Draped Apes
OUT NOW
Reaching #2 on the UK Indie Breakers chart and #8 on the Scottish album charts, Draped Apes is the sprawling, messier follow up to André Salvador and the Von Kings’ self-titled debut. Out now on Last Night from Glasgow records.
The album was recorded in 5 studios around Nashville. It features a classic indie rock sound made new with modern techniques, twists, and production. Written both before and during the pandemic, Draped Apes includes Tim Cheplick’s meditations on time, the purpose of dreams, New York City, psychics, love and related emotions, the state of the world, and music making itself.
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Draped Apes (2022)
Self-titled (2020)
bio
André Salvador and the Von Kings is a none-hit wonder from Nashville, led by multi-instrumentalist Tim Cheplick. Musicians come and go under the group’s umbrella, and none of them are named André Salvador. They make “tasty psych/indie tunes that feel modern and forward thinking” (The Deli).
Cheplick self-released a couple of albums under various monikers before signing to the not-for-profit, patron-funded, cool-as-hell record label Last Night from Glasgow in 2020. Paul Provenzano became the group’s drummer after answering an ad to play a gig on his birthday. They headed to Nashville to record the foundations of their label debut with producer Robin Eaton (Lionlimb, Jill Sobule) at Club Roar studios, and finished it back up in Brooklyn. Their self-titled album arrived in the summer of 2020 and garnered significant positive press.
After the release and before the pandemic upended gigs, multi-talented David Voss joined the group adding piano, organ, synth, and background vocals both live and in the studio.
The band felt so at home recording in Nashville that they went so far as to make it their actual home, relocating in 2021. For their second LP for the label, Draped Apes, they crafted a more sprawling, messier album, breaking the barriers of their previous sound. This took the form of recording in 5 studios for the 14 tracks, mostly in Nashville, including stops at Club Roar, Deadbeat, Powerplant, and Fancy Fish Studios. The sound is filled out on the record by a wider array of instruments and sounds like autoharp and drum machines, and guest appearances like Paul DeFiglia on bass and Penelope V on vocals.
Draped Apes released 25 Nov 2022.
April 2023 brought the release of a cover of Pete Ham’s “Hand in Hand” exclusively for the charity compilation by Earthpercent, an environmental organization co-founded by Brian Eno.
The band has begun recording their next record in a cabin in the woods. New music and major updates in early 2024.
press for self-titled
“Spontaneous and artisanal…the twelve songs of André Salvador and the Von Kings offer an approach that manages to be new, absolutely modern yet not abstruse or unsettling. Well-known and loved sounds that combine to form melodies that are never predictable.
And so purely rock'n'roll riffs alternate with acoustic delicacies, hypnotic and almost orchestral passages are followed by bare interludes in an original and comforting sound painting.”
“Strangely inviting underground pop with a different sort of sound and style…well-crafted songs with instantly memorable melodies and intelligent lyrics…Smart. Resilient. And unique. Highly recommended. Top pick.”
“André Salvador and the Von Kings have such a calm vibe but also a load of energy hidden in each track.”
“The songs radiate a psych quality that reminds me a bit of mid-’90s Teenage Fanclub blended with the early Elephant 6 sound. And it’s highly consistent across a dozen selections. A-”
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