The Magpie Salute announce debut studio album High Water I

The Magpie Salute, starring former Black Crowes guitarists Rich Robinson and Marc Ford and bassist Sven Pipien, have announced details of their debut stdio album. High Water I will be released on August 10, and is the follow-up to last year's The Magpie Salute (Live), which was largely recorded in front of a studio audience in Woodstock, New York.  

While the Woodstock show was recorded with a 10-piece line-up, the band went into Dark Horse Studios in Nashville to record the album as a sextet, with the former Crowes joined by singer John Hogg, keyboardist Matt Slocum and drummer Joe Magistro.

"Touring as a ten-piece is cool, but it’s more like a revue,” says Robinson. "Everything on stage was great. When you’re ready to record, there’s a lot of space that needs to be considered though. We didn’t want it to get too chaotic or too hard to sift through. The core was really important and needed to shine as a strong six-piece. It was great to build something new last year. We were born in a sense. Now, we’re working towards something as a tight unit."

The band have also released a video for the first single to taken from the album, Send Me An Omen.  

"Send Me An Omen to me wraps up all of the elements of this band," says Robinson. "There’s pure rock'n'roll juxtaposed with these pop melodies sung with a melancholy that creates this beautiful balance of surreal dark and light."

The band plan to release High Water II next year.

"When I was putting this thing together, I was thinking about how even though we may not have played for almost a decade, it just comes back immediately," says Robinson. "The chemistry is unexplainable. Of course, I’m the same guy who played with the Black Crowes and wrote all of those songs, but this is a different context for myself, Marc, and Sven. 

"It’s the convergence of three different worlds and eras for me. We’re all here together in this one place. Simultaneously, it’s amazing for Marc and Sven to play with Joe and Matt and John to be in the middle of it all. For me, that was really cool to witness. This is what I wanted to do.”

“The more time we spend together, the more I realise how much of my life is involved with Rich,” says Ford. "This is probably the best band I’ve ever been in. As a player, it challenges me. There’s something beyond us that we’re agreeing with. This music wants us to be a part of it. Rich and I just agreed that whatever it took for us to drop our bullshit—so be it. That way, we could let this happen in our lives. 

"It’s better when we’re together than when we’re not. We’re better friends than we’ve ever been. I’ve learned more about him in the last year than I had in the past thirty. Rich and I have been able to pick up this fragmented broken piece of a very bizarre life together and unite as grown men and say, ‘Wow, that was something. Let’s see what we can do with it.'"

"We’re all very aware of this position we’re in,” says Hogg. "Rich and Marc have this intense and long history together in quite a public way. At the same time, you’ve got Sven who’s been in the band forever, and Joe has been with Rich for 15 years. 

"I have this history with Rich. I won’t lie; it’s all quite unusual. I’m working with the greatest musicians I’ve ever worked with. The dynamic is powerful and positive. There’s been a number of long journeys that suddenly all coalesce.”

High Water I is released on August 10.