Listen to Just Like Old Times

The 2012 NPR Band to Watch return in 2013 prepared to release their first new album since 2010 on Modern Outsider Records. The album was produced by Danny Reisch at Good Danny's in Austin, Tx.

The first offering, titled "Just Like Old Times," features the vocals of Adrienne Butler, wife of singer-songwriter Scott Butler. In 2011, Scott asked if Adrienne would sing on a rough demo, without knowing whether she would or even could sing. She agreed to give it a try; and the band was floored when they heard the recording. In 2013, The Black and White Years return with a new album, a new perspective and a new voice.

It was in 2007 that the band played their first SXSW Festival…

Their "official" showcase was in the parking lot of Opal Devineʼs. BWY were the first of a five-band line-up and took the stage to an audience of exactly seven people. One of those seven people, however, was the once-upon-a- time Talking Head and Modern Lover, Jerry Harrison. Harrison was moved by the bandʼs performance and over the rest of the weekend he visited them at their rehearsal space, where The Black and White Years performed their entire catalog for him.

Five weeks later the band was in Harrisonʼs San Francisco bay area studio, Sausalito Sound, recording what would become the bandʼs eponymous debut album, The Black And White Years. The band did not have a drummer at the time that the album was recorded, as they had opted for the precision of programmed rhythms. Harrison recruited session drummer, Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Duran Duran, SNL, Eric Clapton), to lay down the live drums tracks for the album. Billy Potts was brought on board to join the band as full time live drummer in 2008.

Fast forward, to SXSW 2009…

At the Austin Music Awards, the annual show kicking of the SXSW Music Festival by recognizing excellence in the Austin music community, the band was the big winner for 2009. The Black and White Years took home FIVE awards including Best New Band, Song of the Year ("Power to Change"), Best Rock Band, Bass Player of the Year (John Aldridge), and Producer of the Year (Jerry Harrison). The band also played a series of well-attended showcases, capped off by the prized BMI Showcase where they shared the bill with DEVO, Tricky, and Datarock.

The band has appeared at the CMJ Music Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, MIDEM and toured throughout the Midwest and Northeast of the United States. They made their debut appearance in the UK at the O2 Wireless Festival.

In 2010 the band released Patterns, the follow up to their Jerry Harrison produced debut. The song "To Modern Science" went viral when it was placed in Tap Tap Revenge 3 and a notable hoax featuring a fake commercial for the next generation of Apple's iPhone; the fake ad accumulated almost a million views across the Internet.