Artist Spotlight: Black Locust

It’s a tree! It’s a bug! Well, yeah but it’s also a kick-ass band. 

I’m talking about Black Locust, an alternative grunge-ish band out of Frederick, MD. 

It seems like the DMV area is chock full of incredibly talented musicians and Black Locust is a four-man group consisting of exactly that. Meet Tyler James, Ben Brenner, Aidan Twentey, and Tyler Miller (who I sit down with tonight at the Let There Be Rock School Frederick, a perfect setting.) They’re a bunch of dudes pretty fresh out of high school who are making a name for themselves already. After forming the band about two and a half years ago in the wake of getting inspired during a Microwave show, they’ve already got one banger of an EP that’s been out for just short of a year now, their self-titled work, “Black Locust”. I’ve only just discovered these guys in April of this year and I’ve already got a solid twelve hours of play time on this EP. They f*cking rock, I’m serious. 

Not even a year later and Black Locust has dropped a new single, “Out Of Mind” that’s part of a bigger and better record that they say is well in the works. In fact, they have another single due to roll out sometime soon titled “Pick Your Poison”.

“We’re certainly trying to infuse more psychedelia in a way in our music, especially with this next round of songs,” says Aidan when on the subject of new music, with Tyler Miller chiming in, “but still kinda give it a hard edge, ya know?”

I, for one, am chomping at the bit for this new record and some more live performances from Black Locust. The guys spill that they have a couple of upcoming gigs at what I consider to be one of the coolest venues in Maryland, The Garage. That’s right, you can catch Black Locust live at The Garage in Boyds, MD on August 3rd. While you’re waiting for these shows to roll around, make sure you stream the brand-new single, “Out Of Mind”.