This year Reckless Kelly celebrate their 20th year bringing their rootsy American Country Rock to our ears. To commemorate the anniversary the boys are offering up their debut album Millican on vinyl for the very first time.

Twenty years flew by like it was nothin', and then all of a sudden, there we were, back at Arlyn Studios listening to the masters on two inch tape. When we made Millican we never thought to release it on vinyl. Cassettes were still being phased out, CDs were the new big deal, and we'd just heard about this thing called "the internet." Now that ironically, vinyl is the new big deal, we've decided that Millican deserves a place in the record collection. It was, after all, recorded to tape, (something that only the cool cats were doing at the time) so it seems fitting to have an all analogue version available for the die hards.

We made this record when we were just kids. I had probably only written about 20 or 30 songs at that point, a handful of which were good enough to record. Shifty had a couple good ones too so we decided we were ready to make our first record. We were too broke to take time off so we recorded it between gigs, sometimes coming in to Arlyn at 2:30 am. Worn out and half drunk with ragged voices and tired fingers, we were chomping at the bit and ready to lay it down. We still play almost every one of these songs live but there were also a few that didn't make the cut. We've played "Wild Western Windblown Band" several thousand times and recorded it on two different live albums since then; however,  at that time we didn't feel like it was a good enough take or maybe wasn't rockin' enough to land a spot on Millican. Twenty years later it fits right in and we can't figure out why we didn't put it on there in the first place. The title track also got left on the cutting room floor. I didn't feel like it was a strong enough song back then, but ya know what they say, "there's no such thing as a bad twenty year old photo," and now it feels like a snapshot from our past. It captured the band fresh to Austin with more energy than I remember having. The vocal is a scratch track with no overdubs and it was a one take deal. Most likely it was performed and recorded well after midnight, so what ya hear is what ya get. I was still learning how to sing rock n roll music and the band was still figuring out how to play together, but there was a vibe that could never be recreated so we wanted to share it with you, our fans... a little thank you note for sticking with us for all these years. We've also taken the liberty of re-sequencing the album as we originally intended, with "Back Around" being the first track.

Twenty years flew by like we were standing still, but after all this time, this album remains the cornerstone of that signature RK sound. We never wanted to label it, and we never really knew what to call it so if anyone asks, just tell em' we sound like Millican.

-Willy Braun July, 2017

Millican 20th Anniversary "Tape Baking" Bundle

Includes:

  • Millican 20th Anniversary Limited Edition - Remastered for Double Vinyl LP with 2 unreleased bonus tracks
  • Digital download card of full album and bonus tracks
  • Millican CD (1997)
  • Millican Anniversary T-Shirt Black Heather / Mustard Print (front & back design)
  • Millican Koozie

*The first 25 "Tape Baking" Bundles will come autographed Vinyl by the band!

Limited Edition - Only 1,000 Copies Pressed!

TX-based Reckless Kelly have announced that they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Millican with a limited edition vinyl release on October 20 via their own label No Big Deal Records. The double LP vinyl pressing of Millican is limited to only 1000 copies and includes two never before released songs, "Wild Western Windblown Band" and "Millican.

The two unreleased songs were remixed at Arlyn Studios in Austin, TX, where Reckless Kelly recorded the album more than 20 years ago, and the entire double LP set was re-mastered by Gavin Lurssen in Burbank, CA.

Listen to "Wild Western Windblown Band" via Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/MillicanWWWB

More From KIXS FM 108