Brian Ok. Pagels and Stephen Russ, the DC-area duo, Brian Ok & The Parkway, will launch their second single, “Straight Through” that includes Cat Popper, recognized for her band Puss N Boots with Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson and for her work with Jack White, Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, amongst others, who offers visitor vocals on the observe out March 1, 2024 – Pre-Save HERE.
Today, Glide Magazine is completely premiering the lyric video for the music – Watch it HERE. It options footage of Pagels and Russ as they each meander by way of lovely landscapes, climbing in Northern Virginia and Texas respectively, till they lastly meet up. Says Pagels, “Although we were thousands of miles apart and in vastly different settings, we’re both trying to find our way straight through. In the end, we find each other, and it symbolizes our friendship which is a key theme of the song.”
Pagels, having been a fan of Cat Popper’s vocals since he first heard her sing on Ryan Adams & The Cardinals’ album Cold Roses, was floored when she mentioned sure to singing on the observe. “I was immediately struck and moved by her voice the first time I heard it,” says Pagels. So, when he came upon she was engaged on releasing her personal solo materials, he determined to take an opportunity and attain out. “I filled out a form on her website and asked her if she would consider singing a duet with me,” says Pagels, pondering the message would go right into a black gap of webforms. “Instead, she responded within an hour with ‘damn dude, I love this tune!,’” says Pagels. After emailing forwards and backwards and speaking on the telephone “everything came really naturally from there, including the vocal arrangement which I was honored to lay out for Brian and Cat,” says Russ. “They both brought their own touch to it, Cat delivered an incredible vocal take, and that’s the magic you hear on the song.” Adds Popper, “This song was so fun to sing on and was stuck in my head for weeks!”
Brian Ok & The Parkway launched their debut single “Wind The Clock” January 12 – Listen HERE. On launch day, Unrecorded named it a “best new track.” Mayhem Rockstar Magazine mentioned it’s “…a light, infectious composition” whereas Alchemical Records says the music, “…really highlights this focus on songwriting and storytelling while embracing an energetic and uplifting musicality that is guitar driven, rooted in rock and roll…” “Wind The Clock” which opens with a lilting guitar riff and drum groove, is a commentary on tribalism and the acute black and white pondering that has materialized in society right this moment. The music presents a way to expel the frustration of all of it whereas expressing a spirit of hope and solidarity with these actively preventing for a greater world regardless of all of the forces working in opposition to them. “I wanted it to be an anthem for ‘my people,’ those who value peacebuilding, justice, equality, democracy, and universal human rights,” says Pagels.
The duo are set to launch their debut album, Killing The Bear, March 29, 2024. Most of the work on Killing The Bear was finished by Pagels and Russ, but it surely was mastered by Justin Perkins (North Mississippi Allstars, The Replacements, Lydia Loveless), co-engineered by Zac Thomas at The Jam Room in Columbia, SC, and co-produced and blended by Collin Derrick. The nine-song assortment, a nod to the ‘70s rock sound of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Warren Zevon, is guitar-based, roots-oriented rock, infused with a healthy dose of soul and R&B. Piano and organ play a critical role in establishing the sound along with some horns thrown in for good measure. The duo dubs their sound “coastal heartland rock,” reflecting the fact that their major influences are artists that hail from coastal areas such as New Jersey, Florida, and California, but are known for their own mix of classic heartland rock.
Pagels and Russ formed Brian K & The Parkway in 2021. Pagels is from Springsteen’s hometown of Freehold, NJ, Russ is from the Carolinas, each share an innate connection to The Boss and are acutely impressed by him. Although the blokes seek advice from the band title fondly as “very Jersey,” it denotes Pagels‘s name and the fact that The George Washington Memorial Parkway connects the route between their Northern Virginia homes; Pagels lives in Alexandria, Russ lives in Arlington.
Killing The Bear’s overarching theme is about our ever-increasing incapability as people to cope with the supply of our issues and as a substitute, look to surface-level, near-term options, after which declare quick victory. The songs function vignettes in regards to the issues we do to manage, for higher or worse. Now, with their debut coming, Brian Ok & The Parkway can’t wait to get out on the street to play it for audiences up and down the east coast starting this March. They will probably be kicking off their east coast tour with a particular all ages album launch celebration at Jammin Java in Vienna, VA on March 29. Tickets are on sale now HERE. Additional dates beneath, together with a cease in Brooklyn, NY with Diane Gentile. More dates to be added quickly.
TOUR DATES:
March 29 – Jammin Java, Vienna, VA – All ages album launch present (With Cat Popper, Karen Jonas)
April 25 – Tin Roof, Charleston, SC
April 26 – Curiosity Coffee, Columbia, SC
April 27 – West Salem Public House, Winston-Salem, SC
April 28 – The Pinhook, Durham, NC
April 30 – The Camel, Richmond, VA
May 1 – Quarry House Tavern, Silver Springs, MD
May 2 – Fringe Bar, Philadelphia, PA
May 3 – The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel, Asbury Park, NJ
May 4 – Faces Brewing, Boston, MA
May 5 – Sleepwalk, Brooklyn, NY (with Diane Gentile)
