Canyons and Locusts watch as ‘Love Goes Down The Drain’ on Valentine’s Day
The Boston + Phoenix melodic noise-rock duo offer a heartfelt shrug on raucous new single out Wednesday, February 14
Now Playing: Listen to ‘Love Goes Down The Drain’ via Spotify
New EP ‘The Red Angel’ is dedicated to Justine Covault and set for March release
Boston, MA [February 14, 2024] – Releasing new music on Valentine’s Day usually suggests there’s all this love-struck meaning and sticky-sweet sentiment embedded within the track’s lyrics. Canyons and Locusts are simply having none of that.
Instead, the Boston and Phoenix melodic noise-rock duo are embracing the Hallmark holiday with one big shrug and one even bigger punch: A raucous new single title “Love Goes Down The Drain,” set for release on Wednesday, February 14.
The brash ripper of a guitar-rock tune is the fourth and latest single from the twosome’s forthcoming EP The Red Angel, due on March 15. With Valentine’s Day screaming loud in pink desperation smack dab in the middle of the month, it made sense to unleash “Love Goes Down The Drain” on this particular day, as vocalist and guitarist Justin Keane and drummer Amy Young up a solidarity shrug to all who just roll with love’s freewheeling punches.
“Honestly, it's pretty simple and the first two lines of the song say it all – ‘sometimes it's out of reach, that's why love goes down the drain’. Sometimes shit just falls apart and you can't find the center anymore and that's when things – relationships, friendships, fandoms, anything – get flushed down the toilet,” admits Keane.
And when it does, you just gotta shrug about it. Because no matter how Valentine’s Day goes for any of us, the fact remains that February 15 will arrive no matter what. As Young puts it, love, like anything else is fluid, and one day can’t define it.
“Underneath the title, there's the message that sometimes it's out of our control and at the end of the day, that's okay if you did everything you could,” Keane adds. “I hate hearing people feeling badly on Valentine's Day and while I don't begrudge the holiday or a great love song, I also kinda… eh. Sometimes it's out of reach… that's ok. You're ok.”
Canyons and Locusts are also ok. Last fall, the duo began releasing new tracks from The Red Angel, kickstarting this barnstorming barrage of new music with “Buck Dharma’s Eyes.” Two tracks have since followed – December’s stomping “To Art Bell” and last month’s cruising “Soo All The Way” – giving listeners a chance to absorb the first few tracks off the EP through a monthly rollout. They raised a glass to their former Red on Red Records labelmates The Chelsea Curve, who released eight straight monthly singles in what they dubbed The Singles Scene.
“It puts a space in between the material and allows folks to really dig into a track,” Young says of the rollout strategy.
Here, listeners can dig in on what makes Canyons and Locusts so great. Co-produced by Keane alongside Ethan Dussault and recorded at New Alliance Audio in Somerville, “Love Goes Down The Drain” is another propulsive rager that gets to the good stuff fast and never lets go. In classic Canyons and Locusts fashion, it clocks in well under two minutes, coming in at a robust 1:44. If songs are considered love affairs, then Canyons and Locusts’ have mastered the melodic noise-rock’s one night stand.
“I think that we really love drive and urgency and sometimes a concise package pushes that sentiment even further,” Young says. “And we also know that a lot of time isn’t always needed to make a point. I think in some ways, we start with the point and then concern ourselves with driving that point all the way home.”
And as usual, “Love Goes Down The Drain” showcases the magnetic chemistry between Keane and Young, who don’t let the 2,300 physical miles between them deter any creative streaks.
“Justin brought this one to the studio and we talked about the kind of punchy, driving energy he had in mind for it,” Young says, “and it was one of those songs that immediately fell into place, where we could feel all the energy and motion. The song talks about the swirling nature of love, and I think we put the right punch into it.”
Keane admits there’s a lot of Guided By Voices ethos baked into this one, adding: “I guess it started as a title in search of a song, this prosaic Archie Bunker way of describing the end of a relationship. From that point...there's a great GBV song with Tobin on vocals called ‘Dodging Invisible Rays,’ and it’s one of those special Tobin vocals that I have to quote completely: ‘In the first place who could blame you? / In the second place, you're insane / Like the feeling that you're just circling round..." And he never sings ‘drain’ to complete the rhyme, not once, and I so badly want him to. So when I got to the title I was like, we're doing ‘Love Goes Down The Drain’, and we are going to make the word ‘drain’ a very important part of this whole song. That is where love and the person/thing/concept the narrator is speaking to are going to end up.”
As far as actual love songs, Keane and Young have plenty in their respective playlists. Keane cites Justine and The Unclean's "Love Doesn't Know A Thing," which he admits “makes me cry every time I hear it,” as a personal favorite (“Everything about that song is perfect,” he says; “every single thing”), while Young goes with “Out of this World” by ‘60s R&B singer Geno Washington. They have plenty of anti-love songs in their mixes as well, from Keane’s admiration of the live version of “She’s Lost Control” by Joy Division to Young’s preference of Misfits’ “Die, Die My Darling.”
Whether or not “Love Goes Down The Drain” enters the pantheon of Valentine’s Day songs is anyone’s guess, but Canyons and Locusts are just appreciative of the love they’ve been receiving lately for their new music.
