AJJ SHARE TWO NEW SINGLES “DEATH MACHINE” + “WHITE GHOSTS” & ANNOUNCE HEADLINE TOUR
NEW ALBUM DISPOSABLE EVERYTHING OUT MAY 26 VIA HOPELESS RECORDS
AJJ will release Disposable Everything, their newest album and debut for Hopeless Records, on May 26, and today they share the latest taste of the album via two new singles, “Death Machine” and “White Ghosts.” “Death Machine” is a track that distills the current environmental and political crises into less than two minutes of jittery, feel-good, punk rock urgency in the way that only AJJ can, and the humorous and wry “White Ghosts” is its perfect complement.
AJJ’s unparalleled live show has always been a bedrock of the band – they have played memorable tours with Joyce Manor, Against Me!, ROAR, Jeff Rosenstock, Kimya Dawson, and huge indie punk festivals, such as The Fest. AJJ have confirmed their first run of dates in support of Disposable Everything starting with a Spring tour supporting The Front Bottoms followed by a headline tour with Oceanator. See below to find a show near you, and get your tickets HERE.
AJJ On The Two New Videos
“For the past several years, truck stops all across America have been selling these strange plastic skulls. You can find them over by the faerie/wizard snowglobes, right across from the knives that look like dragons. Our band has amassed a very well curated stable of these seemingly pointless death-tchotchkes. A favorite is one of Mark’s: a golden skull wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap that has a rhinestone skull & crossbones on it. That bad boy has a shitload of attitude. The very best of our respective truckstop skull collections are the stars of the video for our new song, ‘Death Machine.’ ‘White Ghosts’ also comes with a band-made video. We shot it with our phones, on a lark, live in the studio. Then Mark produced it, editing the footage together and subsequently mangling it with his analog video synthesizer. We’re really happy with how these videos came out and hope you enjoy them!”
Folk-punk legends AJJ is Sean Bonnette (guitar/vox), Ben Gallaty (bass), Preston Bryant (guitar/keys), Mark Glick (cello) and Kevin Higuchi (drums). They recorded Disposable Everything last year and it marks the first time the band went into the studio as a five-piece. The end result boasts apocalyptic themes and imagery like all the best AJJ records. But while it follows the outbreak of a pandemic and AJJ’s eerily prescient January 2020 album Good Luck Everybody, the new LP is less a prophesying mirror held to a burning world than one inspired by personal grief and about what happens when you reach the other side. In fact, it’s a vital, important and beautiful album that’ll make you feel better about everything while telling you just how terrible everything is at the same time. AJJ have previously shared the album’s title track “Dissonance.”and “The Baby Panda.”
Ever since AJJ formed back in 2004, it’s felt like the world has been playing catch-up with the band’s cheery take on a collapsing society. Disposable Everything is about what happens after the collapse—on both an intimately personal level and a much broader scale. “A large part of this album is the terrible thing I’ve been imagining finally happened,” singer Sean Bonnette explains. “A big theme is my mom’s death, which is something I think everyone lives in terror of. But once it happens and you’re still alive, you figure out how to move on. It is, in some weird way, our happiest record.” The14 tracks found on Disposable Everything truly capture the simultaneous terror and wonder of being alive.
That AJJ are still able to offer up their unique brand of humor and irreverence as a solution to the world’s ills almost two decades into their career isn’t lost on them. “I didn’t ever expect AJJ to be what it’s become,” says Gallaty, “but I’m really happy with it. Some of my favorite people play in the band, and the whole larger community we get to be part of just blows my mind. It’s honestly hard to imagine a life without it.”
Tour Dates
May 19 – Portland, ME @ Aura *
May 20 – Long Island, NY @ The Paramount *
May 22 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *
May 23 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground *
May 25 – Lafayette, NY @ Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards *
May 26 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall *
May 30 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom #
May 31 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall #
June 1 – Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall #
June 3 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair #
June 4 – Woodstock, NY @ Colony #
June 6 – Harrisburg, PA @ HMAC #
June 7 – Rehoboth, DE @ Dogfish Head (AJJ Only)
June 8 – Richmond, VA @ Broadberry #
June 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer #
June 10 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
* = support for The Front Bottoms
# = w/ Oceanator & Gladie
Artist Links
Background Photo Credit: Kyle Dehn
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: AJJ – DISPOSABLE EVERYTHING
SPILL FEATURE: LATELY I’VE BEEN FEELING GOOD AND THAT MAKES ME FEEL SO BAD – A CONVERSATION WITH SEAN BONNETTE OF AJJ
