Band Bio: Semi Precious Weapons
Justin Tranter // vocals
Cole Whittle // bass
Dan Crean // drums
Stevy Pyne // guitar
Semi Precious Weapons formed in New York City. Graduates of the Berklee College of Music, the band immediately began drawing attention for their raucously tight and famously over the top live performances, as well as for their striking visual style. The band played sold out shows throughout the city, promoting warehouse parties, while becoming mainstays at Brooklyn events and New York Fashion Week alike. Quickly garnering a cult-like fan base and stunning critical acclaim, as well as a host of celebrity followers and industry insiders along the way, the band was awarded "Best Live Band" by the Village Voice Reader's Poll and released their debut album We Love You.
Eventually the buzz the band created touring the country with the likes of Ladyhawke, Ida Maria and The Sounds garnered the attention of Interscope Records, who signed the band and released their first major label album. That follow-up full length, You Love You, only solidified the group's ambitions as songwriters, as performers, and as the torchbearers of everything that embodies rock and roll.
It wasn't long before the band was headlining their own tour and Lady Gaga was inviting her favorite band to join her on "The Monster Ball" as the opening act on an 18 month worldwide tour. The bands' profile continued to grow exponentially leading to featured performances at Lollapalooza, The Isle of Wight festival, headlining the Colours of Ostrava festival.
In just a few short years, the band had performed hundreds of shows for millions of people across world. The band relocated to Los Angeles to collaborate with Grammy award-winning, multi-platinum, mega-hit maker "Tricky" Stewart (Beyoncé, Rihanna, Frank Ocean) on new material, before signing to his new RedZone Music label venture, RedZone Records. The band worked with Tricky writing and recording, for much of 2012 and 2013 - taking a break only to go on tour as part of Ke$ha's "Warrior Tour" - before putting the finishing touches on what they call "the album we had always hoped to make." An evolution of sound, Aviation seamlessly blends the band's dance punk and future now rock approach with Tricky's powerful pop and urban influenced production.
"Our goal for this new album was to just write the best songs we could, and have the sound be whatever it needed to be to serve each song," says singer Justin Tranter.
"Working with our dream producer Tricky Stewart gave us the inspiration to use textures from all the different kinds of music we love, not just straight up rock and roll, which was really freeing. It made it so we didn't have rules while writing, it was just about what felt right."
"The sound of the band is one that appreciates the greatness of all genres of music. Their records are made organically and what's heard is unobstructed to the fans," says Stewart. "This is absolutely one of the most important projects of my career. It gives you a glimpse not only into my past – but my present, and future. I feel like we've created something special that will stand out in the world!"
