Over the last couple months, Austin-based outfit Bellringer have introduced their weirdo crunch in a series of videos. What began with “Von Fledermaus” (posted here) and “Click Bait” (posted here) continues today with “Art Thief,” an uptempo bass-led riffer that sets its start-stop progression over swinging drums and noodles out guitar boogie with irresistible punker abandon. More and more, this seems to be Bellringer‘s domain, resonant in a heavy rock sense but by no means adherent to one set of genre principles. I’m not sure if the band, led by guitarist/vocalist Mark Deutrom (ex-Melvins, Clown Alley), recorded this track at the same time they did “Click Bait,” “Von Fledermaus” or their since-retracted early-2015 self-titled demo EP (review here), but it follows suit stylistically with the other two songs and the videos of manipulated found footage and clever editing.

In addition to the new video, Deutrom passes along notice of Bellringer lineup shifts. While “Art Thief” was put to tape by the same lineup as its video predecessors, with Deutrom pulling double duty (triple duty?) as producer, the band now includes drummers James Flores and Aaron Lack and bassists Wade Morrison and Brian Ramirez. Whether or not they’ve gone from a trio to a five-piece with two bassists and two drummers or whether it’s a rotating cast, I don’t know and frankly neither would really surprise me given the outfit’s work so far. For Deutrom‘s part, he says, “This will be ever shifting like a cloud!” and I kind of like not knowing for the moment. We’ll find out sooner or later.

Will be interested to see what 2016 brings for Bellringer, if they’ll solidify around a debut of one sort or another (EP, LP, etc.) or continue to dole out their work piecemeal in this fashion. I’m not going to complain about new songs coming out one at a time — it’s been fun to keep up with to this point — but one imagines sooner or later Deutrom might want to put together an actual record with the band, if only so there’s some document of what “the band” is at that given moment. When and if I hear something, I’ll let you know. Until then, enjoy “Art Thief” below:

Bellringer, “Art Thief” official video

Art Thief By Bellringer

Hey !
Ya took the Matthew Barney
It was underneath the Christmas tree
and now ya gonna see….

Chopped by MD using A is for Atom and other stuff..
Improved by Jennifer Deutrom.

Mark Deutrom : Guitar, Vocal

with:
C. Cottrell : Bass
C. Nichols : Drums

Produced and Mixed by Mark Deutrom
Recorded By Chico Jones at Ohm Recording Facility, ATX

Bellringer website

Bellringer on Thee Facebooks

Bellringer on Bandcamp

Tags: Austin, Bellringer, Texas, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2015 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.