Legendary 2-Tone artist, The Selecter have announced 7 dates in the US for this October celebrating over 35 years of their now classic album TOO MUCH PRESSURE plus sharing tracks from their latest album Subculture.
Whenever successful bands from the past reform they invariably start trading in nostalgia and become "heritage" acts. No one expects them to grow artistically or continue to excel at the same things that brought them popularity in the first place, but that's what
The Selecter have done in the past few years. They've played at major festivals, headlined UK tours, toured the US, played at Coachella and recorded three studio albums, the latest of which, Subculture, was released to critical acclaim last fall in the US.
In a time of global uncertainty,
The Selecter continues to provide an optimistic soundtrack, as they once did 35 years ago and their message is as relevant as ever. The UK release of
Subculture in June, 2015 landed the band in the Top 40 and earned them their largest sales week since cult-classic Celebrate The Bullet came out in 1981. In the US where the album dropped on
October 2nd, the band was featured on NPR's
Weekend Edition, "Decades On,
The Selecter Maintains A Steady Groove And A Political Eye," their new album was favorably featured in Pitchfork's piece "Remembering the Real Lessons of 2 Tone Ska" and they chatted with VICE's Noisey for a piece that ran with an advance stream of the record, "The Selecter's
Pauline Black on Bringing
Diverse Two-Tone Music Since 1979." In addition, last year in an interview with 7x7 Magazine,
Carrie Brownstein name checks
The Selecter when asked what she's currently listening to and
Gwen Stefani notes
The Selecter as a big style and music influence in an In Style interview.
The Selecter is led by their iconic frontwoman
Pauline Black alongside an incredible talented band of musicians, including Neil Pyzer (Spear Of Destiny) Will Crewdson (Rachel Stamp) and co-fronted by original member Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson (who features extensively on Subculture).
The anarchic passion that fuelled Selecter gigs during the 2 Tone era when they toured with
The Specials and
Madness at the peak of their early fame is still there, except now the pair (Pauline & Gaps) seem more driven than ever. Their confidence is sky-high and they're also writing the best songs of their career, which is saying something given the enduring popularity of hits like "Three Minute Hero," "Missing Words" and "On My Radio."
Expect lots of tunes from TOO MUCH PRESSURE and more on the following dates:
October 6 | Gramercy Theatre | New York, NY
October 7 | 1st Ward Chop Shop | Chicago, IL
October 8 |
Gothic Theatre | Denver, CO
October 10 | The Independent | San Francisco, CA
October 11 | Regent Theater | Los Angeles, CA
October 12 | Glass House | Pomona, CA
October 13 |
The Casbah | San Diego, CA
"These days it's not just Punks, Rude Boys or Mods who rally to their cause. It's a global demographic that's eager to hear music which stands for something, and has a message. 2 Tone unified all those different groups and we can still do that. We can go anywhere and that's the beauty of 2 Tone." - Pauline Black, The Selecter
The Selecter - "On My Radio" (1979) (HQ)
The Selecter - "Walk The Walk"
www.theselecter.netwww.facebook.com/TheSelecter
Photo Credit: John Coles
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