Shiner Announces U.S. Tour Dates

Last week Kansas City's Shiner announced their return by way of the May 8 release of new album Schadenfreude. Today they are happy to announce a U.S. tour in support of the album. The dates kick of May 21 at Chicago's Lincoln Hall and conclude at the Double Wide in Dallas on July 27. Along the way they will also play Brooklyn, Seattle and Los Angeles as well as a hometown show at Kansas City's Record Bar on June 5. All dates are below.

Schadenfreude will mark Shiner's first new album since the 2001 release of their critically acclaimed LP The Egg. To date they have shared the album's first single "Life As A Mannequin"

Shiner formed in 1992 and soon found themselves signed to DeSoto Records, (owned by Jawbox's Kim Coletta and Bill Barbot). For the next decade they went on countless tours of the US, Europe and Japan, and released 4 full-length albums resulting in a fiercely loyal set of diehards. Comparisons with their contemporaries of HUM, Jawbox, Failure, and Swervedriver were unavoidable, but Shiner carved a path of their own with a dedication to song-craft and musicianship wrapped in darkly sugared hooks.

Shiner broke up in 2002 but 10-years later re-released The Egg on vinyl and played sold-out shows in New York, LA, KC and Chicago. Those were some of their biggest shows ever and many in the audience were new to the Shiner fanclub. In 2018 the 4 of them - drummer Jason Gerken, bass player Paul Malinowski and guitarists Allen Epley and Josh Newton decided they were not quite finished, there was another life for Shiner they could not ignore.

After a few recording sessions that took place over a year and a half, the band have emerged the upcoming Schadenfreude. The LP was self-produced, engineered, and mixed at Malinowski' own Massive Sound studio in Shawnee, KS. And despite the hiatus, Shiner have not missed a beat, Gerken is still a drummer's drummer and his heavy right foot is tied to Malinowski's distorted-symphony bass. Epley and Newton hew left and right in the mix and worked in lockstep counterpoint throughout the proceedings and leave room for the vocals to enter the mix without overtaking, and instead working as a whole within the strings and skins.

The songs on Schadenfreude are not so much an answer to The Egg as some properly timed follow up might, but instead stand on their own. It's the sound of a 4 piece band with each player finding his place in a book as though he just left the room an hour earlier and picked up on the next paragraph upon return. Epley says, "a lot of themes on the album are pretty dark but always with a silver lining around the edges. The title itself is a commentary on the most common human trait of enjoying your rivals' demise. Or your apparent enemies."

Shiner tour dates:

May 21 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

May 22 - Milwaukee, WI @ Collective

May 23 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern

May 24 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme

May 26 - Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place

May 27 - Allston, MA @ Great Scott

May 28 - New Haven, CT @ The State House

May 29 - Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel

May 30 - Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie

May 31 - Baltimore, MD @ Rituals

June 2 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle

June 3 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

June 4 - St. Louis, MO @ Red Flag

June 5 - Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar

July 14 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird

July 15 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

July 16 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux

July 17 - Seattle, WA @ Substation

July 18 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir

July 20 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill

July 21 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo

July 22 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah

July 23 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge

July 24 - El Paso, TX @ Neon Rose

July 25 - Austin, TX @ Northdoor

July 26 - Houston, TX @ Rudyard's

July 27 - Dallas, TX @ Double Wide

Schadenfreude Track List:

1 In the End

2 Life as a Mannequin

3 Genuflect

4 Nothing

5 Low Hanging Fruit

6 Paul P Pogh

7 Swallow

8 O Captain

Photo Credit: Todd Zimmer

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