THE ARISTOCRATS - "CULTURE CLASH" The word “supergroup” is tossed around a lot in instrumental music circles, the result of a seemingly endless supply of efforts to package together individual virtuoso players and make a band out of them. But every once in a while, the group part of that shopworn term becomes authentic and real. Such is the case with The Aristocrats – guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller, and drummer Marco Minnemann – who defiantly and joyously blow the supergroup stereotype to bits, thrilling audiences and fans around the world in the process with a preternatural band chemistry that equals exponentially more than the sum of its parts. Formed practically by demand after a single raucously received set at the Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA in January of 2011, the trio quickly tracked their instant-classic self-titled debut album. It proved itself irresistible to fans of guitar-driven instrumental rock, but also ended up crossing over both ways, making inroads with the progressive rock and modern technical metal crowds alike. That’s not surprising considering the genre-defying panoply of the band’s true influences: Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, John Scofield, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rage Against The Machine, Pink Floyd, Queen, King Crimson, The Police, Kraftwerk, Bjork, Return To Forever, and more…a variety of which show up in each band member’s individual compositional style, as they’re all contributing songwriters. The band toured worldwide over the next 18 months, eventually releasing a live album in late 2012. The road work weaponized their magic chemistry into a juggernaut, which resulted in more adventurous, aggressive, and eclectic material for their second studio release"Culture Clash". "Culture Clash" honors the band’s panoramic potpourri of influences, while showing up as a more aggressive, intensely-written album that picks up where the band’s first effort left off – all while retaining a quirky Zappa-influenced refusal to take themselves too seriously. That’s evidenced by the album’s title alone, which derives its name from a sly reference to the Coen Brothers’ film "A Serious Man", and doubles as an allusion to the band’s multi-national makeup (Govan is British; Beller is American; Minnemann is German). “We've all been totally blown away by the reaction to the first album, the live album, and just us becoming a band in general. We're all beyond grateful for that,” states bassist Bryan Beller. “So this record, I feel like, is a response to that amazing response. It's like, 'OK, you dug all that crazy stuff on the first one, eh? Well, here, check this out.' We don't want to rest on our laurels. We want to push this thing further, as far as we can, wherever that goes.” "Culture Clash" proves to be a more adventurous piece of work for the trio, with everything from techno-fusion (“Dance Of The Aristocrats”), to nitro-powered rockabilly (the Ren-and-Stimpy-influenced “Louisville Stomp”), to Mr. Bungle-infused metal (“Living The Dream”), to the rhythmically serpentine rock/fusion-esque title track. The band feels that being joined at the hip for the past two years helped them become a stronger unit, which set them on a more unconventional course. “All the time we spent together as a band touring, and gigging together and interacting, has made us bolder in terms of the kind of material we've dared to write for this album,” adds guitarist Guthrie Govan. “I think there's some wackier stuff that we maybe wouldn't have submitted for the first album when we didn't know each other as well. We didn't know what kind of craziness we would get away with. So I guess we're enjoying some of the benefits of having been a real band for longer.”