Acid Tongue

Music

Seattle, WA

Acid Tongue is an American-bred garage band, heavily influenced by AM-radio soul, punk & glam rock. Formed in a damp Seattle basement in 2015, the band’s first EP I Died Dreaming caught the attention of KEXP & the UK label Failure By Design. Acid Tongue immediately hit the road, touring the US & Europe extensively, and refining their unique brand of rock & roll. Some of the band’s earliest performances included support slots for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (on their first U.S. run), De La Soul, The Sonics, and The King Khan & BBQ Show. Consisting of the core duo of singer/songwriter Guy Keltner & drummer/vocalist Ian Cunningham, the band also features numerous touring & studio musicians scattered between Paris, New York, London, Mexico City, & Los Angeles. In 2015, Acid Tongue established their own label, Freakout Records, and in 2017 the band released their debut album, aptly titled Babies. The album is a soulful, stoney, heartfelt approach to modern psychedelia and was praised for its "DIY punk ethos" in Nylon Magazine. Keltner is also the founder of the annual Freakout Festival in Seattle which has hosted international acts such as Os Mutantes, Viagra Boys, All Them Witches, the Night Beats, & Alex Maas (The Black Angels). From 2016 to 2018, Keltner maintained a residence in Brooklyn, collaborating with Matt Gibbs of Evolfo for live performances, and recorded Acid Tongue's 2019 EP The Night We Broke Our Lease. The band also began touring Mexico extensively during this time. Joel Gion of the Brian Jonestown Massacre performed with the band on their song "Careless" at the 2018 Freakout Festival. Their 2020 sophomore album, Bullies, expanded upon the themes of their debut, cementing the band as the Pacific Northwest’s most unique garage-rock proprietors. The album marked a departure from their previous releases, mixing elements of glam rock and power pop with Motown-influenced string arrangements. For their third studio album, Arboretum, the band recruited veterans from the psychedelic rock scene during production, resulting in first-rate collaborations with artists such as Death Valley Girls, Naked Giants and Canadian singer Calvin Love. The album generated notable press from Rolling Stone France—including a two-page print feature—and the band performed for the magazine’s In My Room concert series alongside artists such as Brian Wilson, Graham Nash, & Aimee Mann. Arboretum was positively received: Rolling Stone France gave it four stars while The Seattle Times & Hollywood Life named it one of the Best Albums of 2021. In 2021, Keltner formed a Spanish-language punk rock side-project called Mala Suerte in Mexico City and, in 2022, they performed as the backing band for Papi Saicos (of legendary Peruvian garage rock band Los Saicos) across the U.S. & Mexico. Acid Tongue’s fourth full-length, Acid on the Dance Floor, due out late-2023, showcases their now signature sound and a back-to-basics approach to rock music. Incorporating elements of glam, R&B and post-punk, the album is a loud, funky and chaotic acid trip that redefines “the Seattle sound”.
Acid Tongue