.
The Chains bassist Martin left his fiancé at home. She's about to have twins.
Knowlton skipped a few shifts at Warpaint Clothing Co., his store in Oklahoma City's Plaza District.
However, the band arrived in Tulsa well before its sound check, but The Smashing Pumpkins practiced too long and The Chains forfeited a sound check.
"We'll just have to sound check like we do at The Conservatory," Freudenberger said.
Making and breaking records
On Saturday, the band did just that.
It was a slightly more intimate affair compared to the Cain's Ballroom show. A couple hundred of the band's fans crowded into the dilapidated Oklahoma City venue to celebrate the release of the band's first album.
Knowlton frantically lit candles and hid incense sticks between speakers.
It helped rid the venue of its stagnant odor.
"I told you I'm OCD," he said. "It's our show and it's going to smell like our show."
Martin's fiancé sat in the corner of the venue fanning her face and waiting to hear her husband perform.
After the show, a fan confronted McGugan. He held the "Ceremonies" album and said he missed hearing the old songs.
"We do, too," McGugan said. "There's just a time and a place for everything."
As the two parted ways, Conservatory owner Jim Paddack surveyed the crowd and made an announcement.
"If you're not with one of the bands, get out now," he said.
That's something The Pretty Black Chains will hear again. - The Daily O'Collegian

Kellen McGugan was a kid when his father ripped a picture of a naked woman out of an early CD single he’d purchased.

“I got to keep the CD, which was good,” McGugan said.

Keeping that CD did more good than he could’ve known at the time. The song was “Zero” by guitar-driven ’90s alt-rockers The Smashing Pumpkins, a band that McGugan, with his band, The Pretty Black Chains, will be opening for Friday at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom.

The show with the Pumpkins kicks off the biggest weekend in The Pretty Black Chains’ young life, as the band will travel back home to Oklahoma City for its CD release show at The Conservatory the next day. It’s releasing “Ceremonies” with help from its good friends, openers The Burning Hotels from Ft. Worth, and Stillwater’s latest locals, DEERPEOPLE.

It’s been a long road since the band started, and “Ceremonies” is just the latest stop. McGugan said the quality of the band’s recorded music has improved immensely since the band began to truly take itself seriously. The band has been writing better songs in the time since it finished recording “Ceremonies,” he said.

“Having this record released feels like that chapter in this band is over, and we’re already starting something new; progressing to something new,” McGugan said.

Saturday night may be the only public performance of the songs from “Ceremonies,” which McGugan has vowed to put to rest.

“We’re much more comfortable with [the new songs] and we like them a lot better,” he said.

Quality songwriting is good news for such a well-reputed live act as The Chains, who play every show like it’s inside a packed arena.

“Blowing people away is where we get the most satisfaction,” McGugan said.

But how’s it going to feel Friday night, performing with Billy Corgan on the side of the stage?

“The jitters will be there, but we’ll definitely be ready,” McGugan said. “We’re looking at this from a very professional point of view and I think the amount that we practice and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse will be reflected in that show ... we’re putting that vibe out that we are definitely a band to be taken seriously.”
- The OU Daily

The Pretty Black Chains with The Burning Hotels
9 p.m. Saturday
the Conservatory
8911 N. Western
www.conservatoryokc.com
607-4805
$7

A band writes, records and tours to support an album. It begins again, and the musicians start writing a new album, and the process continues.

Only, The Pretty Black Chains aren’t about cycles, expectations or doing things because that’s how they are done.These four Oklahoma City guys do what they want, and right now, they don’t really feel like playing the songs on the album they’re releasing Saturday night ... so they won’t.

Regrouping
Funeral 'Ceremonies'
For whom the bell Tulls

This weekend, The Pretty Black Chains retire the tracks from their debut record, “Ceremonies,” on the same night they release them, and that’s undeniably rock ’n’ roll.

The Pretty Black Chains write an album. They record that album. Then they do whatever they feel like doing.

