Radio Exile | Spotlight On: Wild Sweet Orange

Spotlight On: Wild Sweet Orange

By Shawn M. Smith July 30, 2008 Post a comment | Email the author

With their new album, We Have Cause To Be Uneasy, in stores yesterday, Birmingham, AL natives Wild Sweet Orange [Official Site, Myspace] are poised for some mainstream success in 2008. Playing Lollapalooza this weekend should be an honor in-and-of itself, but following the success of last winter’s EP, The Whale, the band is out on tour with another RE fave, What Made Milwaukee Famous, so do yourself a favor and catch the act that Entertainment Weekly called “your next favorite band”. It sounds like the type of hyperbole used to sell records and magazines, but it’s no bull. The songs that this quartet compose are equal parts awesome and infectious; the type of tunes that hold you firmly as you mindlessly sing along to whatever lyrics you can remember at that moment.

Yeah, see them immediately. I mean it.

Tour dates, mp3 and more “after the jump”

Wild Sweet Orange – “Ten Dead Dogs” (Live on Letterman)

“Produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon), the album reflects an honest and intense rock sound with a dynamic control and a deep lyrical quality rare in such a young band. For singer and songwriter Preston Lovinggood, the album’s provocative title serves as both an ideal statement of intent as well as a strong assertion of identity.

“It’s being honest about who we are and where we’ve come from,” Lovinggood explains. “It’s hopeful and weary at the same time,” he adds. “To be aware of the situation, to understand there is a cause, is a healthy place to be.”

With the years-in-the-making WE HAVE CAUSE TO BE UNEASY finally ready to reach the people, Lovinggood can’t help but look back with pride on how just far he and the band have traveled. “It’s like we’ve been in the belly of the whale for the past three or four years and now we’ve finally been spit out,” Lovinggood says. “We’re taking all of our experiences and bringing them onstage every night. We’ve put all of ourselves into this record. We’ve given it our all and I think it’s a great picture of our life.”

“Ten Dead Dogs” [mp3]

Tour Dates

8/01 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
8/03 – Chicago, IL – LOLLAPALOOZA
8/04 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown
8/06 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theatre
8/08 – Boulder, CO – AAA Convention
8/10 – Austin, TX – Stubbs Jr.
8/11 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Studio
8/12 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
8/13 – Shreveport, LA – The Rustic Cowboy
8/14 – Memphis, TN – High Dive
8/20 – Nashville, TN – Backyard at the Belcourt with The Whigs and American Bang
8/27 – Orlando, FL – The Social*
8/28 – Gainesville, FL – Common Ground*
8/29 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt*
8/30 – Columbia, SC – 5 Points Pub
8/31 – Charleston, SC – Village Tavern
9/02 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre*
9/03 – Charlottesville, VA – The Gravity Lounge*
9/04 – Philadelphia, PA – Khyber*
9/05 – Brooklyn, NY – Southpaw*
9/06 – Hoboken, NJ – Maxwells*
9/08 – Baltimore, MD – Fletchers
9/09 – Richmond, VA – Canal Room*
9/10 – Greensboro, NC – Greene Street*
9/11 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl*
9/12 – Jacksonville, FL – Jack Rabbits*
9/13 – Tampa, FL – WMNF Birthday Bash
9/14 – Gainesville, FL – Real Big Deal Fest