The Haymarket Squares’ new album, Light It Up, due for release on February 26, 2016, is a 12-song summation of the band’s musical influences and lyrical concerns, with tasty dollops of polka, gospel and Latin percussion mixed into the group’s signature punkgrass sound. Light It Up was recorded and produced (on largely analog gear) by Bob Hoag (Dear and the Headlights, Gin Blossoms, The Ataris) at Flying Blanket Recording in Mesa, AZ, and mastered by Jason Livermore (Alkaline Trio, Propagandhi, Drag The River) at Blasting Room Studios in Fort Collins, CO.
Some of the songs on the album have been part of the band’s live show for years, while others are recent arrivals. But they all share the same genesis: “We’ll hear or read something on the news that pisses us off, and a few days/weeks/months later, a new song arrives,” laughs Mark Sunman, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who wrote several tracks on Light It Up. “For better or worse, there’s no shortage of inspiration out there,” adds Marc Oxborrow, who sings, plays bass, and wrote a number of songs on the album.
Known for their incisive lyrics and boundless live energy, the band stocked the album with plenty of witty wordplay and pointed commentary, touching on everything from surveillance (“No Such Agency”) to liberal guilt (“Part of the Problem”) to the end of the world (“Goodbye”). Acoustic guitarist John Luther Norris somehow manages to mention Zapatistas, Japanese vending machines and elephants in his Latin-infused “Jump the Border.” And no Haymarket Squares release would be complete without a love/hate ditty about their hometown of Phoenix, where there are “a million little places with local bands and beer, to have a drink and wonder what the hell you’re doing here.” With an accordion providing a melancholy backdrop, Light It Up’s first single, “Let’s Start A Riot,” perfectly captures the “crushing weight of boredom and responsibility” of adult life, while the urgent “Horrible Inventions” (driven by a blistering solo from slide guitarist Mark Allred) takes on the dirty business of unjust border policies.
Having played more than 500 shows in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, the 5-piece band will support their new album with a busy touring schedule, highlighted by a main stage performance at Arizona’s largest music gathering, the McDowell Mountain Music Festival (headlined by Beck and the Avett Brothers). And as winners of the 2015 Pickin’ in the Pines band competition, The Haymarket Squares will play that festival’s main stage in the fall of 2016.
