Biography

Introduction

Two Gallants is an indie rock duo from San Francisco, California. The name comes from the title of a story by James Joyce in Dubliners.

History

Two Gallants are made up of Adam Stephens (b. 1982) on guitar, harmonica and vocals and Tyson Vogel (b. 7 November 1981) on drums and vocals.

Stephens and Vogel started gigging around San Francisco as Two Gallants in 2002, when both were twenty; the two had been making music together since the age of twelve. They made two separate self-released CDs, which are now out of print. Those recordings were spread around the US during the early years of touring (house shows, warehouses, street corners, parks, etc.) After recording their debut, The Throes, for Alive Records, they kept up the touring but started playing more clubs. In July 2005, the band signed with Saddle Creek records. In August 2005, they played their first shows overseas in London as well as Reading and Leeds festivals. In February 2006 they released What the Toll Tells on Saddle Creek records. This spawned two singles: "Las Cruces Jail" and "Steady Rollin'". They toured Europe at the start of 2006 after the album release, played the Saddle Creek SXSW showcase in March, and then toured the US and parts of Canada in May and June. They were invited to play numerous European festivals throughout the summer and then picked up again in September to tour the US and Europe for the second time of the year.

During the US tour the band gained music press attention for an incident at a performance in Houston, Texas, when a police officer investigating a noise complaint at the club Walter's on Washington allegedly attacked the band and several fans present with a Taser.

They released a self-titled album, their third full-length, in September 2007 on Saddle Creek, which included the single "Despite What You've Been Told".

Sound

Two Gallants feature a duo of guitar and drums, and their music is rooted in the blues. However, Two Gallants are more influenced by the delta blues and folk music (such as Robert Johnson and Skip James). Stephens plays bass, melody, and harmony simultaneously in the blues tradition, but with folk fingerpicking. Vogel's percussion is a trap of a hi-hat, 2 ride cymbals, 2 floor toms, a snare drum, and a bass drum with an even smaller trap for acoustic concerts. His play is melodic rather than rhythmic. Themes of their lyrics include archaic stories of murder, theft, the old west, Antebellum South and racism along with more personal accounts.