5/20AND THEN, REVISITED
Instead of our standard video featurette for the song “And Then There Were Just Us/Duck’s End”, Marco (who wrote it) did something completely different. Let him tell you about it in his own words:
“Whilst composing and recording new material, I found myself browsing through my computer files and reorganizing folders, when the following item caught my attention: the raw demo footage and recordings for ‘And Then There Were Just Us/Duck’s End’, a piece consisting of two parts which ended up being one of my offerings from the most recent Aristocrats albums, titled ‘Duck’.
Being tempted to accumulate and tailor a ‘making of’ video of said piece, I curiously opened and investigated the folder. Immediately I felt inspired to revisit the music in regards to the thought of a scenario of ‘what would this track have sounded like had it been released on one of my solo albums?’
Well, I replayed and rearranged/recomposed a bit and am actually quite pleased to hereby offer this humble solo and still ’demoish’ version of ATTWJU/Duck’s End. Hope it brings some of you joy and I think overall it really gives everyone a bit of an insight of how in my case an Aristocrats demo sounds like.”
Check out the track on Bandcamp HERE.
4/16The Aristocrats announce DUCK North American tour dates this summer!
Tickets are available NOW from our website HERE.
Having recently wrapped an exclusive run of completely sold out dates on the west coast of the United States (the “Duckling” tour) around the DUCK album’s release, guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann will now bring their trademark musical virtuosity and inherent absurdity back to stages all across the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico. They’ll be playing (and perhaps even explaining) a sizeable chunk of their new album DUCK, as well as classic cuts from their five-album catalogue.
Of the upcoming tour, Guthrie commented, “Our new concept album tells the tale of a Duck who travels thousands of miles from his home on a small island and ultimately finds himself in the US… As the sole UK-based member of The Aristocrats, I’m particularly looking forward to retracing his anatine steps this summer!”. Marco adds, “It was exciting experiencing the great response and equally great fun we had taking our newest ‘Duck’ material briefly out on the road for a test drive. I cannot express more how much I look forward to presenting our most recent offerings to all of you wonderful people around the globe.” Bryan concludes, “We’re extremely proud of the DUCK album, but live onstage is where our music always truly comes alive. With that said: North America, we’ll see you soon!”
4/04THE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL!
When Marco first wrote a tune that evoked classic 70s/Motown vibes and cheekily named it “Sittin’ With A Duck On A Bay”, he had no idea the whole album would end up being named DUCK. But it’s funny how things turn out. Here’s a short feature on that very song, along with some behind-the-scenes talk about the DUCK story evolution.
3/31Read the story of DUCK!
What happens when an Antarctic island Duck gets in trouble at home and flees a penguin policeman all the way to New York City? CLICK HERE to read the story of DUCK. We’ll be publishing this one chapter at a time over the next few months. ;-)
3/14Introducing Rusanda Panfili – the first ever instrumental guest on an Aristocrats album!
The Balkan-flavored madcap final cut on DUCK is entitled “This Is Not Scrotum”. Yes, we know, you have questions. No story spoilers yet, but we’re more than happy to tell you about the first ever instrumental guest on an Aristocrats album – world class violinist Rusanda Panfili (Hans Zimmer Live, Andrea Bocelli, and many more)!
Rusanda’s roots in Moldova bring an unrivaled authenticity to our take on Eastern European fusion, and we’re very grateful that she agreed to appear on such an…*inelegantly* named song.
Some of this live-in-studio footage is from the DUCK DELUXE package bonus material. Just in case you were wondering where to get it. ;-)
2/16“DUCK” RELEASE DAY & THIRD SINGLE!
It’s time for the third video single from DUCK! This one’s called “Sgt. Rockhopper” – one of Guthrie’s tunes that fans may already recognise if they attended a show on our recent DEFROST tour cycle. As he so eloquently stated every night on the road, this Aristocratic character-creation definitely needed a song written about him, and he quickly became the perfect antagonist for our brand new concept album.
And speaking of said album, happy release day one and all; finally, our DUCK is released into the wild! Our 5th studio album DUCK is available NOW on physical CD/Deluxe/Vinyl from our USA, UK and EU webstores. And for hi-res digital audio, our BANDCAMP is the place to go. You can stream all you like in the Bandcamp app after your digital purchase there. General streaming release will come eventually, but not for a few months. If you want your DUCK now and want to support the band, you know what to do!
This is a very special day for us – Release Days don’t come around very often. And none of it works without you, the people most interested in our music. Thank you once again, so very much.
Now, let’s hear what you think! Cheers to all, The Aristocrats
2/02SECOND SINGLE FROM “DUCK”!
WELCOME TO THE ARISTOCLUB: Check out the second video single from our upcoming album DUCK. This one’s called “Aristoclub”, and it’s our tongue-in-cheek pastiche of an ultra-mainstream 1990s dance song. Bryan wrote it to be loosely inspired by C & C Music Factory, Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch, and Technotronic – unlikely source material for Aristocrats-style guitar-driven instrumental rock/fusion, to be sure! But Guthrie did some amazing guitar sequencing on this, and Marco put his own spin on some classic dance beats. It hopefully goes to show we can throw just about anything in the blender and have it come out the other side as something fun and wild.
In keeping with the concept album’s narrative, the Aristoclub is also one of the first places our Duck protagonist lands upon arriving in the big city, thousands of miles from his Antarctic island home. It’s loud and crazy in there, and he just wants to have a good time after such an arduous journey – but is he being followed?
DUCK is available for pre-sale (link in first comment) now on regular CD, DUCK Deluxe (CD + bonus USB video and special content), double vinyl, and hi-res digital download (Bandcamp). Album drops February 16. Hope you enjoy the new tune!
Cheers to all, The Aristocrats
