DEBUT ALBUM 'MY 21ST CENTURY BLUES' OUT NOW

Contact - pk@s1bling.com

British singer-songwriter RAYE shines as one of the brightest stars in music today, boasting eight Top 20 UK singles, 5 Billion global streams, an Ivor Novello Award, and a track record of writing for the industry’s biggest names. Since her debut in 2014, RAYE has undergone a remarkable journey to stardom. Nominated for a record-breaking seven 2024 BRIT Awards – the most of any artist in one year – her long-awaited independent debut album “My 21st Century Blues” made an immediate impact. As a welcome result of her self-fulfilling work, RAYE unknowingly created the song that became synonymous with 2023. The global smash “Escapism.” not only became the largest selling single by a female British artist in 2023, but it also earned RAYE her first UK #1 and entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US where it’s since been certified Platinum. Following support tours with Lewis Capaldi, Kali Uchis, and SZA, RAYE performed 130 headline shows including a rousing set at Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Her career-defining turn at Royal Albert Hall – accompanied by a 50-person orchestra and gospel choir – received a televised BBC special for the ages with critics heralding RAYE as “the most talented artist since Adele and Amy Winehouse” (The Telegraph). This year, she performs her “My 21st Century Symphony” to a sold-out crowd of 20,000 at The O2 Arena prior to making her debut at Coachella. After playing and owning the pop game, RAYE bet on herself and won.

Pre-save "Rebel Diamonds", coming December 8th, here: https://TheKillers.lnk.to/RebelDiamondsPS

In a dark kitchen in the middle of a sweaty night in Las Vegas, all 6’4” of Dan Reynolds is hunched over a laptop, slapping beats on the table and crooning lyrics into a tiny microphone. Before long, he and the other three members of indie rock band Imagine Dragons would be playing “It’s Time,” that same laptop-demo-turned-supersized-anthem, from the roof of a parking garage to a wave of thousands of screaming fans. This song title to the single from their 2012 debut KidInaKorner/Interscope release “Continued Silence EP” is an all too apt descriptor of the band’s hard-earned success—but it’s also emblematic of the deep-seated anxiety Reynolds and the rest of the band experienced leaving behind any realistic expectation of a normal job to do the thing they love most.

A third-generation Las Vegas native, Reynolds is no stranger to the adage “the house always wins,” choosing to pave his musical career with a near obsessive work ethic and hundreds of unused demos rather than roll the dice with the first songs that sprung from his mouth. It’s no surprise, then, that he was drawn to guitarist Wayne Sermon, another founding member of Imagine Dragons. Having practically grown up in a recording studio and graduated Berklee College of Music, Wayne had been practicing his guitar through meals and other socially inappropriate situations as long as he could remember; he challenged Dan in a way that was both uncomfortable and exactly what they both needed. When they began writing songs together and recognized something special was happening, Wayne called up his Berklee friend Ben McKee, who promptly dropped out of school with only a few credits left, moving across the country to play bass for the band. This sort of reckless/genius behavior is typical for Ben, who has an uncanny penchant for spicy food and a suitcase full of unbelievable road stories. More recently, the band was joined by drummer Daniel Platzman, another Bostonian schoolmate who seems way too nice to be playing rock and roll until you actually see him in action.

Several tours and three self-released EPs later, Imagine Dragons had made a serious name for itself, particularly in the west coast circuit. Although their songs vary from nearly whimsical and light to brooding and powerful, listeners are drawn to the inherent honesty in the music. The only rule of thumb for the band, it seems, is to write from a true place; the result is songs that literally run the spectrum of human emotion. Attend a concert, and it becomes clear that the live performance of deeply personal songs has a real effect on people. And the band itself is not immune, as demonstrated when Dan literally passed out into the drum set during a finale song, sending cymbals and drum stands crashing while the rest of the band played on until the close.

Great songwriting is bound to be noticed eventually. As proof that the harder you work, the luckier you get, one of those people who noticed was Grammy winning producer Alex da Kid (Eminem, Rihanna). Alex and Dan began collaborating on projects, and soon the band had developed a relationship with Alex and his team. The alchemy resulting from Alex’s hip hop sensibilities and Imagine Dragons’ anthemic rock is nothing short of explosive. The byproduct of this creative collision is “Continued Silence,” a six song in-your-face sonic grenade that breaks musical boundaries and yet is strangely relatable by its improbably diverse audience.

Despite it all, on any given day when they aren’t on the road playing shows, you can still find Imagine Dragons huddled away in a rehearsal room somewhere, banging out song after song in search of the next perfect track. Like most things in Vegas, the band is angled at going big or going bust. For the sake of those who love great music, we hope it’s the former.

‘there’s always more that I could say’ out october 24th!

Download/Stream ASYLUM, out now https://lnk.to/ASYLUM

For all the climates and cities that bring people together, the boys in A R I Z O N A came together as a trio in an apartment in Boston, their makeshift studio the counterweight to the lofty halls of East Coast music scholarship. In a string of infinite sessions during their time at both Berklee College of Music and Emerson College, Nate (guitar) hopped on a session with David (keys) and Zach (vocals), and all the moving pieces came together in a way that would reincarnate itself in many different fashions before eventually becoming the group now known as “A R I Z O N A”.

 The three songwriter/producers from Jersey shared an obsession with the far left, sometimes even obscure side of music, but were even more romanced by the brutal honesty of pop topline and lyrics. Their music - including “I Was Wrong,” “Where I Wanna Be,” “Let Me Touch Your Fire,” and “People Crying Every Night” - creates new shapes and boundaries to span genres, time periods and styles, all focusing on the naked human tropes contained in the traditional pop narrative: love, loss, the need for raw unhinged expression.  

The years and cities came and went, and it took until just last year for these old friends to point their focus finally inward. Thus, the band was formed, and they were no longer just the writers or producers; they were the performers. Over the past few months, the trio’s music has incited an exponentially upward curve of massive fan engagement and early success with tens of millions of streams across Soundcloud, Spotify, YouTube and more. A R I Z O N A joined the social savvy co-conspirators at Atlantic Records and Artist Publishing Group at the close of 2015 and are currently working on their debut album.
They're currently working on their debut EP to be released in 2016.

MGMT (All Inquiries): Jake Posner - mgmt.arizonatheband@gmail.com

Rowan Nutter is following