Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, the band ‘We Live on the New Madrid’ started as a collaborative home recording project by Justin Fox Burks and Justin Elliott Thompson. Both multi-instrumentalists played in notable Memphis bands for the last four decades. Thompson is known for his work with Impala and The Palmer Woodrow Experience, and Burks has played in Halfacre Gunroom, Hometown Nobodies, and Perfect Vessels.
Burks and Thompson‘s songs are created to be dramatic as well as cinematic. The idea behind each instrumental composition is to tell a visual story in the mind of the listener, not only using saxophone, synths, drums, and guitars, but also snippets, samples, and noises.
Raised on Johnny Cash, Booker T, old-school country, 80’s straight-edge hardcore, and 90’s indie rock, Burks and Thompson decided in 2025 to follow their diverse musical muses wherever they may lead. WLOTNM’s process includes ripping at the fabric of their influences to create original compositions for their own creative fulfillment, without compromise.
The musicians behind the live sound of We Live on the New Madrid make the noise make sense. For the live band, Justin Thompson and Justin Fox Burks took their posts on saxophone and guitar, respectively. Drum duties were assumed by hard-hitter Ben Alumbaugh of Crystal Palace and Slolerner. They enlisted the prodigious bass guitar talent of Tripp Lamkins, who is best known for his work in indie-rock stalwarts, The Grifters and the punk-tinged Dragoon.
Together this four-piece, instrumental outfit make a more complex noise than some bands twice their size.
With the 'Our Fault' EP serving as an initial musical manifesto, moving forward, all WLOTNM songs will be whole-band compositions.
Click the link below to listen
and download.
We Live on the New Madrid's first musical offering was released in March 2026 on Jetways International Media. The 'Our Fault' EP is available on cassette, streaming on all your favorite platforms, and as a digital download
on Bandcamp.
On this home-recorded EP, We Live on the New Madrid leans into the spooky, creepy, and the spiritual. The tracks "A Witch in Epping Forest" and "My Fall in Autumn" explore darker vibes, while "Sounds Like a Ghost Story" and "Jade East Curse" mix in a bit of a Booker T and The MGs groove.
We Live on the New Madrid is lucky to have been able to partner with Infinity Stairs (Graham O. Burks Jr.) on a trippy, mesmerizing video made with a visual analogue synthesizer for "An Interesting Time for an Afterlife."
Directed by Infinity Stairs
Shot on location at The Crystal Shrine Grotto
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