Biography

Click on this link or paste it in your browser to watch Aztec Two-Step's video for their new single NAKED: https://youtu.be/ydj0x9Zy4i0

NEW AZTEC TWO-STEP SINGLE & VIDEO “NAKED” OUT NOW

NEW ALBUM ‘NAKED’ FROM ICONIC FOLK/ROCK DUO DUE OUT SEPTEMBER 1, 2017

Legendary folk/rock duo Aztec Two-Step’s new single “Naked” is out now, with the video for the timely single also available for viewing here (https://vimeo.com/221429272).

The clip is the title song from Aztec Two-Step’s forthcoming album, Naked, scheduled for release September 1, the first album of all-original songs from the group since 2005’s acclaimed release, Days Of Horses. Directed by Jayne Olderman, the video for “Naked” is in keeping with the band’s uplifting perspective, as the song speaks to the angst of the times with its buoyant notion that “with a little push and shove, and a lot of peace and love, maybe we’ll break through.’”

The montage of visuals depicts children as the best hope for a brighter future even as we contend with the issues of climate change, broken families, the proliferation of guns, ideological extremism, and more.

The clip is cleverly book-ended by recent footage of band members Rex Fowler and Neal Shuman stepping out of the same Greenwich Village doorways where they were photographed for the cover of the acclaimed 1972 debut self-titled Elektra Records album that launched their career. Their enduring partnership has been a notable chapter in the annals of American folk/rock ever since, challenging its conventions while maintaining a potent creative currency for four and a half decades.
Just as the title of the new single and forthcoming album also brings the band full circle - ‘we’re all born naked with wings to soar’ – they sing on the new track, it’s the joy they take in sharing their experiences and topical concerns with their fans that bolsters their first all-new material in more than a decade.

Says Rex: “Right from the get-go, whenever we'd play “Naked” out live, we'd get such a positive response from our audience. The lyric is done in broad strokes, getting its message out but at the same time not being too overbearing or confrontational. I think that’s the key – for both the song and the video.”

Neal also cites the idea of facing our collective travails and ‘still being optimistic’ as themes Aztec Two-Step followers know by heart. “I always say you don’t last this long without being somebody’s favorite band,” he quips. “Our songs have always flowed between stories about relationships and experiences with that bigger picture perspective that paints our worldview. The songs on Naked are a good mix of all this.”

Rex points to their seminal 1986 album Living In America, which received the New York Music Award for Best Folk Album, as a cornerstone in a “set of building blocks that enables a song like ‘Naked’ to follow in its footsteps. Part of the powerful thing about staying together as we have is you build this living tapestry with your fans that keeps us going and growing.”

And the group is always attracting new fans. Aztec Two-Step’s constant touring and easy rapport with lifelong followers or younger fans who may be discovering them for the first time, has made them one of the most intriguing and durable success stories in the history of folk or rock. Their 46 year legacy is a vital chronicle of a work-a-day duo that never lost their instincts for making compassionate, intelligent songs that speak to the head and the heart.

Featuring their signature two-part harmonies and striking acoustic lead guitar, the two musicians have never shed the intuitive spark that was present at their chance meeting at an open mic night in Boston in 1971.

Rex hailed from a small town in Maine; Neal was born and raised in New York City; together they would embark on a career that would be marked by a diverse array of treasured gems. Their early 1970s radio hit “The Persecution and Restoration of Dean Moriarity (On The Road)” put the rock world on notice this was a different kind of musical duo (they took their name Aztec Two-Step from Beat-poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Poem #9 from Coney Island Of The Mind).

After their self-titled debut album on Elektra Records, which in 2007 would be named by Real Simple Magazine as one of the Top Five Classic Folk Albums of all time, other turning point works followed – 1975’s Second Step, 1976’s Two’s Company, and 1977’s Adjoining Suites, all for RCA Records. They’d release The Times Of Our Lives in 1979 before taking a hiatus from recording for a while (they continued to tour the U.S.), releasing their award winning album Living In America in 1986, which was also named in Billboard’s year-end critics poll.

More musical offerings would follow, with the band securing its place as folk/rock mainstay in a sea of changing trends throughout the 90s. The duo released their first live album, Highway Signs, in celebration of their 25th anniversary in 1996. They closed out the decade as featured artists in "No Hit Wonder," a PBS documentary chronicling their historic career.

Additional milestones followed: to mark their 30th anniversary in 2001, they released a double CD compilation Live & Rare. In 2005 came another album of all original songs, the acclaimed Days Of Horses, which the Boston Globe hailed as the band’s wistful perspective on American pop culture ‘and their own ride through it.’ 2012 saw them commemorate their 40th anniversary with a collection of their topical songs, titled Cause & Effect.

This new album reaffirms Aztec Two-Step’s place as folk/rock stalwarts with songs such as the breezy “In The Rain,” “Family,” “Out On The Road Again,” “World Without Walls,” “Long Black Lincoln” and “One Hundred Thousand Bands," among others. The latter is an ode to the kind of indescribable impulse known to those picking up that guitar for the first time and dreaming of stardom.

Having appeared through the years with everyone from the Beach Boys to The Band, they know a little something about appearing ‘naked’ to the world when it comes to their creative best. “It’s still a very powerful thing for us – performing,” says Neal. “Whether we’re playing for 50 or 5,000, to have a group of people validating what we do night in and night out still moves us deeply.”

For a complete biography, discography and upcoming dates, visit aztectwostep.com

More Information: www.aztectwostep.com
Media Contact: Tracey Miller & Associates (TMA)

info@tmapublicity.com, 609-383-2323

Album credits:
Rex Fowler/Somewhere Music (ASCAP),
Neal Shulman/NBS Music (ASCAP)

Alana MacDonald, Herb Ludwig & Tom Dean/Devonsquare Music (ASCAP)

Andrew James Gundell/ AJ Gundell Music (SESAC)

Players:
Gary Schreiner ~ keyboards, accordion & chromatic harmonica 

Thad DeBrock ~ electric guitars & mandola

Michael Visceglia ~ bass

Douglas Yowell ~ drums and percussion 

Tom Dean ~ 6 string acoustic & mandola on 'World Without Walls

Fred Holman ~ bass on 'Lover's Lullaby

Jordan Jancz ~ cello on 'Lover's Lullaby' & Long Black Lincoln

Tim Ouimette ~ trumpet
Jack Bashkow ~ clarinet
Randy Andos ~ trombone
Neal Shulman ~ 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars 

Rex Fowler ~ 6 string acoustic 


Singers: 
Emily Bindiger (vocal arrangements), Dennis Collins & Audrey Martells

Guest Vocals:

Bruce Milner, Joy Hammond, Greg Wilson & Mark Leventhal in Memoriam for his brothers Eric and Jay

Produced & Arranged by Gary Schreiner 
Engineered & Mixed by David Kowalski
Recorded at Teaneck Sound Studio & Rich Man's Den
CD & Vinyl Mastering by Chris Muth of the Taloowa Corporation
Graphics & Design by Steven Roues 
Photography by William Coupon