SPILL NEWS: ALT-ROCK VETS SLOTHRUST RELEASE NEW “DYSTOPIAN THEATRE ROCK” LP ‘WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN’

ALT-ROCK VETS SLOTHRUST RELEASE NEW “DYSTOPIAN THEATRE ROCK” LP WHAT THEY GROW IN THE GARDEN

EQUAL VISION RECORDS

Slothrust and legendary independent New York-based rock label Equal Vision Records are excited to announce the release of What They Grow In The Garden, the brand new studio album from the acclaimed LA-based alt-rock veterans. Produced by the band and Jordan Witzigreuter (The Ready Set), What They Grow In The Garden is the result of a band pushing itself to the absolute limit: the riffs hit harder, the hooks are catchier, the stylistic shifts even more unexpected. Billed as “dystopian theatre rock,” the album’s 12 tracks make good on that promise — a band once compared to Nirvana now sounds more like a grungier Queen, or the best album Muse never made.

Lyrically, the album is also an examination of the hive mind that explores what it means to be human and live in a system designed to exploit our perceived weaknesses by means of capitalism. The band wanted to explore old archetypal places like “the garden” and “the lake” through an allegorical and surrealist lens that encourages listeners to look inward for their big truths instead of at their phones.

“We really want people to take away a message from this album of self-liberation amidst the flickers of seemingly inescapable dread,” Leah Wellbaum and Will Gorin of Slothrust said. “Despite the permeating blue light of the external world, it is still possible to find your freedom and identify your core truths if you go within.” Watch and stream the lyric video for the album’s new single, “Hearst Castle,” on YouTube.

Additionally, Slothrust is currently on the road supporting What They Grow In The Garden. Titled The Dystopian Theatre Tour, the current run made a stop in Chicago, IL, at Riot Fest and extends through September, October, and November, culminating in an appearance at The Bellwether in Los Angeles, CA on Wednesday, November 18. Support on the tour will be provided by The Velveteers and Um, Jennifer? in select markets. More information on tickets and VIP packages can be found via Slothrust’s official site, and a full listing of dates can be found below.

From their lo-fi beginnings on 2012’s Feels Your Pain to the polished rock on 2021’s Parallel Timeline, produced by longtime Garbage engineer Billy Bush, every Slothrust album is more ambitious than the last. What They Grow In The Garden, the band’s Equal Vision Records debut, may be Slothrust’s first album as a duo (drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Gorin and guitarist/vocalist Leah Wellbaum), but it’s their biggest and wildest record to date.

Gravitating toward demos that spoke to a more universal dissatisfaction, Wellbaum kept in mind their musical peers suffering in a collapsing industry; they thought of the screen-addiction epidemic; they thought of life under late capitalism and overconsumption. All of these, of course, are connected: it keeps us numbed. “We’re getting further and further away from tactile, organic humanity,” Wellbaum says, and urges listeners to access the agency they have within these systems. A backlash against digital dependency, the songs on What They Grow In The Garden detail the impossibility of truly outrunning complicity, but they make some leeway into stepping away from the cold blue light of phone screens.

Slothrust has changed a lot over the years, but they’ve never lost their capacity for surprise. They prove they can go right back to their grunge roots on a song such as “The Lake”, but they’re most interested in pushing themselves: the very next song, closer “Dystopian Cemetery”, is a harmony-stacked stadium waltz, complete with pounding piano from longtime collaborator Willy Beaman. It only proves this is a band that can do anything — and they will.

Tour Dates

SEPTEMBER
18 — Chicago, IL — Riot Fest #
19 — Ann Arbor, MI — The Blind Pig *
20 — Columbus, OH — A&R Music Bar *
23 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Bowl *
24 — Boston, MA — Royale *
25 — Philadelphia, PA — Underground Arts *
26 — Towson, MD — The Recher *
28 — Durham, NC — Motorco Music Hall *
29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Hell) *

OCTOBER
01 — Nashville, TN — The Blue Room at Third Man Records *
02 — Chattanooga, TN — The Boneyard *
03 — Cleveland, OH — Beachland Ballroom *
27 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
28 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
30 — Sacramento, CA — Harlow’s ^

NOVEMBER
01 — Seattle, WA — Showbox Market ^
02 — Portland, OR — Revolution Hall ^
04 — Boise, ID — The Shredder ^
06 — Salt Lake City, UT — Urban Lounge ^
07 — Colorado Springs, CO — Black Sheep ^
08 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
10 — Denton, TX — Rubber Gloves Patio ^
11 — Austin, TX — Scoot Inn ^
13 — Santa Fe, NM — Meow Wolf ^
14 — Phoenix, AZ — The Rebel Lounge ^
15 — San Diego, CA — Quartyard ^
17 — Pioneertown, CA — Pappy & Harriet’s ^
18 — Los Angeles, CA — The Bellwether ^

Artist Links

Background Photo Credit: Levi Price