Dexter & the Moonrocks, Red Leather

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Karley Brassel

The band Dexter and the Moonrocks in a booth.

Dexter and the Moonrocks

media release: Dexter and The Moonrocks, the unlikely heroes of West Texas who held the #1 slot at alternative rock radio for 7 straight weeks at the end of last year, today released “Ritalin” today. The angsty, distorted guitar-driven single underlines the “grunge” tone within their fan-coined “Western Space Grunge” brand. A “medicating” lyric video highlighting the song’s very personal tale of despair and addiction is also available here.

“Sad in Carolina,” the band’s first radio single from their aptly titled EP “Western Space Grunge,” took the former fry cook, oil field operator, concrete surface decorator and kids’ baseball coach from small town Texas to the top of the alternative rock charts, a spot they took over from Sum 41. The first band signed by Severance Records, Dexter and The Moonrocks’ song marked the first #1 for that label as well as its parent label, Big Loud Rock.

Last week, the band kicked off a spring tour with a show at Austin’s famed Emo’s. The dates cross the Southeast and Midwest US and run through the end of April, after which the band travels Charlotte, NC and Daytona Beach, FL for their next festival appearances at Lovin’ Life Music Festival and Welcome To Rockville, respectively. Last year, the band drew crowds at Austin City Limits Music Festival, Shaky Knees, and Hangout Festival. A full list of dates is below.

“Ritalin” follows the surprise success of the band’s live cover of Tyler Childers’ “Messed Up Kid,” which averaged 900,000 streams per week following its release last fall, with Whiskey Riff claiming the band proved that the song “was destined to be a rock song.” Alternative Press said of the band, “Noah Kahan and Zach Bryan inform the band as much as Soundgarden and Pink Floyd, which is reflected in their distinctive sound.”