Canadian DIY duo and global underground sensation cleopatrick have released their highly anticipated debut album BUMMER today via Thirty Tigers / Nowhere Special Recordings.
Alongside the album release the band have shared a suspenseful official music video for opening track, “VICTORIA PARK” which vocalist Luke Gruntz tells, “It’s the sonic mission statement for our debut album. It’s our thesis, our first impression. The proverbial icebreaker. It’s named after a real Victoria Park here in Cobourg, Ontario; a place where Ian and I have both spent countless summer days and nights throughout our lives. It’s a green space that was named after Queen Victoria in an effort to impress the crown, during a time where this town was so young and prosperous that they truly believed they could be chosen as the capital of Canada. Standing here today in what is now a sleepy rural retirement community, I feel a strange sense of tragedy lingering around this park. in my eyes, it is a monument to a long lost ambition, and for that reason, it inspires me.”
THE STORY: Two friends (guitarist/vocalist Luke Gruntz and drummer Ian Fraser) meet aged four in Hicksville, Nowheretown (real name: Cobourg, Ontario, population 19,000), grow up completely inseparable, form a band and, against numerous obstacles, blossom into a genuine, global underground sensation as cleopatrick. There are heroes and villains, highs and lows and, crucially, some of the most poetic plot twists that could seem almost too perfect, were they not completely true.
Since breakthrough track “hometown”, cleopatrick have logged 100 million streams and counting – all from an increasingly dedicated fanbase who’ve found the duo on their own way: no major label, no big budget, just two best pals knuckling down, cementing a unique sonic alchemy and filling a space of honest, empathetic yet undeniably heavy-hitting rock music that they’d been searching for themselves for years.
THE SOUND: Luke and Ian’s blossoming love of AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ and hip-hop (the pair cite Drake and Kendrick Lamar as particular obsessions) quickly seeped into their songwriting. Cemented in their abilities as a duo (“I don’t know how we could find a third member it worked as well with, even if we tried”), it became as integral an element within the sonic mix as the bands they’d first fallen in love with. And so, with the MO of making rock music that hit as strongly as the hip-hop tracks they loved, but spoke honestly about the things they knew.
THE COLLECTIVE: cleopatrick created the loose DIY collective ‘New Rock Mafia’ as a means to offer support to one another. NRM is a collection of bands and fans who share the same morals and beliefs; they are all inclusive, gender neutral, and supportive of affiliated bands and fans – with the aim to grow and cultivate a space within rock music that is open and safe for all. cleopatrick took the ethos of the collective and imbued it with the sonic ambition and ferocity of a record designed to be played hard and loud.
THE ALBUM: BUMMER, cleopatrick’s debut full-length, was written, recorded and produced by the band and their close friend Jig Dubé. It is available now via the band’s own label Nowhere Special Recordings (via The Orchard / Thirty Tigers). LISTEN HERE.
“Just three kids with some fuzz pedals and a point to prove,” explains Luke. Between multiple sold out tours in the US, Canada, and the UK/EU, appearances at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and Reading/Leeds, a recent Amazon Music Ones to Watch 2021 tip, and inclusion on Apple Music playlists, the pair have been crafting BUMMER. It sees Cleopatrick harness all the magic they’ve been brewing over their two-decade friendship and funnel it into a record that aims to reinvigorate the rock landscape from the ground up.
THE TOUR: cleopatrick shows are legendary, and the band cannot wait to get back on the road and bring this new album to life. In support of BUMMER they have announced tours in both the US and the UK. All US headline shows will be supported by the band’s New Rock Mafia cohorts: Zig Mentality and Ready the Prince. Stateside, the shows kick off on September 22nd in Chicago and conclude on October 29th in Brooklyn. The full US routing is below and tickets are available here.
cleopatrick Live Dates
09/22: Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
09/25: Nashville, TN – Third Man Records
09/26: St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway
09/28: Kansas City, MO – The recordBar
09/29: Oklahoma City, OK – VZD’s Restaurant & Bar
10/01: Tucson, AZ – 191 Toole
10/02: Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge
10/03: Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory – Constellation Room
10/05: Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
10/07: San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
10/08: Sacramento, CA – Aftershock Festival
10/10: Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court Gallery
10/11: Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
10/20: Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
10/21: Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
10/22: Ferndale, MI – Loving Touch
10/23: Pittsburgh, PA – The Crafthouse
10/25: Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry
10/26: Washington, D.C. – Songbyrd Music House
10/28: Boston, MA – The Sinclair
10/29: Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/24: Tunbridge Wells, UK – Tunbridge Wells Forum
11/25: London, UK – Islington Assembly Hall
11/26: Birmingham, UK – O2 Institute
11/27: Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
