Filled with emotion and boiling with passion, Denver's Born in the Flood wows audiences and wins fans with their energetic and heartbreaking rock-n-roll songs, as well as their "jaw-droppingly intense live shows" (Kansas City Pitch). The remarkable quartet is built around lifelong friends Nathaniel Rateliff and Joseph Pope III, two Midwestern gentlemen who forged their relationship and musical commitment as boys in the small blue-collar town of Hermann, Missouri, on the banks of the mighty Missouri River. The pair eventually migrated to Denver, doing volunteer work with the homeless, where they discovered their dynamic drummer, Mike Hall, and found an elegantly aggressive guitarist in Matt Fox.
Born in the Flood began its journey as a rootsy, garage-rock band, but over time their material gained complexity and evolved into the signature sonic attack that has defined them ever since. The group's debut LP, If This Thing Should Spill (released in 2007 by Denver-based Morning After Records) finds these four friends combining disparate elements such as 60's pop-psychedelia, anthemic 70's arena-rock and raw, lo-fi, Rhodes-driven indie-rock, performed with haunting intensity. The resulting album has garnered the band great critical acclaim and introduced the world to a new kind of left-field sound that transcends generic boundaries, demands repeated listens, and ascends to dizzying heights of exhilaration and catharsis. If This Thing Should Spill is, according to Westword Magazine, ".simply brilliant.".
The key to Born in the Flood's infectious energy and artistic success is the unfiltered, unrestrained, uncontrived and unapologetically emotional content of both the words and the music. "I have to be honest to the point of pain (on stage)," says Pope. Rateliff echoes the sentiment, "I just try to be bare up there." Driven by this heart-on-sleeve performance model, Born in the Flood takes its listeners on an emotional sonic journey full of raw, earnest energy, unforgettable melodies and rich musical textures. Enjoy the ride.
Radio Head, U2, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, Fiery Furnaces, Beck, Donovan, M. Ward, Bob Dylan, The Prayer Chain, Starflyer 59, The Strokes, Sonic Youth, Ian Hlatky, My Bloody Valentine, Minus Story, , Modest Mouse, Joshua Novak, Blonde Redhead
