Blunt Bangs is the new group led by Reggie Youngblood, who used to front Black Kids, that also includes guitarist Christian “Smokey” DeRoeck (Woods, Deep State) and drummer Cash Carter (Tracy Shedd, The Cadets). “Like quite a lot of artists before me, after committing a significant amount of time to one project, I wanted to switch up my mode of songwriting and work on ideas that didn’t quite feel right in Black Kids,” says Youngblood. The band are based out of Athens, GA and are gearing up to release their debut album, Proper Smoker, which will be out September 17 via Ernest Jenning Record Co.
Not a million miles from what he was doing with Black Kids -- he still knows his way around a hook and a catchy chorus -- Blunt Bangs lean a little more rock, in a glammy power pop kind of way, as you can hear on swaying new single "Odessa." Reggie tells us, "'Odessa' is distinct to me in that it’s the last song I completed prior to the pandemic (I’ve not finished a song since, yikes) and it’s also the rare song where I don’t crack wise once. It also feels like the intersection of a Blunt Bangs/Black Kids Venn diagram, in that it might be only thing you can dance to on our album."