VOODOO EXPERIENCE | WORSHIP THE MUSIC | OCT 30 / OCT 31 / NOV 1, 2009

That American Bang, four high-school friends from Nashville, TN, are the real deal. Their unruly brand of Southern-fried garage-rock packs one hell of a punch, with Jaren Johnston’s swaggering bluesy vocals muscling up against Ben Brown’s blistering guitar riffs, Kelby Ray’s aggro basslines, and Neil Mason’s burly drumming. The guys tear through songs like “All Night Long,” “American Ride,” and “Good as Gold,” with the flair and confidence of rock’n’roll veterans.

American Bang formed in June 2005, after Mason, Brown, and Johnston’s previous bands dissolved and the friends began to flesh out main songwriter Johnston’s tales of hard-living, hard-drinking, and loose women. (“I'm a total sucker for all those ’70s bands that wrote about either getting their heart broken, or getting laid at the party after a long night of drinking,” Johnston says.) After Ray took over bass duties, the four knew they had something special.

The band’s first show as a quartet was opening for their friends O.A.R. at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the original site of the Grand Ole Opry that has hosted Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, and countless others. "We had just made the transition bringing Kelby over to bass,” says Mason,” and decided to make the switch knowing that we wanted that show to be our best ever.

American Bang built up a grass-roots audience playing locally, earning a reputation for their high-energy, no-holds-barred live shows. The band recorded a debut album, entitled I Shot the King, which they released themselves in 2005.