If you were to begin a search online for the NRA and got lazy, you might just stumble upon The National Rifle, and depending on what your idea of a good time is, it might be one of the best mistakes you’ll ever make. Although the name stems more from irony than anything else, Philadelphia’s TNR are a shot of energy that you were more likely to see at a Dead Milkmen show twenty years ago than in today’s “let’s stare at our shoes and bore the audience” indie scene. Their first full-length, a Kickstarter-funded endeavor titled Almost Endless, is the follow up to 2010’s Vanity Press, and is a cocktail of styles mixed with synths and a whole lot of sweat. If heart made for success in the world of music, then The National Rifle would already be selling out arenas.

OK, the new album is Kickstarter funded; why and how did you decide that was the route to go?

Buddy Mazzenga: We decided to use Kickstarter because it was a great way to fund the new album. Continue reading →