If you haven’t heard of Bullet Train To Vegas, you have been missing out. Imagine Fugazi running into a disco club and starting an all out brawl with At the Drive-In. That is what Bullet Train To Vegas is. With bass lines that could move the most critical dancers and guitars that scream “RAW” in your face, Bullet Train To Vegas are quickly making a name for themselves. Predecessors like Drive Like Jehu (whose song “Bullet Train To Vegas” inspired the name), Fugazi and At the Drive-In, would most likely be proud to head that someone is truly carrying on in the name of in-your-face punk/indie/whateverthefuckyouwanttocallit. With the release of their debut LP “We Put Scissors Where Our Mouths Are”, BTTV gained much attention for sounding so similar (but not too similar in my opinion, yet some would disagree) to counterparts At the Drive-In. The video for the opening song, “Cut The Party To Pieces” is a pure 2:00 of making fun of George W. Bush and making assholes of themselves, which I didn’t find very entertaining, but it showed me that the band has very strong views about very controversial things. This might be a problem for them and may lead to the alienation of some potential fans. But with the upcoming release of a new record, titled “The City and None of the Above” it is said that they are making a slight change. The band was originally planning on naming the album “Blasphemy So Divine” but chose to make a switch during the recording process.

On the bands website, it explains the thought behind the name change:

Origionally when I started writing this record, I came up with the title Blasphemy So Divine. I thought it would be a cool approach to questioning the context of Blashpemy and Divinity, since one is the complete irreverence towards the other. But the more this record came to shape(especially during the recording process), I began to realize that this title held more weight than the record could carry.
I felt the statement made with the last record was pretty poignant. It’s as though I had something to prove to the world. This new record, however, is more about a feeling. And the origional title is quite a bit more of a statement than what the feel of the album is shaping up to be(if that makes any sense). The songs that made the cut for this new one are a lot more organic in structure and work with one another to reveal different emotions and moods. It’s more of a story from beginning to end.
The new working title for now will be “The City and None of the Above”. I view the city as a living and breathing construct. Change is inevitable in a location that has a dense population. The city depends on that or else it ceases to function. The none of the above part to me reflects all of the distractions that keep us from getting to where we need to get next. Above all, money, religion, television can be considered distractions in contemporary western society. I want this record to dive into that experience. Simply put, I want to set aside the agendas and focus on what we do best by presenting some damn good songs.

All in all, Bullet Train To Vegas is a strong, up and coming band, and you should be on the lookout for their new record, which should drop sometime later this year.