It’s been amazing, wonderful, and we’re so grateful,” Keane concludes. “I feel like people are really picking up what we're putting down. We're loud, and catchy, and we are going to be relentless. We're here.”
Just like Valentine’s Day.
Canyons and Locusts are:
Justin Keane: Vocals and guitar
Amy Young: Drums
‘Love Goes Down The Drain’ production credits:
Produced by Justin Keane and Ethan Dussault
Recorded and mixed by Ethan Dussault at New Alliance Studio, June, August 2023
Mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East, October 2023
Music and lyrics by Justin Keane, Heavy Fuzz Music/BMI
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Canyons and Locusts short bio:
Canyons and Locusts are a two-piece band featuring Boston’s Justin Keane on vocals and guitar and Phoenix’s Amy Young on drums and backing vocals. Fueled by the chaos of the world and an urgent need to be part of the conversation, the two took the indie rock foundation they built together in previous bands, adding new levels of noise via pervasive, edgy guitar sounds, low and thundery drum beats, and vocals that capture a mix of emotions and power dynamics. A new EP, The Red Angel, dedicated to Red on Red Records’ Justine Covault, is set for release in March 2024, led by a trio of singles in “Buck Dharma’s Eyes,” “To Art Bell,” “Soo All The Way,” and the recent “Love Goes Down The Drain.”
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Media praise for Canyons and Locusts:
“Picking up where October’s furious ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ left off, ‘To Art Bell’ is a hazy fever of gritty alt-rock and Midwestern college rock that clocks in at just over two minutes in runtime. And it’s not lost on the band that this chaotic and noisy tune is inspired, in part, by a radio host who’s timbre and cadence helped put listeners at ease.” _The Big Takeover
“‘Soo All The Way’ is a mean motherrocker that easily could have been on an early Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr album. Distorted guitars, raw and rough. Sturdy drum hits. Expressive and punchy vocals. DIY rock ‘n’ roll at its razor blade sharpest. Hells bells.” _Turn Up The Volume
“In a flurry of fuzz and ferocious pummeling, Keane and Young are back at it again with barely two minutes of raucous Rawk that ends before it has a chance to get stale. Decidedly a little more chirpier than previous outing ‘To Art Bell’, ‘Soo All The Way’ is a crunchy number with Young laying out some percussive heft as Keane’s growly croon rattles around in your noggin long after the final chords ring out.” _Rock And Roll Fables
"The song [‘To Art Bell’] is a fuzzed out indie rock song that sounds like a sludgier Guided By Voices. It's a fun and upbeat rocker that's a fitting tribute to the radio host. It's the kind of song that's loud and thunderous, but surprisingly catchy.” _If It’s Too Loud
“Canyons and Locusts ram it out in just a little more than two minutes. … Where the previous single ‘To Art Bell’ was a musically varied affair, the duo all but flies out of the bend in the road here [‘Soo All THe Way’]. Anyone in the mood for some uncomplicated headbanging knows where to go now.” _WoNo Magazine
“Packed with ample doses of throwback punk energy and a sneering-forward delivery, ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ is everything you’d hope alluding to the BOC frontman, and everything you need to push through the artificial. It is an escape from the clean-cut, over-produced nonsense and exists confidently in its attitude. Laced with an energetic fervor, the two-minute single leaves me wanting so much more. But tis the season to be thankful for what we have.” _Nanobot Rock
“When we heard ‘To Art Bell,’ from Boston and Phoenix duo Canyons And Locusts, it felt like a musical awakening. To hear music and melodies orchestrated like they are presented on ‘To Art Bell’ was absolute magic.” _The Whole Kameese
“Canyons and Locusts’ new track ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ brings back memories of the early 2000s. With the gritty guitar and equally gravelly vocal performance, you can imagine this tune introducing the latest coming-of-age blockbuster that will have teens and young adults lining up around the block.” _Indie Band Guru
“‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ presents a raw indie rock energy, gritty and live-sounding in its authenticity but mysterious, thoughtful and elusive in its vague though cutting lyrical journey.” _Stereo Stickman
“Canyons and Locusts do a lot with just two instruments and they've had a signature sound since the first single. Their newly released song ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ has that sound. They've managed to keep things interesting with melody and lyric content and that’s the case here. We really want to read into ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ but the lyrics don’t reveal anything specific. The repeated use of ‘amen’ also raises the stakes. The verses when read without the music almost seem like a meditation, a calming. Is the title just a way to get the word ‘dharma’ (cosmic order) into the song? It’s all intriguing.” _Boston Groupie News
“‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ initially leads with a fuzzy melodic tempting but soon reveals its garage punk instincts as Keane’s distinctive tones share their emotive contemplation. Already that pop catchiness is fuelling the track’s swing though, a listener involving courting simply adding greater potency to its aligning sonic discord and emotive anxiety. As a whole, ‘Buck Dharma’s Eyes’ is a track bound in thick infectiousness, its contagion of noise and melodic fire cast with a similarly organic trespass of enterprise which we for one were very quickly enamoured with.” _The RingMaster Review
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