Today Hot Water Music share details on their forthcoming EP Shake Up The Shadows, out May 24 on Epitaph. The first shared song is Rebellion Story, a melodic track that reinforces the importance of community and rallies against the toxic mentality of entitlement and privilege that some people feel when it comes to where they’re from or the color of their skin.
Shake Up The Shadows sees the band – guitarist/vocalists Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard, bassist Jason Black and drummer George Rebelo – crafting some of the most impassioned music of their career. Recorded at Black Bear Studios in Gainesville, with the band’s live sound person Ryan Williams (who also produced their 2017 full-length Light It Up), Shake Up The Shadows is a truly collaborative effort despite the fact that member Ragan is currently based in California where he owns a fly fishing operation.
The influence of the members’ other musical projects, including Rebelo’s gig as the drummer for The Bouncing Souls and Ragan’s more folk-oriented solo career, are also present on Shake Up The Shadows and this fact is most evident when it comes to Ragan’s vocals. “I’ve never stopped singing or performing and along with that comes learning just how far I can push things,” he explains. Ragan credits Williams with helping to bring that emotion out of him on this EP, explaining that the band were careful not to overthink their approach in the studio.
While Hot Water Music have never been an outwardly political band, lyrically Shake Up The Shadows sees them expanding on the themes of unity and togetherness. Ragan explains, “I think we’re living in a really volatile and terrifying time where people are turning a blind eye to the hatred that’s happening in this world and thinking of themselves rather than the big picture. I think that sentiment is present in these new songs the way it has always kind of been there in our music.”
Preorder Shakeup The Shadows Here
