Sidekicks - Runners in the Nerved World 2xCD

Runners in the Nerved World was produced by Phil Ek in Seattle, WA. It was a dream for The Sidekicks to work with the producer responsible for iconic albums from Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Built to Spill, and The Shins to name a few. During the recording process, the band took full advantage of their 6-week studio time to let the songs go where they needed to go – while Ek shaped the sound. The end result feels deceptively effortless; a collection of songs about the need to move forward, packed with buoyant melodies and razor-sharp hooks that go on for days and days.

Growing up is weird. Very few of US ever end up doing that thing for a living that we imagined we might when we were kids. Even fewer end up doing the same thing for the rest of our lives that we were doing as teenagers, even if that thing happens to be making music with our friends. In the case of The Sidekicks, a teenage affinity for playing propulsive punk rock somehow, against all odds, managed to turn into a full-time life pursuit. After nearly a decade of making noisy rock music, releasing albums on tiny local labels, and incubating in the Cleveland scene, The Sidekicks are ready to meet the waiting world with their Epitaph debut Runners in the Nerved World. For the recording of RUNNERS IN THE NERVED WORLD the band - Steve Ciolek (Vocals & Guitar), Matt Climer (Drums), and Ryan Starinsky (Bass) - decamped to Seattle to work with famed indie-rock producer Phil Ek, a pairing that proved to be something of a dream come true for Ciolek. The results, on tracks like 'The Kid Who Broke His Wrist' and 'Deer,' bring to mind the kind of jangly pop euphoria of early Band of Horses or old Built to Spill records, while 'Everything in Twos' is the kind of pop punk jam seemingly tailor made for singing along in a car at peak volume.