It doesn't take much more than a minute for Riley! to impress on Keep Your Cool, their forthcoming new album and debut for label Counter Intuitive Records out April 19. Its opening track––a love song about unhealthy vices, "777"––bursts into focus with a blistering, vocal lashing before transitioning effortlessly into a dopamine-rush anthem. This is merely one example of the kind of "freak shit" you can come to expect from vocalist/guitarist Ryan Bluhmm (they/them), bassist Kris Gallardo (he/him), and drummer Cesar "Izzy" Izaguirre (they/them). Elsewhere, like on first single "Keep Your Cool, Man," Riley! doesn't hold back on the dramatics; Bluhm said it's meant to capture the feeling that everything is always happening all the time and way too fast, and they nail it.
Pulling inspiration from bands like Glocca Morra, Algernon Cadwalladar, Hot Mulligan, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, and more, Keep Your Coolmasters a balance between tongue-in-cheek playfulness––like on the anti-work anthem "Kill Yr Boss"-–and critical self-accountability––"guess I'm just a fucking asshole / throw me in a black hole," they violently shout on "Die Mad."
All three members of Riley! grew up in the same border town of Rio Grande Valley, TX––Izzy re-located there from Mexico and later joined the band in 2020. It's the kind of place where you need to pass through border checkpoints just to visit other areas within your own country; they still get a bit of culture shock whenever they go on tour. Growing up in a place like that can put a heavy burden on a developing person, as much of Bluhm's lyrics about addiction and self-sabotage can attest to, but the trio found its winning combination by putting that vulnerability, as dramatic and brash as it may seem, on full blast.
Additional trumpets on track 9 performed by Cameron Brickell
Additional steel guitar on track 10 performed by Zane Ruttenberg of Thanks Light…
Photos taken by Carl Neeley, edited by Joey Martinez