Christmas show, Birds of Prey mp3

Posted on December 5, 2011 by modelcitizenband

Birds of Prey was written on the spot one night at 600 Studios in Tuscaloosa. I believe we were doing some additional tracking there following the Inner Fool sessions. The song was eventually recorded at the Sweatbox in Austin, TX and produced by Tim Kerr in 2003. Craig Gates was on bass and backing vocals. We used the track as our contribution to the landmark Birmingham compilation Low Dose Exposure (Skybucket Records) in 2004. This version features the whole band and differs from the solo version we ended up using on Save It for the Campfire a couple of years later.

I believe I was inspired by some of the material Elliott and John of the Dexateens had been writing for the Red Dust Rising LP as it is decidedly more country skronk than anything I had written previously. Birds of Prey is essentially about a couple of friends who passed on around that time.

As for year ending announcements Model Citizen will be playing a special holiday show at Bottletree in Birmingham on Friday, December 23. The show will be put on by the Friday On My Mind DJ’s. These kids consistently put on the best dance night in Birmingham with their mix of 1960′s and 70′s soul and funk, all spun on vinyl. In honor of their invitation we’ll play a set of 1960′s rock n roll. It’s unbelievably hard not to spill the beans on our song choices, but you’ll have to show up and see. Jody Nelson of the great Through the Sparks will be helping us out with some keys and additional guitar badassery. There may be some other guests as well. We hope to see you there!!

Birds Of Prey mp3

Please visit our Bandcamp music page for a high quality download of the song.

 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Au Ras Au Ras debut full-length out now

Posted on September 8, 2011 by modelcitizenband

I went to Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, MS a few months back to do a little bass work on this record. Tess Brunet is the songstress and visionary at the helm of Au Ras Au Ras. I first met Tess four or five years back when she drummed for the dark and powerful duo, Deadboy & Elephant Men. Tess had already made one pass through the studio with The Generationals in tow. I felt extremely lucky they left a few scraps as they are basically a two man wrecking crew both in and out of the studio.

Upon my arrival Tess wasted no time putting me in the mind of the songs and helping me get the charts together. When the red light came on I was taken aback at how the music and delivery were delicate yet brutal at the same time. I wasn’t quite sure how to put a feel on that. But, before I knew it we had three in the can.

Of the three bass lines I laid to tape only one survived. Tess bested me herself on one of the tracks and ultimately decided that another track didn’t need a bass after all. Oh Claire is all that survived of my playing. You can hear the whole record here!

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Guess who’s coming to practice? Model Citizen shows feature special guest bassist this weekend!

Posted on August 23, 2011 by modelcitizenband

Who's on bass?

We have had more than our fair share of bass players over the years. There were those who went away mad and those who just went away. For the past three years or more our friend Justin Colburn of Lee Bains III & The Gloryfires has filled the position with masterful skill and authority. Turns out that Justin found himself double-booked for our road trip with 13 Ghosts this weekend. We decided to let him off the hook this one time and set out to find someone with the skill, the integrity and honestly, the available time to get the job done. We are happy to announce that we found that person in our friend David Hickox. You may have seen David before with his other bands like Plate Six, Broken Letters and currently, the excellent Gum Creek Killers.

 

David and Model Citizen go back a number of years together. Way back in 2002 we recorded The Inner Fool EP and put out a few hundred copies to sell at local shows. I had just found drummer Mike Gaut a couple of years prior and it took us till around this time to reign in a lineup and start playing a little farther from home.

Late in 2003 David approached me about the possibility of a release on his Bent Rail label. Since I had nothing new ready to go I suggested that we give The Inner Fool a proper release. I believe we had reached the bottom of the box as far as available copies were concerned and hadn’t barely gotten out of the southeast yet. Thankfully David agreed even though I know he would have preferred a full length release. The release, however, gave us our first coverage in national magazines like Punk Planet & Blender as well as national and some international websites. We have been eternally grateful and don’t know how to thank him for his agreement to help us out again by actually getting onstage with us!

Come see us this weekend:

8/25 The Blind Pig in Oxford, MS

8/26 Hey Joe’s in Cleveland, TN w/The Weeks

8/27 White Water Tavern in Little Rock, AR

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hot August Nights, end of summer weekender with 13 Ghosts, August 25-27

Posted on July 25, 2011 by modelcitizenband

Way back in 2005 13 Ghosts released a full-length record called Cicada. Among its many great songs there’s one called A Model Citizen Flip. If you read liner notes you’ll discover I actually played guitar on it. And, it’s a lasting reminder that our bands were to split the cost of a 7″ around this time. Sadly that didn’t happen cause we weren’t writing or recording much at the time and Brad from 13 Ghosts moved up to New York City of all places. But, their drummer Jason Lucia and I did paint a number of houses together back in the day. And, when Bradley came to his senses and moved back to Alabama I recruited him to play guitar for the Dexateens. Man! What a lot of great fun!

So we’re all very happy to have both of our bands on the road together next month for a lost weekend through Mississippi and Arkansas. The show dates are as follows:

8/25 The Blind Pig in Oxford, MS

8/26 Hey Joe’s in Cleveland, TN w/The Weeks

8/27 White Water Tavern in Little Rock, AR

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

07/09/11: AHMEN Benefit at Egan’s in Tuscaloosa

Posted on July 11, 2011 by modelcitizenband

We played a show benefiting the AHMEN charity this past weekend. Our friends Black Willis also participated. Together we raised about $500. AHMEN works to feed children living off of a dump site in Honduras. I was watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations one night and he visited this site. Seeing the horrific environment these kids are exposed to everyday sickened me. It shook ol Tony up badly as well. And, that’s not easy to do!

Check out links the links below to find out more about the AHMEN charity and see some photos of the event provided by DSmithImages.

http://www.honduranmissions.com/

http://localmusicphotos.blogs.tuscaloosanews.com/10263/model-citizen-070911/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Song file: Syd Barrett’s “Wined and Dined” as covered by Matt Patton & Jody Nelson

Posted on June 21, 2011 by modelcitizenband

My friend Jody Nelson of Birmingham based Through the Sparks helped me record this a few years back. We had toyed with the idea of putting out a tribute comp benefiting research and treatment for conditions such as the one that took Syd Barrett away. I was going through some tough times back then and I was itching to do something. I want to thank Jody for helping me create this. We agreed that it was one of the coolest things that we had ever recorded.

Wined and Dined — Patton

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

We have a website!

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Model Citizen

Hi, We are Model Citizen. Download our albums for free. More soon!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment