Pale Angels

Static Radio frontman Mike Santostefano and Arteries guitarist Jamie Morrison first crossed paths while planning a one-off set of Nirvana covers for Fest 10, the 2011 punk gathering held in Gainesville, Florida. Drummer Mickey Erg soon completed the lineup, giving birth to Pale Angels. Because Santostefano and Erg were based in the States while Morrison remained in Wales, and because each musician still had obligations to other bands, the three could not convene until February 2013, when they traveled to New Jersey to lay down their first album. Having reached out to Ben Greenberg after admiring his productions for Brooklyn band the Men, the group enlisted him to helm the sessions. The resulting record, Primal Play, fused the members’ affection for early-’90s alternative rock with their shared punk roots. Once Pale Angels became the trio’s primary focus, they spent the close of 2013 on the road behind the album, returning to Fest 12—the very festival where the project had begun—and extending the itinerary across Europe. In the middle of 2014 they revealed plans for the live EP Strange Powers, issued by Specialist Subject Records, and kept up their schedule of shows throughout both the United States and Europe.