The Pinx

Hard hitting raw rock from Atlanta's The Pinx. These guys have apparently come a long way in a very short amount of time. (As we understand it, the band has only been in existence for about a year.) Look What You Made Me Do is a rather direct album...presenting this power rock trio simply and without unnecessary polish and/or overdubs. The emphasis seems to be on the songs and--in particular--the playing...which, by the way, is excellent from start to finish. So many bands use technology to make up for the fact that they aren't really that proficient on their instruments. That is definitely not the case here. The band consists of Jim O'Kane (drums), Joe T. Giddings (guitar, bass, vocals), and Adam McIntyre (guitar, bass, screaming). All three players are rather intense and incredible. If you like really good guitar riffs and a band that doesn't rely on gimmicks...well then, The Pinx just may be your new favorite band. Kickass cuts include "The Desert," "Turn It On," "Killing Me," and "The Prophecy." (Rating: 5+) - Babysue LMNOP

Only a year into their existence, the guitar-driven rock of Atlanta's The Pinx will reassure you there are still bands churning out rock music that is dark, dirty and hard. Their reputation of being some of the hardest-working rockers was derived from playing in dives and at festivals around the country and living on the road. Their soon-to-be-released new album, Look What You Made Me Do could end up being one of rock's top albums of 2009, and the sound is an unmeasured mix of The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and The Who topped with their own riffs and break that set them apart from other bands just trying to sound like this. Their sound is the epitome of bad ass classic rock and if it's your preferred genre, The Pinx might be your preferred band. Highly recommended. - Local Vertical

The Pinx must have stepped into a 1970s salon of sound and style to emerge with their debut release, "Look What You Made Me Do". With sideburns and bouffant hair, they perfect stage jumps, emotive screams and trippy, desert-themed songs, but most importantly, have the synchronization that is often reserved for trios of eras past. While Robert Plant ventures into the countryside with Alison Krauss, The Pinx revs up the Zeppelin-esque, bluesy, classic rock'n'roll that idolizes trance-inducing electric riffs, bottom-heavy bass and drums that pop like water over a hot pan. LWYMMD encapsulates the live energy of The Pinx, while documenting their musical journey by bridging classic rock stylings with vestiges of pop and blues influences.

Intelligible instrumentation is offered throughout the album, however the sound spins into a tighter niche in the album's second half with songs like "Am I Your Lover," "Killing Me" and "The Prophecy." "Can't Shut Up" represents the band's diversification and is by far the album's sultriest song with lyrics like "the way that you taste with your cheek to my face / with my hands on your hips / you will appreciate this / I can't shut up about you" delivered over the laid-back riding of the drums, a flirty and rebellious dissonance from the electric guitar and a bass-spun lover's web. "Change Me" also sidesteps the harder rock of the album's first half by majestically layering Kinks-style vocals over twangy, banjo-like picking.

"Look What You Made Me Do" is a stunning debut that establishes McIntyre, Giddings and O'Kane as rebukers of stagnancy and infusers of energy into a recorded piece that runs like an immaculately polished live show. The album lets the listener feel the sweat flung by their motley 'dos, while staying dry in their recliner.
-Ingrid Sibley - Southeastern Performer Magazine

We’re not sure which satisfies us more, the thrill of hearing a great rock record for the first time or discovering that the people responsible for that great rock record are actually cool. That they talk straight, and that they got taste and/or a self-deprecating sense of humor.

From all indications, Atlanta newbies the Pinx seem to be fitting all the bills.

You won’t be able to hear their self-released debut, Look What You Made Me Do, till August 25 - so long as you play by the rules, that is. But we got our clutches onto the sucker, gave it a good squeeze, and savored it as images of Black Sabbath covering late-’70s power-pop bubbled into our brain.

It seems the band is being slapped with the always-within-reach “garage” tag, but Pinx’s music is “good old American rock and roll,” really. That’s right: This is the stuff that Buick really should be playing in its ads.

