Black Water Rising, ‘Black Water Rising’

Long Island hard rock fiends Black Water Rising initially released their self-titled debut solely via digital means. Despite that forward-thinking approach, the band, who know their way around a thunderous, '70s rock-inspired riff, has 'regressed' a little, signing with Giddy Up Records to release the same music in physical form. So it's sort of a new album.

"It feels great to go from a digital release only to a label, because not everyone likes to purchase music digitally," guitarist Johnny Fattoruso reasoned to Noisecreep."There are still music fans that love the 'ritual' of going to the store and buying a CD from their favorite band to check out the artwork, lyrics, thank you list. We are able to capitalize on both digital and physical sales with a label which helps get our music out to a much wider audience."

Fattoruso, who once played guitar in Stereomud -- which featured ex-members of Life of Agony and Stuck Mojo and released a pair of albums on Columbia -- also says that Black Water Rising, who played a show with Hellyeah a few weeks ago, are "a band that waves the flag for the underdogs of the world, including ourselves. We all had to bust our asses for everything we have and have fought tooth and nail to get the recognition we are starting to get now. BWR is about writing songs our fans can relate to and we're glad to see more people connecting with our music every day." That's an old fashioned way of doing things, but it's one that most definitely works. It's refreshing to see a band embracing new technologies while still doing things in an old school way.

The band will be touring in support of the physical album, which came out on Giddy Up, a brand new, Sony-distributed label. The album artwork -- one of the principal reasons music fans like a physical product -- was designed by Sam 'Mister Sam' Shearon, the renowned artist from England who has designed artwork for Rob Zombie, Godhead and ESP guitars.

Black Water Rising tour dates

5/15 -- WILMINGTON, DE -- MOJO 13

5/18 -- NEW YORK, NY -- SANTO'S PARTY HOUSE

5/21 -- SYRACUSE, NY -- HALF PENNY PUB

5/22 -- BUFFALO, NY -- CLUB INFINITY

5/24 -- FARMINGDALE, NY -- CRAZY DONKEY

5/27 -- STATEN ISLAND, NY -- LATE NIGHT WITH JOHNNY P SHOW

5/29 -- ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY -- THE VIBE LOUNGE