Anderson Layne and the Killer Saints formed in December of 2012 as a ragtag bunch of Nashville musicians who just wanted to play more original tunes. Fueled by the songwriting of Anderson Layne, the Killer Saints is an all hands on deck collaborative effort between a revolving cast of characters. There’s no such thing as a former Killer Saint! Past and present collaborators on stage and in the studio include: Brian Bayley, Andy Boone, Randy Carrie, Cameron Gainer, Brion Gamboa, Anderson Layne, Brian Murphree, Hank Neuhoff, Art Quanstrom, Mike Reno, Ben Smith, Cathy St. Germain, Ray St. Germain jr, Adam Stainbrook, Ben Smith and Cameron Gainer.
On March 28, 2013 ALKS released their first EP: St. Charles. St. Charles is a three song ep available on noisetrade.com which features three songs. The EP was self-produced and recorded in Anderson’s The Underground East Nashville studio, and was mastered at Ronnie’s Place by Justin Francis. ALKS, working with film producer Q, released a music video for the lead single St. Charles
Almost a year to the first day, on December 3, 2013 ALKS released a 9 song live record recorded at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville called Live and On Fire. This release is available at noisetrade.com, with the title based on the show being a benefit for injured fireman David Powell. As such, the cover photo was taken at an actual fire by Anderson’s little brother who is a member of the Philadelphia Fire Department.
ALKS released their self titled record on itunes April 28,2015. For this seven song effort ALKS set out to make an old school hard rock record. Not only does this record feature six of the Killer Saints, but it features the background vocals of Cathy St. Germain and Mike Reno of Loverboy. Recorded again in Anderson’s The Underground, ALKS turned to legendary live mix engineer Tom Abraham (Metallica, Alice in Chains, Keith Urban) to mix and master.
Two years later, roughly in early May of 2017, ALKS released Welcome To The Greenhouse. This three song ep recorded again in The Underground includes the bass playing of Brian Murphree. Mastered this time by Andrew Mendelson at Georgetown Masters. The cover photo taken by Anderson is part of Col. Tom Parker’s house and office from which he managed Elvis’ entire career in Madison, TN, a once great Nashville suburb again on the rise. True to current Nashville tradition, it has been torn down to build a car wash. A subsequent music video was shot for lead single “Kisses Like Whiskey” which features up and coming Nashville artist Melanie Meriney.
Hot off the press, or much maligned digital somewhere, comes the 4th EP from ALKS in July of 2019: Rocket. Rocket was again recorded at The Underground, this time mastered by Joe Palmaccio at The Place….For Mastering. The cover photo are a particular strain of poppy plant, passed down from Anderson’s grandmother’s garden, once in Macon Georgia. Big things are expected with this record….millions of fans, even more millions of record sales, probably mansions and fast cars…..but most likely just a bunch of fun.
Cool things happen when you set out to have fun. ALKS loves playing rock shows, and will continue to do so until everyone is dead I guess. See you at the dive bar...
