After the indie-rock outfit Broken West decided to end its run last year, Ross Flournoy found himself at a loss. Moving from Silver Lake in Los Angeles to Pasadena, he hoped the change of pace would lead him down a new musical path, but unfortunately the following months were marked by an extreme case of writer's block. Though Flournoy attempted to start writing again, he was in a complete funk.
In need of some inspiration, he turned to NPR's Monitor Mix online songwriting contest. Posted by blogger and guitarist Carrie Brownstein, the contest challenged songwriters to write, record and submit a song over one weekend. Intrigued by the challenge, Flournoy went straight to work and what resulted was a strong pop single, "Under The Gun." The single ignited a huge spark of inspiration and Flournoy jumped to get another band together. Adopting the name Apex Manor, Flournoy, Adam Vine, Brian Whelan and Andy Creighton wrote over 25 songs and recorded a few demos. The creative juices were back and flowing stronger than ever.
The band's debut album, The Year of Magical Drinking, comes out in January on Merge Records.
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