Nashville continues to be a hotbed of Indie Rock invention, and Blank Range is just the latest example of Music City’s sonic expansion in recent years. The quartet is a particularly fascinating example of the scene’s hybridization, partly because the band represents the city’s acceptance and absorption of talent beyond the city limits — Blank Range’s membership hails from St. Louis and Northern Illinois — and partly because the group has risen so quickly to “Band to Watch” status.
Blank Range began in 2013 as a quintet comprised of lead vocalist Jonathon Childers, guitarist/vocalist Grant Gustafson, keyboardist Jonathan Rainville, bassist Taylor Zachry and drummer Matt Novotny. Almost immediately, the musicians proved the potency of their chemistry with a brief set at The Basement, a local venue that hosted a new talent night. The band endeared itself to the club’s owner and got regular bookings thereafter.
After recording its debut EP, Phase II, and a follow-up single in its first year together, Blank Range concentrated on playing in and out of town as much as possible. As the band developed its broad signature sound — an irresistible blend of citified Americana, psychedelic Country, soulful Garage Rock and ’70s outlaw attitude — Blank Range won over critics and fans with blistering appearances at the Austin City Limits and South by Southwest fests and opening slots for an impossible spectrum of artists, including Drive-By Truckers, Alice in Chains, Death Cab for Cutie and Spoon, among many others.
After losing keyboardist Rainville, Blank Range carried on as a quartet, dropping its sophomore EP, Vista Bent, in late 2016. Earlier this spring, the group teased new material with a single — the loping “No Aim” — ahead of the August release of its debut full-length, Marooned with the Treasure, which stomps and soars with the swaggering tumult of Steve Earle fronting a band featuring cherry-picked members of Beachwood Sparks, Marah and Gringo Star. Almost every band plays with electricity, but Blank Range is one of those rare bands that plays like electricity.