The Avett Brothers Address Gun Violence on Stark New Song ‘Bang Bang’

The Avett Brothers have released “Bang Bang,” a smoldering preview of their forthcoming album Closer Than Together. The piano ballad finds the group fired up and furious about American gun violence, tackling everything from the presence of guns in movies to the proliferation of assault-rifles used by men “pretending to be Rambo.”

“Conceal and carry your fear,” sings Seth Avett on the sparse track, “Don’t need no weapons here.”

Earlier this summer, the Avett Brothers released a statement accompanying the announcement of their socially conscious new album, Closer Than Together.

“We didn’t make a record that was meant to comment on the sociopolitical landscape that we live in,” the note reads. “We did, however, make an album that is obviously informed by what is happening now on a grander scale all around us…The Avett Brothers will probably never make a sociopolitical record. But if we did, it might sound something like this.”

The turn toward the “sociopolitical” marks a stark shift for the North Carolina group, who have always walked a very careful line on partisan politics both on and off stage.

“We have a lot of conservative fans, and a lot of Tea Party-leaning fans, and we have a lot of liberal fans, and this is a really special place for us to be in, because we’re a safe zone from all the partisan bickering,” bassist Bob Crawford told Rolling Stone in 2013. “We’ve been asked to get involved in some of these things in North Carolina, but we can’t. We’d rather bring everybody in.”

Closer Than Together is in stores October 4th.