Photo by Chris Scruggs.
About Pageant
Pageant believes in reinvention. Their new, self-titled album sees the band refining and revolving, turning their songcraft into a well-oiled rock and roll record with a longview toward the horizon.
Pageant have been making music together for years. Their core is the brother-sister vocals of Derek and Erika Porter, matched with guitar, vocals and production from Stephen Allbritten and bass and vocals from Kevin Harvey. After having toured across the country releasing two EPs and one full-length LP, their upcoming record finds them at their most honed as a live act.
Recorded at Battletapes with engineer Jeremy Ferguson (Cage the Elephant, Lambchop), Pageant presents 10 new songs performed and recorded live in Jeremy’s East Nashville studio space. In the past, the band has taken a modern approach to recording by tracking each instrument separately. For this outing, they rehearsed the tracks for months prior to getting into the studio and laid everything down as a band, all at the same time.
All tracking was completed in two sessions over two days and the results show Pageant at their most vital, not to mention their loudest. The songs rumble and tumble, alternately gritty and sweet. The band also took their time in separate sessions with their favorite part of the recording process, completing background vocal arrangements.
Along with strings arranged by Erik Jarvis and performed by Patrick Riley, these garage rock songs transcend to another more baroque level. The results reveal a mature songwriting unit and live act, playing their hearts out.
Pageant released on April 17, 2020 on all major platforms.