It’s pure rock’n’roll by a band of assassins who aim to groove and never miss their target... a collection that rock guitar connoisseurs will savor.” - MOJO MAGAZINE

The Immediate Family has years of experience performing on the road and in studios with so many talented artists. These amazing players are now a band of their own that we can all sing along with and be Immediate Family together. We need that now more than ever. It is their time to rock us through the 2020 struggles. - JIM LADD - SIRIUSXM

It's one thing to be labeled a supergroup based on past achievements. Yet it's quite another to measure up to that hallowed stature with a new and current offering that not only measures up to expectations but provides a path forward towards even greater glories. The Immediate Family lives up to its name and proves this is one band whose credibility and accomplishment is as much a part of the present as their history affirmed in the past. - GOLDMINE

Very often a band's formation can come from what seems like a preordained convergence. Musicians meet, they may perform together in various configurations. Time goes by as each one develops their own career. But sometimes there can be a musical attraction that puts them together again, and finally, each member seems to realize at the same time: this is a band. When that happens, it becomes clear that fate has a hand in what has come together. And like the time-tested saying goes: don't fight it.

 That is exactly what occurred when The Immediate Family became a band --Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar and Steve Postell--probably have more session and live show mileage than just about any other living players today. Each is known for its prodigious ability to be in the right place and at the right time on an endless list of best-selling and hugely influential recordings over the past 50 years.

The Immediate Family's sophomore studio album, SKIN IN THE GAME via Quarto Valley Records, takes everything the quintet excels at and shows how groups when they are of this caliber grow in ways that often aren't expected. It was a given that the band would self-produce their second album. As a strongly bonded unit, there was no way anyone else could do it. The musicianship on the new songs is truly some of the best performances all the members have achieved and are delivered with such soul and empathy among the band that the album feels like a modern classic that only a small number of aggregations ever achieve. It is like The Immediate Family has found a magic combination that lets them become the band they were always meant to be.

 "This band has such power it's almost like an embarrassment of riches," says guitarist Waddy Wachtel. "It's well known in rock music that really great bands often have an unspoken way of playing together. When things get ramped up either in the studio or onstage, they're visited by an unseen ability that pushes them to the limit. I've been in different bands and when that happens, you can feel it coming. There is no denying it. And that's what happened in these sessions for the new album. We just knew we had all moved up to the next level in the group. It was such a great feeling, one that is the real reason all of us do what we do. We want that charge that occurs when the afterburners kick in. That's why we're in this racket if you really want to know the truth." Considering some of the people the guitarist has recorded and toured with--Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, James Taylor and so many more---it's clear that he knows this new musical home is one of his own. A band is a precious thing in rock & roll, and Waddy Wachtel knows what he has now. This is for keeps.

 As a highly influential songwriter and guitarist, Danny Kortchmar has spent a musical life beginning in the 1960s linked with artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Don Henley, Jackson Browne and so many more.  He too has become someone whom other players look to for inspiration just as he did as a young man. "It began with people like B.B. King, Albert King, the Muscle Shoals legend Jimmy Johnson and a few other players that just got inside my soul and pointed a direction to go in. Many of them were from the South, but that makes sense because that's where so much early rock & roll first came from. And when I heard that sound, and those incredible guitar players, I knew that was for me. Instantly. And with this group, we really do function as a five-piece outfit. It's so true that the group mind takes us to musical places that feel brand new. That's when you know you've got something unique. It's a different feeling than the thousands of other things we've done. Which is one reason our name The Immediate Family fits us so well, because family is something you can't just walk into. It's a natural connection which can't be turned off and on. It's got to be there for real. And that's what this band has, that true connection that lets us take off from our years of experience together.”

Leland Sklar is a bassist who wrote the rule book of recording that so many others play from. Like other iconic players, he can make songs move in ways that other bassists just can't do. It's something that is actually impossible to explain, but it's obvious when it's heard. He can take a song to places few other bassists know about and do it with a subtle touch that adds everything to a track. Sklar is also someone on a recording session and bandstand that can keep a sense of levity to the proceedings that allow the music to take flight. "I like to play like everyone is having fun, even if the song is deadly serious. A bass part is meant to glue a lot of the elements of the instruments together in a way that accentuates everything great about a song. In a way that bass is not often zeroed in on, but it is always an integral equal part of the proceedings. If the bass isn't there, it's like the song isn't there. And I've found on recording sessions that the bassist is always heard but not always seen. But I'm hard to miss with my big beard, which is my insurance to be remembered. But really, in The Immediate Family, we all know each other backward and forward and can play to each other's strengths in ways that other groups, especially those without such lengthy session histories together, can't always get to. Bands are really dependent on camaraderie in so many ways, and when that's there, the music can really take off.”

