SLOTHRUST Shares New Singles, Sets Fall Tour With RIOT FEST Sept 18
The Dystopian Theatre Tour will feature support from The Velveteers and Um, Jennifer? in select cities.
Equal Vision Records and Slothrust have released 'Dystopian Cemetery' and 'Twisted Paradise,' two new singles lifted from the Friday, September 18 release of WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN, the new studio album from the LA-based alt-rock band. The two songs examine queer romance and sleep paralysis, respectively.
'Do not forget the delights that are possible within your own mind,' Leah Wellbaum of Slothrust says of 'Dystopian Cemetery,' a song featuring a collaboration with noted producer/keyboardist Willy Beaman. 'Tap back into the freedom mindset you felt as a child and follow what charms you. Pull on the threads of curiosity and let them lead you to the magic of your consciousness.'
Of 'Twisted Paradise,' Wellbaum adds, 'I have always been incredibly impacted by my dreams — I have experienced profound healing from my dreams, as well as incredibly disturbing mental states that linger for days. This song examines the beauty and the horror of the subconscious mind when it is let off its leash at night when we go to sleep.'
Slothrust recently announced a full U.S. tour for the fall. Titled The Dystopian Theatre Tour, the run will kick off on Tuesday, September 15 at Reverb Lounge in Omaha, NE, make a stop at Riot Fest in Chicago, IL on Friday, September 18, and culminate in an appearance at The Bellwether in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, November 18. Support on the tour will be provided by The Velveteers and Um, Jennifer? in select markets. More information on tickets and VIP packages can be found via Slothrust's official site, and a full listing of dates can be found below.
Produced by Slothrust and Jordan Witzigreuter (The Ready Set), WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN, the band's forthcoming Equal Vision Records debut, is the result of a band pushing itself to the absolute limit: the riffs hit harder, the hooks are catchier, the stylistic shifts even more unexpected. Billed as 'dystopian theatre rock,' the album's 12 tracks make good on that promise — a band once compared to Nirvana now sounds more like a grungier Queen, or the best album Muse never made.
Lyrically, the album is also an examination of the hive mind that explores what it means to be human and live in a system designed to exploit perceived weaknesses by means of capitalism. The band wanted to explore old archetypal places like 'the garden' and 'the lake' through an allegorical and surrealist lens that encourages listeners to look inward for their big truths instead of at their phones. 'We really want people to take away a message from this album of self-liberation amidst the flickers of seemingly inescapable dread,' Leah Wellbaum and Will Gorin of Slothrust said. 'Despite the permeating blue light of the external world, it is still possible to find your freedom and identify your core truths if you go within.'
Gravitating toward demos that spoke to a more universal dissatisfaction, Wellbaum kept in mind their musical peers suffering in a collapsing industry; they thought of the screen-addiction epidemic; they thought of life under late capitalism and overconsumption. All of these, of course, are connected: it keeps us numbed. 'We're getting further and further away from tactile, organic humanity,' Wellbaum says, and urges listeners to access the agency they have within these systems. A backlash against digital dependency, the songs on What They Grow In The Garden detail the impossibility of truly outrunning complicity, but they make some leeway into stepping away from the cold blue light of phone screens.
Every Slothrust album is more ambitious than the last, from their lo-fi beginnings on 2012's Feels Your Pain to the polished rock on 2021's Parallel Timeline, produced by longtime Garbage engineer Billy Bush. While the band has changed a lot over the years, they've never lost their capacity for surprise. WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN may be Slothrust's first album as a duo, but it's their biggest and wildest record to date.
Tour Dates
September 15 — Omaha, NE — Reverb Lounge *
September 16 — St. Paul, MN — Amsterdam Bar & Hall *
September 18 — Chicago, IL — Riot Fest #
September 19 — Ann Arbor, MI — The Blind Pig *
September 20 — Columbus, OH — A&R Music Bar *
September 23 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Bowl *
September 24 — Boston, MA — Royale *
September 25 — Philadelphia, PA — Underground Arts *
September 26 — Towson, MD — The Recher *
September 28 — Durham, NC — Motorco Music Hall *
September 29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Hell) *
October 01 — Nashville, TN — The Blue Room at Third Man Records *
October 02 — Chattanooga, TN — The Boneyard *
October 03 — Cleveland, OH — Beachland Ballroom *
October 27 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
October 28 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
October 30 — Sacramento, CA — Harlow's ^
November 01 — Seattle, WA — Showbox Market ^
November 02 — Portland, OR — Revolution Hall ^
November 04 — Boise, ID — The Shredder ^
November 06 — Salt Lake City, UT — Urban Lounge ^
November 07 — Colorado Springs, CO — Black Sheep ^
November 08 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
November 10 — Denton, TX — Rubber Gloves Patio ^
November 11 — Austin, TX — Scoot Inn ^
November 13 — Santa Fe, NM — Meow Wolf ^
November 14 — Phoenix, AZ — The Rebel Lounge ^
November 15 — San Diego, CA — Quartyard ^
November 17 — Pioneertown, CA — Pappy & Harriet's ^
November 18 — Los Angeles, CA — The Bellwether ^
* — headline show, The Velveteers supporting
^ — headline show, Um, Jennifer? supporting
# — festival appearance
Tracklist
Dissolve The Delusion
Burn The Deck
Smile
Ring the Bell
Twisted Paradise
Hearst Castle
00101001
What A Night
Absolute Power
Keep Us Thirsty
The Lake
Dystopian Cemetery
Photo Credit: Levi Price
Photo Credit: Levi Price
