Bourbon has ruined romances, started fistfights, improved lies, destroyed judgement, and convinced generations of perfectly reasonable people that singing at 2:17 in the morning was an excellent idea. Los Tres Mortales understand its dramatic possibilities: their debut single, Bourbon, throws Caroline Blind and CWHK of Sunshine Blind together with Troy Payne of The Wake, three veterans of American gothic rock who could easily have made something stately and respectable. Thank God they went for the saloon instead.
The lyrics leave busted bottles, motel sheets, gasoline, libation-drenched lies, and poor decisions scattered around. The song narrates the story of Blackout Bourbon Baby staggering through this chaos, laughing and smashing whatever’s left to prevent morning from revealing anything. Somewhere between downtown and oblivion, two people continue dancing because sobriety would end the argument forever.
CWHK builds the track around drums that hit with blunt purpose and guitars carrying enough weight to make the floorboards complain. Payne steps into the song sounding tightly wound, severe, possibly one drink away from delivering a lecture nobody requested. Then Blind answers him. Her voice brings mischief into the argument, loosening his collar one button at a time while the two circle the fictional Blackout Bourbon Baby from opposite sides.
“CWHK gave us the music and the title…and Troy came up with the story of the Blackout Bourbon Baby,” says Blind. “I knew it would be perfect to respond to his character by becoming the voice of the Bourbon Baby herself, telling him to chill out and stop being so tight-laced. The back and forth between two people trying to convince each other of their point of view creates a tension you just don’t get from a single voice. It’s also only somewhat reflective of my actual friendship with Troy!”
That “somewhat” is doing magnificent work. The pleasure comes from hearing two personalities collide rather than politely alternate. Payne bears down; Blind needles him. One voice wants control, the other keeps opening another bottle. Their exchange gives Bourbon the shape of an argument that became flirtation somewhere around closing time, and will probably become an argument again before breakfast. Rich W tears through the middle with a lead guitar break that adds another streak of poor planning.
Los Tres Mortales themselves began almost as casually.
“Some people get together with their friends and play board games or have barbecues,” Blind quips. “When we get together, we share whatever music we’re working on, somebody jumps in with an idea, and suddenly we’re all working together. My advice? Write music with your friends. Collaborate. Celebrate. People were doing it for millennia before the internet!”
There are worse manifestos.
Tintin’s video wisely avoids sophistication. Blind and Payne perform in front of a wall of fire because sometimes a wall of fire is exactly what civilization has been building toward. Flames leap behind them while both singers attack their roles with the delighted seriousness of people who know melodrama becomes much more enjoyable once you stop apologizing for it. The result is funny, theatrical, cheap-looking in the complimentary midnight-movie sense, and perfectly suited to a song named after brown liquor.
Watch below:
Produced by CWHK and mastered by William Faith, Bourbon carries decades of experience without behaving like anybody has been appointed curator of the past. Los Tres Mortales sound pleased to be here, pleased to be loud, and especially pleased to discover that friendship, guitars, alcohol mythology, and gratuitous fire remain perfectly serviceable reasons to start a band.
Listen to Bourbon below and order the single here.
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