Russ Kunkel might be the quieter member of the band but also proves the age-old adage that a group can only be as good as its drummer. For six decades Kunkel's soulful and steady playing has anchored countless hit singles and albums and inspired the other players with the freedom of knowing that Kunkel has them totally covered in making sure the rhythm is always right there. His session work in rock & roll is without equal. Just a handful of the all-time great albums by Carole King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Warren Zevon, and dozens and dozens of others put him in a very exclusive club of all-time musicians. As a live player, he never fails to light up whatever bandstand he's on. In The Immediate Family, Russ Kunkel is a pivotal presence that sets the tempo and the tone for where the songs really gel and in turn take off from. It is an understatement to say it has made recording history. Like all the other players in The Immediate Family's earliest line-up, they first came together in the studio with producer Peter Asher working on James Taylor's debut Warner Bros. album Sweet Baby James in 1970. Compared to a lot of Los Angeles session players then, the Taylor group was very young and eager to prove themselves. It was the perfect initial experience to discover how synched in they were with one another, because of the quieter feel of Taylor's songs and spirit. Russ Kunkel showed that playing at a quieter level has nothing to do with intensity and was able to go right to the heart of the songs. In many ways, the players on that album changed the direction of rock & roll. After their group dynamic was proven to be so powerful and popular, they started to be called The Section and became the studio group that so many other artists wanted to use for their own on their recording sessions.  

Guitarist Steve Postell may be the newest member of the band, but he has been playing with The Immediate Family for quite some time, including on their self-titled debut album, and he is so excited about the growth and development of the group. "These are players whom I listened to all the time when I was learning how to play, starting in their earlier band The Section. There was a way they had of making the groove the most important part of the track without turning it into just a rhythmic thing. They were able to express so many shades of whatever style of music they were playing that it was like an educational exercise for me to really hear what they were doing. And then when I started working with them in the studio, I could see how all the parts fit so intricately together. And like all great groups, their interactions even when they aren't actually playing showed me how the great groups act amongst themselves. There's always a deep feeling for the other player, but also a sense of humor that keeps things moving with the right kind of flow. Bands have differences, obviously, but it's how they work them out that really shows you who the all-timers are. And make no mistake, I know I am in a band now with some of the real all-timers. We can't wait to start touring again and play this new music for our fans and the newcomers just finding out about us."

Along with the release of SKIN IN THE GAME, The Immediate Family is also the subject of a full-length documentary that goes into depth about the long history of the group and all the accomplishments each individual member has made. Directed by Denny Tedesco, who also directed the award-winning documentary THE WRECKING CREW about the famous studio band of the 1950s and '60s, which featured the director's father studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco, the movie will be distributed by Magnolia Pictures in late 2023. Together, the album and documentary provide a total look into the musical lives and histories of a group of players who are major components of how rock & roll continued into the 1970s and beyond to be a cultural force never really equaled. It is a story of huge success along with the struggles that go along with that, and it shows how dedication, and a core love of music are at the heart of one of the world's biggest cultural explosions -- and how The Immediate Family helped make it all happen. As is often said, "The family that plays together stays together." True that.  

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - SKIN IN THE GAME (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - DIVORCED (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - Fair Warning (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - 3:45 (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - Can’t Stop Progress (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - New York Minute (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - Slippin’ and Slidin’ (Official Video)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - CRUEL TWIST (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - SOMEBODY'S BABY

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - WEREWOLVES OF LONDON

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - MACHINE GUN KELLY

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - DEVOTED TO YOU

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE @ TRIBE STUDIOS

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - MACHINE GUN KELLY @ TRIBE STUDIOS

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - WEREWOLVES OF LONDON @ TRIBE STUDIOS

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - NEW YORK MINUTE @ TRIBE STUDIOS

THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY - EPK

MANAGEMENT:

Croshal Entertainment Group

FRED CROSHAL | fred@croshalgroup.com | 818.735.8830

PUBLICITY:

Lucia Media Group

LUCY SABINI | lucy.sabini@luciamediagroup.com | 917.864.0060

Business Management:

Friedman, Kannenberg & Company, p.c.

ALAN FRIEDMAN, CPA | alan@fkco.com | 860.677.9191