Lest ye get a false impression, however, heed the following words: This is not another boring “good old American rock and roll” band. This isn’t the Black Crowes divided by the Counting Crows minus Sheryl Crow.

This is an exciting band with exciting stories. You might be scratching your chin as to the potency of said excitement, since the Pinx are still brand-new and all, but all we have to say is this: The following story they shared with us over the weekend isn’t just mildly worthy of Road Warrior consideration. It right near filled up the mercury bubble in our thermostat.

So please, enjoy this tale, which we hope isn’t tall. And, as if we even need to spell this out anymore, best that you keep your underage children and pets caged up while you read posts like these.

Band: The Pinx
Location of incident: Savannah, GA (where else?)
Destination: Someplace where there aren’t zombies or pregnant prostitutes
The Incident: Oh, do read, direct from the mouth of leader Adam McIntyre (all uncensored and unedited and such):

I’ve asked some folks which road story they think is my awesomest/horrorest, and after a few minutes of thinking (nobody’s given me answers yet; they haven’t had time) I’m thinking that there’s a road trip that stands out: Savannah, St Patrick’s Day 2008 for the following reasons:

1: St Patrick’s Day in Savannah is huge, the second or third-largest in the country behind Boston. Tons of drunk revelers.

2: Some things were stolen. Illegal things. And other things.

3: We took mushrooms.

4: THERE WAS A BLACKOUT THAT CONSUMED SAVANNAH AND THE SURROUNDING AREA DURING THIS MESS and we did not get to play.

5: The only lights in the streets were the flashing lights of police cars, and the only people out were amazingly drunk. It looked like the apocalypse had happened and the streets were populated with zombies hellbent on knocking over trash cans. This was not easy to stomach on hallucinogens, as the zombie threat seemed a little too real.

6: Authorities prevented us from returning to the venue from our parking space to get our equipment so we could leave. We drove around for an hour and a half in the rain during a blackout with drunk pedestrians banging on the van, trying to find a sympathetic policeman to let us inside the blackout blockade. They were trying to prevent looting and rioting.

7: Afterward, on the way home, we accidentally picked up a pregnant prostitute hitchhiker and drove her up the interstate one exit to her pimp.

Road Warrior rating:

-Not being able to discern whether the term “blackout” as mentioned above refers to the state of the band’s sobriety or a citywide electrical power outage: +2 points
-This sentence: “We drove around for an hour and a half in the rain during a blackout with drunk pedestrians banging on the van, trying to find a sympathetic policeman to let us inside the blackout blockade”: +3 points
-No shows missed: +1 point
-Reassuring us that the South in fact does have some redeemable qualities: +1 point
-Pregnant prostitute hitchhikers + hooligan zombies = +99 points

Total: 10 of 10 points (scaled for suitability)

Conclusion:

The only upswing of pulling a stunt like this is that it will give you a 10 of 10 rating on the IndiePit Blog’s Road Warrior-odometer. - IndiePit

The Pinx return with a ridiculously self-assured slab of southern-simmered thunderboogie that would make the perfect soundtrack for a dangerously reckless summer. - Classic Rock Magazine 7/10 Stars - Classic Rock Magazine

Freedom is a stark culmination of the attitude and creativity that come with five years of touring, burning up the highways of American South. Brimming with fist-pumping anthems, Freedom is an authentic nod to classic American rock ‘n roll. - Verbicide - Verbicide

Americana Highways brings you this premiere of The Pinx’ title track “Sisters and Brothers” from their forthcoming album. “Sisters and Brothers” features Adam McIntyre on vocals, guitar and percussion; Chance McColl on guitar and backing vocals; Jonathan Lee on bass and backing vocals; Dwayne Jones on drums & percussion with Beth Moore on keys. The album was produced by Brian Carter & Joey Jones, engineered at Aria Studio by Joey Jones, mixed by Brian Carter at Paradox Productions, and mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering. Sisters and Brothers will be available April 12th.

