Los Angeles' Starcrawler formed in 2015, and since that time have gone from bashing out songs in the garage to earning legendary fans such as Shirley Manson and Elton John, and to supporting the likes of Beck, Foo Fighters, Spoon, The Distillers, MC5and more. Today they announce their remarkable sophomore album Devour You, a record that dynamically captures the essence and aggression of their gloriously unhinged live shows. Produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, L7) at Sunset Studios, Devour You takes the feral intensity of their 2018 self-titled debut and twists it into something grander and more gracefully composed. With its more elaborate and nuanced yet harder-hitting sonic palette, the result is a selection of songs radiating both raw sensitivity and untamable power, and a record that the band's Arrow de Wilde says, "encapsulates all the blood, sweat, bruised knees, and broken fingers of a Starcrawler show." Pre-order Devour You, out October 11th on Rough Trade, HERE. The album will be available on limited edition black/red marbled vinyl, with a scratch and sniff sleeve.
To kick off the album announcement, Starcrawler share the heavy, swinging and brutally catchy "Bet My Brains" alongside its manic and murderous music video. "That song came from thinking about the tunnel people in New York and Vegas and the Catacombs in France, and the underground village of people who live in the sewers of the L.A. River," says de Wilde. "I was fascinated with the fact that there is a whole other world happening right under our feet." Guitarist and vocalist Henri Cash adds: "Arrow and I hadn't even talked about it yet, but I'd already written something about the same thing-about how these people's eyes adapt to pitch-blackness, and they end up going crazy from never seeing the sunlight." Check out the song and the Jellyclaw-directed video!
Starcrawler will bring their quintessentially crazed and chaotic live show-an impressive spectacle that's simultaneously lurid and sublime-on the road this fall for a headline tour of North America with more dates to come in the UK, Europe and Japan. The dates kick off October 4 in San Diego, CA and conclude with a homecoming show at Los Angeles'The Fonda on November 9. The run includes two special shows at Third Man Records -Hell Night in Detroit and Halloween in Nashville, TN. Prone to spitting fake blood and slapping phones from the hands of crowd members, de Wilde has proven to be a captivating, once-in-a-lifetime performer. "We want to put on a real show and give people some kind of escape from all the s going on in the world," she says. See below to find a show near you, and get your tickets HERE.
1. Lizzy
2. Bet My Brains
3. Home Alone
4. No More Pennies
5. You Dig Yours
6. Toy Teenager
7. Hollywood Ending
8. She Gets Around
9. I Don't Need You
10. Rich Taste
11. Born Asleep
12. Tank Top
13. Call Me A Baby
Starcrawler-vocalist Arrow de Wilde, guitarist/vocalist Henri Cash, bassist Tim Franco, and drummer Austin Smith-is a band possessed by the spirit of its own hometown of Los Angeles, every movement charged with a manic electricity. All throughout the album, Starcrawler taps into a kinetic chemistry they discovered soon after forming. In assembling the band, de Wilde first contacted Smith after seeing a Facebook photo of him playing drums. In searching for a guitarist, de Wilde next approached Cash, a fellow student at her performing-arts high school in downtown L.A. "I saw him one day and thought, 'That guy looks cool,'" she says. "'He's carrying a tuba, he's got long hair, I've seen him wearing Cramps T-shirts: he's gotta know at least something on guitar.'" But while Cash has since emerged as a monster guitarist, her instincts were only partly right. "When I was younger I didn't want to play guitar, I wanted to play the drums because my dad played guitar-although sometimes I'd take a broomstick and jam along to AC/DC live footage," says Cash. "It wasn't until Arrow hit me up that I realized it was meant to be." Starcrawler then finalized their lineup with the addition of Franco-an old friend whom de Wilde reached out to after a moment of strange serendipity ("I was in the car with my mom and stressing out about finding the right bass player, and then Tim and his brother turned out to be on their bikes right in front of us," she says).
With Starcrawler's early band practices consisting mostly of Runaways covers, the band quickly bonded over a shared love for L.A.'s most unglamorous spaces. "I've been obsessed with Hollywood Boulevard ever since I was little," notes de Wilde. "People travel so far and spend so much money to see it 'cause it makes them think of Marilyn Monroe-when in reality it's so disgusting, which is why I love it. But really a lot of the L.A. that I grew up with and reminisce about is kind of fading now." As an antidote to the toxic mildness overtaking so much of the city, Starcrawler's live show has only become more outrageous over the years, an element strengthened by their increasingly telepathic connection. "We all know each other in a much deeper way now," says Smith. "Like, Arrow knows exactly when I'm going to hit the crash cymbals, so she moves to match up with that. It's completely changed how we play together."
"With this album, I want people to put it on and feel excited, and hopefully get goosebumps. I always want there to be a dramatic response," says de Wilde. Devour You-built around Starcrawler's dramatic performances-does just that, revealing their rare ability to find a fragile beauty in even the greatest chaos.
10/4/19 - San Diego, CA - The Irenic
10/5/19 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
10/7/19 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
10/8/19 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune Sound Club
10/9/19 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
10/11/19 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
10/12/19 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake Lounge
10/14/19 - Kansas City, MO - The Riot Room
10/15/19 - Omaha, NE - Reverb Lounge
10/16/19 - Saint Paul, MN - Turf Club
10/17/19 - Chicago IL - Lincoln Hall
10/19/19 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
10/22/19 - Montreal - Bar Le Rtiz PDB
10/23/19 - Somerville, MA - ONCE Ballroom
10/25/19 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/26/19 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle
10/27/19 - Washington, DC - Pie Shop
10/28/19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café
10/30/19 - Detroit, MI - Hell Night @Third Man Records
10/31/19 - Nashville, TN - Halloween @Third Man Records
11/1/19 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5
11/2/19 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
11/5/19 - Austin, TX - Barracuda
11/8/19 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
11/9/19 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
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