The Suffers Announce New Album 'It Starts With Love'

Today, the eight-piece Gulf Coast soul band The Suffers announced their third studio album It Starts With Love will be released on June 3 via Missing Piece Records. The Houston-based band shared the official video for their album opener "Don't Bother Me," an electrifying declaration of independence and empowerment.

Crafted in collaboration with Swedish writer/producer and longtime friend Johan Karlberg, the new single sets the stage for an album that refuses to back down from any challenge. It Starts With Love is now available for pre-order here.

"I received the original demo for 'Don't Bother Me' in 2015 from my old friend and producer, Johan Karlberg," shares frontwoman Kam Franklin. "Even though we loved the song from the start, it would be another four years before the band finally stepped into a studio to record it. We knocked it out over the course of two-and-a-half days at Argyle Studios in North Texas, with Jason Burt and Matt Pence, after a long summer of messing around with it in between tours and during soundchecks. I can honestly say that bringing this song to the finish line has been one of the honors of my career so far. Influenced by the complexities, power, and care of Buena Vista Social Club, Miami Sound Machine, and Sly and The Family Stone, 'Don't Bother Me' is a demand to be left alone by the outside world so that the wildness, fun, mistakes, and freedom that should come with being a young adult can truly be embraced."

This morning, Consequence of Sound published an Origins feature where Franklin breaks down how HBCU marching bands, boundaries as a form of self-care, and Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine influenced the song.

It Starts With Love tackles issues of racism, misogyny and the music industry, while at the same time chronicling growth, evolution and self-acceptance. Written in the midst of a tumultuous stretch that saw the Gulf Coast Soul powerhouse reinvent themselves personally and professionally, the record is a fierce, defiant ode to resilience and commitment, to the passion and drive that brought them together in the first place. The writing here is bold and self-assured, with fearless lyrics and addictive melodies, and the performances are blistering to match, fueled by buoyant rhythms, muscular horns, and Franklin's hair-raising vocals.

"I wanted to make a record that sounded like Houston to me," Franklin explains. "You've got the hard edges and tough exteriors and hip-hop swagger, but then you've also got the sounds of the choir and the soulfulness and even a little bit of twang. I wanted to make something beautiful out of hardship."

Mixed by GRAMMY-winner Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), who transferred all of the sessions to analog tape, and mastered by Chris Longwood (Khruangbin, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic), It Starts With Love is an album for survivors, for the down and out, for the doubted and the written off, but it's delivered with the kind of faith and conviction that ultimately transcends pain and anger to instead land on something far more triumphant and spiritually rewarding.

In February, The Suffers teamed up with Son Little and Bryce The Third for lead single "How Do We Heal," a poignant question on enduring racial violence and trauma over generations that was praised by NPR's Bob Boilen on All Songs Considered.

"Our whole career, we've had people ask us, 'How the hell do you make it work?'" says Franklin, "and I've always said, 'It starts with love and it ends with love.' If you don't show up every night with love in your heart, if you don't leave feeling the same way, this life gets really hard really fast."

Over the years, the show-stopping group has toured with Thievery Corporation, Galactic, and Lake Street Dive, and has performed at Newport Folk Fest, Austin City Limits, Afropunk, Xponential Music Festival, and NPR's Tiny Desk. By the time they released their 2018 sophomore album, Everything Here, their arrival as critical and festival favorites was undeniable with widespread acclaim to date from NPR Music, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Garden & Gun, the Houston Chronicle and many more.

The Suffers are hitting the road this spring, kicking off a string of U.S. dates in Tilmon, TX at Old Settlers Music Festival on April 23 and heading out West to Phoenix, AZ, Reno, NV, and many more before concluding in San Antonio, TX on June 3. A full list of tour dates can be found below or here.

The Suffers are Kam Franklin (vocals), Juliet Terrill (bass), Kevin Bernier (guitar), Michael Razo (trombone), Jon Durbin (trumpet), Nick Zamora (drums) and Jose "Chapy" Luna (percussion).

Watch the music video for the new single here:

Tour Dates

4/23: Tilmon, TX - Old Settlers Music Festival
4/29: New Orleans, LA - Tipitinas %
4/30: Huntsville, AL - Panoply Arts Festival
5/5: Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's +
5/6: New Orleans, LA - Toulouse Theatre +
5/7: New Orleans, LA - Republic #
5/19: Tucson, AZ - Hotel Congress *
5/20: Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit Live *
5/21: Inglewood, CA - The Miracle *
5/22: Costa Mesa, CA - The Wayfarer *
5/24: Santa Barbara, CA - SoHo *
5/26: Reno, NV - The Cypress *
5/27: Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
5/28: Napa, CA - BottleRock
6/3: San Antonio, TX - Carver Community Cultural Ctr
6/4: Austin, TX - Mohawk
6/10: Chicago, IL - Chop Shop
7/1: Portland, OR - Waterfront Blues Festival
7/3: Victoria, BC - TD Victoria International JazzFest
7/8: Denver, CO - Levitt Pavilion
8/23-28: Athens, Greece - Keeping The Blues Alive at Sea Mediterranean
9/17: Huddleston, VA - Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival
9/18: Camden, NJ - XPoNential Music Festival

% with Galactic
+ with Neal Francis
# with Big Freedia
* with Fat Tony