Marcellus Hall - I Will Never Let You Down (2024)

"A great songwriter, a great singing man, and a powerful, heart-wrenching, spirited front man for a tight rock and roll band. A troubadour for sure! I Will Never Let You Down is his most musical, energetic, album yet, and the band comes together like gangbusters!" Bob Odenkirk

"The record is awesome! - great, refined, pop gems; the band is sick and Marcellus is in the zone." Adam Green

Marcellus Hall will release his third solo album on February 9th and today shares the video for One Night. The LP, I Will Never Let You Down, will be available on digital streaming platforms and on vinyl via the German label, Gutfeeling, and follows The First Line (2011) on Glacial Pace Records and the self-released Afterglow (2013). Hall’s solo LPs include long-time accompanists Damon Smith on bass and Mike Shapiro on drums

"The video for One Night fell together magically” Hall says. “Having filmed with an iPhone several takes of me lip-synching at the magic hour on the Lower East Side of New York at Corlears Hook. I sent the footage, with a batch of band photos and drawings, to filmographer, Andrew Hooper, who had just relocated to Chiangmai, Thailand, but despite the distance and our having never met in person, we were on the same page. Andrew’s frenetic cutting and beautiful graphic sense perfectly complement the song whose talk-sing, collage lyricism has antecedents in Railroad Jerk's Ballad of Railroad Jerk (1994), White Hassle's Vodka Talking (2004), and my solo release Wait A Minute (2013). And much credit goes to accompanists Damon Smith, Mike Shapiro, and Joachim Kearns, who make this song rock."

“This album was five years in the making,” Hall continues. “We wanted to get it right. The pandemic intervened, but we got it right. These are songs about love, loss, hope, and redemption.”

Hall’s career in music began with the band RAILROAD JERK, whose deconstructed indie-rock featured on four Matador Records LPs. The Rollerkoaster video appeared on MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head and the band toured Europe, Japan, and the US. David Berman wrote to him personally, saying “I just wanted to let you know what a great record you've made. Each one's been better, but this one's a leap, best thing I've heard in months, so many ideas... Not normally inclined to write a fan letter, but couldn't help it this time. Congratulations”.

His subsequent band, WHITE HASSLE, mined a stripped-down Americana, recorded three LPs, and toured Europe with releases on Orange Recordings and the French label, Fargo Records. During this period, White Hassle’s Life is Still Sweet title was tattooed on Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock’s arm and inspired the band’s 2004 hit, Float On. Life Is Still Sweet will be re-released digitally this winter with an accompanying video.

In addition to songwriting, Hall works as an illustrator of children’s books and for publications such as The New Yorker, to which he has contributed six covers. He has published multiple comics-related books and zines, including Kaleidoscope City (2018) and is currently developing a long-form graphic memoir of his coming of age in the indie rock world of the 1990s.