“We need more bands like Spider Bags” —Popmatters

“Sure, you’ve heard bands like Spider Bags before; on first contact, you’d swear they were some half-remembered mid-1990s band that got lost in the college-radio shuffle among the Silver Jews, the Grifters, and Ass Ponys. But it’s been an awful long time since you’ve heard a band pull off this sort of southern-fried slop-pop with such charm, craftiness, and self-deprecating wit.” – Pitchfork

Brimming with raucous energy and expanding the Bags’ sonic pallet into new territory, the 7-inch singles the band has been pumping out since last year’s Goodbye Cruel World, Hello Crueler World are a testament to their talent and ingenuity. The latest single, “Take It Easy Tonite”, continues the trend.

The A-side is based on the band’s tendency to party a bit too hard on tour. Every time the Bags pull in late to a town, they agree to “take it easy tonight.” It never works out that way. “By the time we get to the bar, you’re not taking it easy anymore,” McGee says, recalling drunken nights and minimal sleep. “It sounded kind of fun to write a hard-rocking pop song around the idea of ‘taking it easy.’” Mixed for over a month, the song is a dense, guitar-driven piece of psychedelic pop-rock with myriad layers and textures to explore. “I wanted it to be one of those things where you could just smoke a joint and lay down and listen to it and be like, ‘What is that? I didn’t hear that last time,’” he explains.

Similarly psychedelic, B-side “Shonda“ is a collaboration with the Bags’ good friends The Golden Boys. On tour together, the two bands stopped in Omaha, Neb. for a quick overnight recording session. The results formed the bulk of The Golden Boys’ 2009 LP Thee Electric Wolfman, but some songs ended up unused. This cut features the Bags backing up the Boys’ Bryan Schmitz for a late-night rock ‘n’ roll slow-burner. Heaped with overdubs including backwards drums and additional reverbed vocals, it’s a singeing breath of strung-out fire that’s sure to leave a mark.

After placing your order, you’ll be able to download a digital copy of the record immediately, so you can listen before receive your physical copy in the mail. The digital download includes both FLAC and 320kbps digital versions of both tracks, and a JPG copy of the 7″ cover.