It's been six years since the inception of Gnarlemagne in the Seacoast music scene. And it's been three years since they released their debut album, "Run for Shelter."

It's been six years since the inception of Gnarlemagne in the Seacoast music scene. And it's been three years since they released their debut album, "Run for Shelter."



A lot has changed in the six years the band has been in existence, leading up to the release of their highly anticipated sophomore album, "A Warm and Cozy Volcano," which will be released with a celebratory party at Fury's Publick House in Dover on Saturday, Nov. 3.



The band has aged (naturally). They're no longer a group of young college lads coming together as a semi-cohesive musical unit to provide the soundtrack to any and all basement parties in the area. With that, comes a change in aesthetic, and the desire to chase sounds that no other band has the genetic makeup, or, quite frankly, the creativity to produce. On "Run for Shelter," there was no shortage of New Orleans flavored funk, and soul jams. The vibe was feel-good, and the buzz was aplenty. Gnarlemagne has built themselves into one of the premier (and most unique) musical troupes in the area. Another change is the permanent addition of a couple of more horn players, and a keys element that has opened up all kinds of different areas of exploration for the band. While the vibe is still very fun, the musicality of Gnarlemagne has shifted and grown exponentially. They've gotten better, and they've delved into different genres which stem from the diverse tastes of all parties involved in the group.



"A Warm and Cozy Volcano," is much heavier than "Run for Shelter." It's psychedelic, it's lively, it's moving and moody, and it's so very interesting. In short, there is no band out there that taps as many influences as Gnarlemagne while doing so in a manner that is seamlessly delicious. The ingenuity is never lacking, and the wit is ever sharp. To not find yourself engaged in the record's contents is to concede to the notion that you're living an existence played out in a bland white box with no means of escape.



The aptly titled record is best summed up by the man behind the keys, Mike Effenberger:



"It's not a bad image of what playing the music feels like from within the band. Lots of explosions, periods of calm followed by geological trauma, but pretty comfortable...;"



While Gnarlemagne celebrate their past, they're very excited about the new record and the focus moving forward.



"At live shows I feel like there tends to be two types of people: People who are there for the party and people who are there for the music, and there's obviously overlap but in general, that's what is going on," said front man Stu Dias. "This album might be disappointing to the former, but definitely rewarding to the latter."



"I'm not sure we had a specific goal in mind when we started writing for this album, but I think over time it became apparent that we were making more of a push in the psychedelic rock direction, and away from the fun/funky party band that we had become known for," said drummer Jed Allen. "The songs started to go in that direction and we embraced it. To a certain degree, I think we felt confined by our own instrumentation over the first couple of years we were together. We had a bunch of horns so we tried to fit the mold of your typical horn band. Over time we have realized more and more that we really aren't your typical horn band at all. I think we are a garage rock band at heart, and we happen to have an awesome horn section to beef us up."



"There's no question that there's been a shift," said trombonist Ian Katz. "We've become better at songwriting, better at production (with thanks to Chris Chase at 1130ft Studio), and better at execution. But as I listen to 'Run for Shelter,' I can hear a lot of things there that are still very relevant to how we play on the new album. With the right kind of ears, you can actually hear the path we took to get here. We still have a slightly dark approach to music, although (still) not in a depressed or downtrodden way. I'd say we've just developed a bigger musical vocabulary for expressing that feeling, and we've learned to take our time with doing it; this album comes with a lot more subtlety and a lot more depth."



It's been a long and arduous process in getting "A Warm and Cozy Volcano" prepped for mass consumption. But the end result is stiflingly brilliant and will certainly turn heads in a very serious way.



"It feels like a fog has cleared and I'm able to breathe clean air on a bright and sunny day," said bassist Alex Koffler. "Being able to finally zoom out and see where our efforts have brought us is a really exhilarating and unexpected. You might have an idea about how a song will sound after you first record, but in the end that idea is shattered in the best way."



And here again to sum it up:



"Hunter S. Thompson said it best," voiced Effenberger. "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."