“Sisters & Brothers” is a classic rock song with serious anthemic energy. With its message of empowering support, “hold on to your sisters and brothers, hold on ’cause you ain’t got no others,” it starts out with an emotional grounding before it kicks its rock ‘n roll electric guitars into action. Sisters and Brothers will help you hold your ground this spring against anything standing in your way.

Sisters & Brothers’ is about the need for unity as everything’s falling apart. Chance (McColl, Guitarist) brought this music in and I asked if I could write some lyrics for it. I had a couple ideas and the first one didn’t work out. Then I let melody tell me what it wanted me to say and it came out with a state of the union address. Basically, that at two minutes til midnight on the doomsday clock, shouldn’t we unite and work toward a common good?” – Adam McIntyre, The Pinx - Americana Highways

The Pinx' new album Freedom has hints of their previous influences Led Zeppelin and The Who in it, but this time around, the band's engine has been supercharged by the likes of The MC5 and Motorhead. “Yeah, I actually yell ‘Give all your money to The MC5’ on this record,” frontman Adam McIntyre says, “I finally figured out what this band is—it’s my happy place. I’ve done a lot of work to make sure that’s exactly what this album is.”

Freedom (out tomorrow, May 27), is a stark culmination of the attitude & creativity that come with five years of touring, burning up the highways of American South. Brimming with fist-pumping, anthemic arrhythmia, Freedom is an authentic tribute to classic American rock & roll. New single “Ballad of the Bands”—premiering exclusively today at Paste—is an energetic, feel-good riff rocker, simultaneously channeling Natural Child and the Faces while examining the perpetual state of dissatisfaction that comes with being a musician.

From 2007 'til 2012, The Pinx toured the Southeastern U.S. incessantly, from Virginia to New Orleans, their shows spilling into the streets where they often set off fireworks for fans, sometimes between songs. They braved crowds of drunken zombies in Savannah, broke up a street fight in New Orleans, and cheered on a couple who was getting it on during their set in Tuscaloosa. They opened for Ben Harper and Relentless7 at the request of Ben himself. You may have even heard The Pinx during ESPN and Fox Sports highlights.

Burned out from touring, the band took a break for several years. “But I never stopped writing songs and thinking about my next move,” McIntyre says. After producing several records for artists around the Southeast, he joined up with Atlanta rockers StoneRider, and toured Europe—opening for the band Europe in front of 2,000 people every night. StoneRider also shared stages with Living Colour, Graveyard, Warren Haynes and Blackberry Smoke (whom McIntyre once joined on lead guitar for a rousing version of The Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”). “It was an amazing, invigorating vacation from The Pinx with some of the best humans in the world,” he says, “and then it was time to come back home.”

McIntyre returned to The Pinx with a massive collection of four-track demos, riffs and lyric ideas written on the road, and several new influences to add to the mix. “Freedom isn’t entirely an ode to guitar riffs,” McIntyre says. “A lot of the stuff I learned about songwriting during my decade in Nashville came back. Not the formulaic bro-country aspect, but folks like Todd Snider and Dan Baird. Smart, funny guys who write songs that reflect themselves. I wanted some of that to come through—to mix it in with all the rock & roll and blues and soul and everything. And I put together a band tailor-made to do just that.”

McIntyre added second guitarist Chance McColl to the lineup, a player who shifts effortlessly between Jimmy Page licks and Danny Gatton’s virtuosic country stylings. The there’s bassist Jon Lee, who hails from Tennessee but has been thriving in what McIntyre calls “the best bands in Atlanta" for years. Drummer Dwayne Jones (Thee Crucials & Order of the Owl), whom McIntyre says is owed much credit for the The Pinx’ recent return also plays on most of the new album. This new lineup has allowed McIntyre to become more of a singer live than with the original power-trio format, and also lends itself to some epically fun Thin Lizzy-styled guitar harmonies. - Paste Magazine