In support of their new album, Prototypes and Painkillers, Strung Out have announced some tour date info.
05/02/09 Agoura Hills, CA at Canyon Club w/ Halifax, The Sheds
05/06/09 Portland, OR at Hawthorne Theatre w/ Death By Stereo
05/07/09 Seattle, WA at Neumos w/ Death By Stereo
06/04/09 Allston, MA at Harpers Ferry w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff
06/06/09 Pittsburgh, PA at Altar Bar w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff, A Vision Within
06/07/09 Cleveland, OH at Agora Ballroom w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff
06/08/09 Chicago, IL at Reggie’s Rock Club w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff
06/10/09 Denver, CO at Ogden Theater w/ Death By Stereo, This Is a Standoff
06/12/09 Las Vegas, NV at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (21+) w/ This Is A Standoff, The Darlings
06/13/09 San Diego, CA at Soma w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff
06/14/09 Anaheim, CA at House of Blues w/ Death By Stereo, This Is A Standoff
Hear 2 new tracks off the album after the jump:
Lost Motel:
Strung Out -Prototypes And Painkillers:
In the music world there are leaders and there are followers – and for the past seventeen years Simi Valley, California’s Strung Out have continually proved themselves as one of the most groundbreaking and versatile melodic punk acts of all-time, collectively selling over 1,000,000 units (all sold independently) and selling out shows in countless countries all over the world. While musical trends and fashions may change, the secret to the success of Strung Out – vocalist Jason Cruz, drummer Jordan Burns, bassist Chris Aiken and guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos – has always been their innate ability to retain their signature sound without crafting the same record twice.
Although Strung Out are currently hard at work on the follow-up to 2007′s full-length Blackhawks Over Los Angeles, in order to tide over fans the band have decided to release the B-Side and rarities collection Prototypes And Painkillers. Like the band’s first such compilation The Skinny Years…Before We Got Fat, this album not only features some of the band’s standout songs but also illustrates how much the group has progressed over the past decade. “We had been talking about putting these songs all together on one CD for quite awhile, but it just took forever for us to finally do it and piece it together to make it what we wanted it to be,” Burns explains. “We all wanted to give something special to our fans who have supported us over all these years, you know?”
In true Strung Out fashion the band decided to go all-out on this release, which features 25 tracks-seven of which were previously unreleased and 11 that were out-of-print-to make Prototypes And Painkillers a must for casual fans and Strung Out completists alike. From covers (Descendents’ “I’m Not A Loser” and Ozzy Osbourne’s “Bark At The Moon”) to alternate versions of fan favorites (“Novocain” and “Don’t Look Back”) and everything in between, Prototypes And Painkillers showcases how the band has managed to effortlessly combine the genres of punk, rock and metal into a unique amalgam of music that’s still impossible to replicate or imitate no matter how hard today’s punk acts may try.
“I just think its cool to have all these songs collectively as one CD that you can stick into your player and listen to instead of having to hunt around on the Internet for the songs individually,” Burns says when asked why the band felt it was important for these songs to co-exist in one comprehensive collection. In addition to containing over two dozen songs, the album also contains detailed liner notes about each track. “The liner notes were a real challenge to write because there are so many songs on here and you don’t want to be repetitive,” Burns explains with a laugh. “It took me a while to put them together, but I think fans will enjoy reading a short cool fact about each song included.”
Additionally, the band plans on incorporating some of these songs into their upcoming headlining dates. “We’re going to go out with the idea that we’re touring on this album, so hopefully we’ll incorporate a fair amount of these songs from this disc into the set and possibly get some new songs played live too” Burns explains. Ultimately when asked how Strung Out has managed to stay relevant for so long, his explanation is also fairly straightforward: “We’ve had a really long career so far and we attribute that to our dedicated fan base and also to the fact that we’re always trying to do something different musically,” he summarizes. “There are so many different influences within Strung Out because we all listen to so many different types of music – and I think that really shines through on this collection as it certainly will with our next full length too.”
www.strungout.com
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