REGROUPING
They began with half of the then-recently defunct Stock Market Crash. Guitarist Derek Knowlton and bassist Jonathan Martin partnered with singer/guitarist Kellen McGugan to write some songs in late 2008. The group recruited Kurt Freudenberger for drums to play its first shows in early 2009.

The act took little time in rising to the top of the local music scene, and fans grew to adore the band for its energetic live shows and rowdy stage antics. Its catchy take on Brit pop was a hit among crowds, and the band quickly found itself a headlining draw around the metro.

The guys also found themselves growing tired of playing the same songs night in and night out, while drinking too much and practicing too little. The quartet took a two-month break in late spring to save itself.

“We just didn’t do anything for awhile, but it was a good thing,” Freudenberger said. “We needed to regroup and reassess things.”

McGugan described the hiatus as a “step back” and cooling-off period. When they came back, Knowlton was chambered with a guitar lick.

“Everything changed,” McGugan said. The band found a new life — and a new sound.

“We were doing the whole Brit-pop thing, and that was common ground for us. But then we were just kind of done with it,” Knowlton said. “As a music lover, your taste changes as you grow and have new life experiences. Things just go in different directions, and somewhere along the line we just got into different music.”

The Pretty Black Chains found itself ditching The Who for Led Zeppelin and rekindled a love for music that had just been simmering. The four holed up in the 120-degree heat of its warehouse practice space all summer, practicing four to five times a week, writing 21 songs (11 of which they are playing live) and resurfaced for only two live shows, compared to the six or so a month they’d previously been playing.

The Pretty Black Chains have since gotten over its interband quibbles and are focused on making the best music they possibly can. The guys said their egos were left at the door of their practice sessions, which opened up to something much more involved for everyone.

“We have expanded our boundaries,” Freudenberger said. “We had such small boundaries when we first did this band. Now, if anyone has an idea, we try it out.”

“We realized just what makes each one of us special,” Martin said. “We realized just how good each one of us were at what we do.”

FUNERAL ‘CEREMONIES’
Sure enough, practice made perfect. The Pretty Black Chains emerged with exponentially tighter musicianship and an arsenal of Jimmy Page riffs at its disposal, so much so that the guys are downright giddy about playing their new material for audiences, and even themselves.

“It’s bigger; it’s more thought-out,” Knowlton said. “It’s more like a journey. Everyone of these songs is so exciting, when you can’t wait to get to your own riff ... you sit there and feel like you are in a cover band because all the songs are so fun to play.”

The change is big and drastic, but the guys said it was a part of their natural course as a band.

“It was a bold step, but it was a natural step, too,” Freudenberger said. “It was inevitable, but we hadn’t set out to change sounds — it just happened.”

The new, ’70s-rock sound caught the ear of David Fitzgerald of DCF Concerts, who eventually became a badly needed direct line to the industry. Fitzgerald already helped Chains snag a spot opening for a sold-out Smashing Pumpkins show Friday at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom. The gig is the night before the Chains’ LP release, which Knowlton said was just the validation they needed for all the work they had put in.

“All we needed was a little pat on the back,” he said. “How many people get to say they opened for Smashing Pumpkins at Cain’s Ballroom? Not very many.”

Of course, there was the small matter of that unreleased album.

“It’s a stepping stone,” Knowlton said.

“A time capsule,” Freudenberger added with a laugh.

“And you know, I think the best bands look at it that way,” Martin said. “I would love it if our albums were always old, because we were just writing that fast.”

“Ceremonies” is quickly becoming a relic in the act’s history. The guys are proud of it — if regretful it took so long to release — but far too excited about the new material to dwell on it much.

Martin said the retired songs from “Ceremonies” will probably reappear at some point, but said that the band is ready to move forward with the newer tracks.

FOR WHOM THE BELL TULLS
The “Ambulance” LP had its year and a half, and The Pretty Black Chains are ready to move on, hoping that fans will join them. They were initially worried whether or not its fans would carry over to the new stuff, but quickly decided that they would do what it liked and that would have to be enough.

