Empire State Bastard announce UK and European headline tour

Empire State Bastard have announced details of a new UK and European tour. Check out a full list of tour dates below.

• READ MORE:  Empire State Bastard: “We’re going for extremity at all costs”

The blistering project is the side-project of Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil, and their touring guitarist Mike Vennart (Oceansize), and the tour will celebrate the release of their upcoming debut album, ‘Rivers Of Heresy’.

Set for release on September 1, the album will see the duo team up with Slayer and Testament drummer Dave Lombardo and Bitch Falcon’s bassist Naomi Macleod.

Already three songs have been shared from the forthcoming LP. These include the blistering lead single ‘Harvest’ – which Neil and Vennart used to debut the new project – ‘Stutter’, and more recently, ‘The Looming’.

The latter arrived last month, and continued on the dystopian themes of the track, and continued Neil’s vision to make the band go for “extremity at all costs”. Empire State Bastard also dropped the new music video for the track earlier this week (August 9), check it out below.

Now, less than one month until the debut album is released, the band have announced details of an upcoming 2023 tour, which will see them make stops across the UK and Europe later this year.

Kicking off on November 2, Neil and co. will play the first show of the tour at the Alhambra venue in Paris, before making stops in Cologne, Amsterdam, Berlin and Hamberg that same week.

From there, the four-piece will start the UK leg of the tour with a show in Cardiff on November 9. Other cities the band will hit include Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, as well as a slot at London’s Electric Ballroom on November 11.

Tickets go on sale next Friday (August 18) at 10am BST, although a pre-sale is also available on Tuesday (August 15), but only available to those who have pre-ordered ‘Rivers Of Heresy’. Upcoming tickets will be available here, and you can pre-order the album here.

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​​Speaking to NME earlier this year, Neil said that ESB were embarking on what he described as a “hideously horrific musical journey”.

“Because we play together in Biffy, there’s no point in us doing another project that doesn’t feel miles apart,” he explained. “That’s a pet hate of mine, when people leave their full-time band to do another thing and it’s just a slightly different version of what they’re doing anyway. What’s the fucking point?”

As for the forthcoming ‘Rivers Of Heresy’ on the whole, Neil told NME: “I’ve put all of my nihilism and misanthropy into this record. The anger needs to be real.

“When the pandemic happened, there was so much to be angry about over that period. Even since then, I keep having this optimistic point of view that there’s going to be a right sharp turn of goodness and growth and everyone’s going to see the light.”

He continued: “I just needed to unleash something. This isn’t a political band, but there’s so much to be fucking angry about. You see the people running the country who just don’t give a shit, you see local neighbourhoods falling apart, and maybe I’ve connected to my hometown since I stopped touring so intensely after the pandemic. Maybe I feel more of a responsibility to my community.”

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