Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs Announce 'External Combustion' Album

External Combustion, the new album from Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, is set for release on March 4 via BMG. Recorded last summer, the record is Mike Campbell's second as a band leader, following up Campbell & The Dirty Knobs' 2020 critically acclaimed debut album, Wreckless Abandon. Fans can pre-order External Combustion here.

In celebration of the forthcoming record, Campbell & The Dirty Knobs are premiering their blistering garage-rock single, "Wicked Mind," today alongside a George Mays (My Morning Jacket, Brittany Howard, Chicano Batman) directed video.

External Combustion showcases Campbell & The Dirty Knobs' evolution, pushing the band to a new level, jumping ahead in vision and drive, proving the first record was no one-shot deal. "The band became this spontaneous type of combustion-to borrow a word," Campbell recalls. "The longer we played, the more intuitive it got."

Co-produced by Campbell and George Drakoulias (The Black Crowes, The Jayhawks), the 11-track album was recorded at Campbell's home studio, Hocus Pocus Recorders in Los Angeles. External Combustion also features Margo Price and Ian Hunter as well as piano from fellow Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers founding member Benmont Tench on "Lightning Boogie." Although Campbell wrote most of the songs on the new album within the past year, two of the tracks had been written in the 90's, only to be rediscovered in Campbell's extensive vault of unreleased compositions.

The band will finally embark on their first-ever national tour this spring, featuring an extensive run of sold-out headlining shows. Kicking off on March 9, the tour includes performances at Brooklyn Bowl in both New York City and Nashville, Chicago's Park West and Philadelphia's World Café Live, as well as multiple dates at Los Angeles' Troubadour and San Francisco's The Independent. In addition, Campbell & The Dirty Knobs will perform a run of arena and amphitheater shows with Chris Stapleton in June and July. Full tour routing can be found below.
"The band's too good," says Campbell as he prepares for the upcoming tour. "And now we have two albums to draw from when writing setlists."

On February 2, SiriusXM's Tom Petty Radio will premiere "The Breakdown With Mike Campbell," a monthly conversation show where Campbell is joined by friends, bandmates and collaborators all united by their connection to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, in an intimate conversation about music and life. Premiering on February 2, the first episode will feature a conversation between Campbell and Tench. "We're going to go down memory lane and break down some of the old stories and impressions we lived through, building this legacy we have with Tom," notes Campbell.

The Dirty Knobs came together nearly two decades ago, after Campbell met guitarist Jason Sinay (Neil Diamond, Ivan Neville) at a session and liked the way their guitars sounded together. What began as a less structured project for Campbell in between The Heartbreakers' touring became something else altogether when they added the rhythm section of bassist Lance Morrison (Don Henley) and drummer Matt Laug (Slash, Alanis Morissette).

Watch the new music video here:

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