“If you play stuff to satisfy yourself, well, that’s step one,” Freudenberger said.

Knowlton said many bands worry too much about trying to keep with a sound or style instead of growing.

“Bands are just thinking too much,” Martin said. “Now, we are just playing songs and making it easy, and we love it, and that’s it.”

The guys were watching a Jethro Tull video on YouTube that got them talking about the arguable peak of music in the ’70s, when bands just did what they wanted to do. The Pretty Black Chains decided it would just do what it wanted to do, too. It worked out for all those bands, why not for this one?

“Everybody is letting everybody else tell them what to do,” McGugan said. “Jethro Tull? Like, a five-minute flute solo? Fuck you, that’s awesome.”

With a devil-may-care attitude in hand, The Pretty Black Chains aren’t making any promises and are pretty well set on doing whatever they want and doing it well.

“People better watch out,” McGugan said. “We are definitely a whole new beast.” —Joshua Boydston - OK Gazette

For most bands, underground rock is just an expression, a vague term for music that is not being played on the radio. But underground rock is truly happening in a basement below Warpaint Clothing Co. in Oklahoma City’s Plaza District. The ceilings will just barely allow 6-foot-tall singer-guitarist Kellen McGugan of the Pretty Black Chains to sing without ducking or suffering a major cranial abrasion.
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Listen Local: The Pretty Black Chains lead a slew of new local releases
The idea of band practice might sound to wage earners like teenage kicks, but anyone who has read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” knows how greatness is achieved. While it’s unlikely that McGugan, lead guitarist Derek Knowlton, bassist Jonathan Chuck Martin and drummer Kurt Freudenberger have hit that magic 10,000-hour mark Gladwell wrote about as the benchmark needed for true greatness, it’s not for lack of trying. The Pretty Black Chains are racking up the hours in that subterranean space, and it’s all about work ethic.
“If you’re sitting around drinking at Electro Lounge, that’s time you could have spent writing a song,” Knowlton said.
In less than two years, the Pretty Black Chains have channeled that determination into becoming one of the most popular live bands in the area. The combustible energy of the group on stage, coupled with an early sound steeped in Brit-pop, made the Pretty Black Chains stand out in the scene. Now the group is ready for its close-up: the PBCs will open for The Smashing Pumpkins on Sept. 24 at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom, and will host a CD release party for its debut album, “Ceremonies,” the following night at the Conservatory, 8911 N Western.
The irony is that the band has worked so hard, progressing and refining its songs that “Ceremonies” feels like a time capsule, a vestige of what where the band stood creatively in 2009. In the basement at Warpaint, a clothing company that Knowlton and business partner Travis Pickett opened earlier this year, a DVD of Jimi Hendrix performing with the Band of Gypsys plays silently in the corner, and the sound coming out of the Pretty Black Chains’ amps is harder, less poppy, and far more influenced by Hendrix, late-model Beatles and Led Zeppelin. “Ceremonies” now sounds like the innocent beginning chapter to a story that has become deeper and more resonant as the pages turn.
“It just feels good to progress,” Knowlton said. “I mean, all that stuff has its place, but it was a stepping stone to where we needed to go, just like this stuff will be a stepping stone to where we go next.”
“For the CD release show, we’ll probably play only three or four songs from ‘Ceremonies,’” said McGugan. “We quit trying to write specific (types of) songs.”
So while the Pretty Black Chains built up a lot of love from audiences thanks to songs such as “Ambulance” and “1964,” the hours of woodshopping resulted in a band staking out new territory, and is ready to record a new album in January 2011.
“The stuff we were doing before was immature, poppy, kind of bratty — ‘We wanna break sh — ,’” Knowlton said. “It really is a weird transition, because we have the album out, but realistically, that album should have come out five months ago.
“It’s a lot more mature, a lot more musical,” Knowlton said of the Pretty Black Chains’ new songs. “I really just fell in love with the classics again, like Led Zeppelin. When you’re a musician, you really have to choose what you’re stamp is going to be.”


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