It’s been three years since the release Robbers on High Street’s second LP. Now, with a new line up, some time off and a third album in the can, the band has grown into themselves - confident and unabashed in their grasp of late-60s Anglophilia a la the Pretty Things, and the brassy romp of early ‘70s AM rock. It’s a new sound for the band that if anything hearkens back to the rough, instantaneous pop appeal of their Peter Katis (Interpol, The National) produced 2005 debut album, Tree City. But much has changed for the Robbers since they were traveling the country with the likes of Hot Hot Heat, Cake, Fountains of Wayne and Brendan Benson in support of that album. In 2006, after parting ways with their original drummer, the trio (now with bassist Morgan King) entered the studio with Italian composer/producer Daniele Luppi (Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells) to make their “L.A. record” – Grand Animals. Released the following year and now as a quintet with drummer Mikey Post (Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, The Jay Vons) and keyboardist Dave Sherman (Grand Mal, The Silent League) the Robbers did several tours with The Redwalls, The Sea and Cake, Great Northern, and Brooklyn pals Longwave; released a video for the song “Crown Victoria”; and watched their single for “The Fatalist” end up on top-ten lists as well as in more film and television spots, including the movie Georgia Rule. Returning to Brooklyn in 2008 the band took a needed breather, but new songs and rehearsals emerged following the New Year. Recording started on their third album in October of 2009 on the boys’ newly purchased Tascam MS-16 1” tape machine, which was lovingly dragged to several studios across Northwest Brooklyn before settling at Tommy Brenneck’s (Budos Band, Menahan Street Band) Dunham Studio for mixdown this past May. Produced by Trokan with engineer Matt Shane (Flight of the Conchords, Rosanne Cash) this was the current line-up’s first foray into a proper recording session, drawing little help from the outside save that of a horn section borrowed from Daptone Records. Two tunes from the new album, “Electric Eye” and “Face In The Fog” were released as a limited run 7” single. Fans of the Robber’s previous work recognized the calculated strut of “Electric Eye”, which was well received and in its first week was the #11 most added song at CMJ. The new jam quickly made the rounds online, including a giveaway on WNYC and a Tripwire podcast. Always an exciting live act, coolly walking the line between syncopated bursts of song and Miller High Life, the Robbers on High Street spent parts of June and September touring in support of the “Electric Eye” 7” and after a successful CMJ Music Marathon will continue to play the Northeast throughout the remainder of 2010, looking forward to 2011.
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