4/22The Aristocrats With Primuz Chamber Orchestra – Coming on June 3rd!

So the news is finally out! We are taking an unexpected orchestral turn on our new collaborative release – The Aristocrats With Primuz Chamber Orchestra – which releases worldwide on June 3rd. Pre-orders are available now!

Check out the visualizer video and preview the album track “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde” here:

This project began when we randomly stumbled upon a YouTube video of Poland’s Primuz Chamber Orchestra performing one of our songs, as reimagined by composer/arranger Wojtek Lemański. Their flawless execution of a highly challenging arrangement (which was startlingly inventive and yet remained entirely faithful to the spirit of the original composition!) inspired us to reach out and propose a collaboration.

That process ultimately led to this album, developed over the course of 2021. The complete work comprises nine trio performances taken from our previous studio albums, remixed from the ground up by award-winning engineer Forrester Savell and utterly transformed and reinvented by the orchestra’s stirring rendition of Wojtek Lemański’s string arrangements.

This approach enabled Wojtek to create orchestrations which treated many of the spontaneous, improvised elements from our original ‘band in a room’ takes as if they had been part of the actual compositions… yielding some unique results!

The album will drop just two weeks before the start of our first tour in over two years – the 10-week, 50-date North American DEFROST tour, on which new material will be debuted as well. All dates and ticket links are available at: https://the-aristocrats-band.com/shows

The Aristocrats With Primuz Chamber Orchestra is available for pre-order now in all purchase formats (along with special commemorative t-shirts through our webstores), releasing as follows:

June 3 – CD & hi-res digital download (hi-res digital via Bandcamp)
July 1 – limited run double-vinyl deluxe gatefold (via Diggers Factory)
Early July – streaming worldwide 

The Aristocrats With Primuz Chamber Orchestra and all our studio and live releases can be purchased at: https://linktr.ee/AristocratsBand and on merch tables during the summer 2022 North American DEFROST tour.  

We’re truly proud of the way this project turned out… and we’re profoundly grateful that serendipity somehow brought us all together for this collaboration. Enjoy!

Guthrie, Bryan and Marco

2/11Announcing the “DEFROST” North American Tour for summer 2022!

Hello everyone!

We are very excited to announce that we will make our long-awaited return to the stages of North America this summer, for the DEFROST tour. The ten-week, 50-show run will mark our first live performances since the FREEZE! Live In Europe 2020 album was captured, more than two years ago. Audiences will be treated to a debut of select new material not yet released on any album, as well as a carefully curated collection of fan favorites and deep cuts.

We’re beyond thrilled to get back out there and do what we do best – playing together, live and loud, in the same room – for our amazing fans who’ve been so generous with their support of what we do as a band. Even though modern technology is great, we wanted to wait until we were physically together before playing any new material, because that’s just how we do it. That’s finally going to happen right before we head out on the road, so it will be really fresh and exciting. We can’t wait!

In addition, we will soon share news of a collaboration project one year in the making, which is slated for release in the spring. More details will follow on this project soon!

Full details for all shows, including ticket links as they become available, can be found on our website at: https://the-aristocrats-band.com/shows/

Before we go, don’t forget to give us a like and follow (if you haven’t already) on social media:

That’s all for now; hope everyone is staying safe and well, and we’ll see you on a stage near you very soon!

Guthrie, Bryan and Marco

11/03New EU Webstore!

Hello!

We hope that everyone is still staying safe and well out there! We’re just stopping by to give you all some cool news! :)

We are very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to purchase a CD, DVD, download or T-shirt from our official stores, especially in the last 18/19 months, so we thought we’d better update things a little… So we’re very happy to announce a brand new EU webstore!

Our European fans can now find loads of Aristocrats music and merch at this new link:

https://the-aristocrats-band-eu.com/

We understand that customers can be stuck with unwanted extra costs when shipping items between the UK and Europe, so we wanted to make sure all our European fans had an easy-to-use store just for them, where they can have the best possible online shopping experience! Please check it out and let us know what you think!

But of course we haven’t forgotten about our fans here in the U.S, and the U.K too. Our webstores for these two countries will stay the same, and you may have seen on our social media last week that we also teased some discounts…Well, here they are!

Save 20% on the ‘Deluxe’ editions of ‘Culture Clash’, ‘Tres Caballeros’ and ‘You Know What…?’

US store: https://www.hellomerch.com/collections/the-aristocrats

UK store: https://eu.hellomerch.com/collections/the-aristocrats

We hope you guys will take advantage of these new prices, and every single purchase is so greatly appreciated! :)

Before we go, a quick reminder to (if you haven’t already) give us a like or follow on social media! We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

See you all again very soon!
Guthrie, Bryan and Marco

5/07FREEZE! Live In Europe – Release Day!

Hello!

We just wanted to send you all a quick reminder (just in case you missed our last message) that our brand new live album FREEZE! LIVE IN EUROPE 2020 is finally available… NOW!!

FREEZE! LIVE IN EUROPE 2020 is available on CD and digital download formats from today, as well as limited-run double-vinyl exclusively sold from Diggers Factory.

Hi-res digital downloads of FREEZE! are available exclusively at our brand new Bandcamp store, along with CD-or-better quality digital downloads of our entire back catalogue for the very first time.

All studio and live releases by The Aristocrats can be purchased at:

https://linktr.ee/AristocratsBand

and wherever music is sold.

For a little taste of what to expect, check out the ‘teaser’ video here:

The album showcases performances recorded across Spain in February 2020, during our last European tour and just weeks before live music went on extended hiatus. FREEZE! leans heavily on debut live-recorded renditions of material from our most recent album You Know What…? It also contains an extra special version of “Get It Like That”, with a drum solo by Marco specially dedicated to Rush’s Neil Peart, who very sadly passed away while we were on tour.

FREEZE! documents a particularly memorable period for us and it’s really fortunate that we were able to capture this musical ‘snapshot’. After months of relentless gigging, the material from our latest studio recording had started to feel really natural for us and yet… somehow, there was still an unmistakable element of excitement and musical risk-taking on stage every night when we played those songs.

Growing together as a band also means knowing, focusing and perfecting the details of our musical presentations. This sort of ‘quality control’ is always necessary and trying to give 110% every night is the least we can do for us and especially our fans! We believe that this ‘hand-picked’ selection of Aristocratic tunes showcases the band as a very well-toured, oiled and locked machine, with not only love and attention to detail, but also playfulness and fun. 

But we had no way of knowing as we ploughed through Spain that these would also be some of the last shows we’d play for a while. So it’s special on several levels for us to be able to share this frozen moment in time, which is what a live album truly is. It’s a statement of what we were bringing to stages every night in the heat of a world tour; it’s something for our fans who may not have caught this tour to experience and hopefully enjoy at home; and, ideally, it’s also something to keep the flame burning for when we can get back out there and let loose onstage once again. Because that’s what we do best!

Before we go, please check out our official website and (if you haven’t already) give us a like or follow on social media! We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We hope you all enjoy the new live album, and fingers crossed we will see you all again very soon, on a stage near you!

Guthrie, Bryan and Marco

3/18FREEZE! LIVE IN EUROPE 2020 – Available For Pre-Order Now, Drops May 7!

We know it’s been a while, but we have some very exciting news to announce: We are releasing a new live album called FREEZE! LIVE IN EUROPE 2020 on May 7, and
pre-orders are available starting NOW!

CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER FREEZE! LIVE IN EUROPE 2020
IN YOUR PREFERRED FORMAT (CD, VINYL, HI-RES DIGITAL) –
AND RECEIVE THE TRACK “SPANISH EDDIE” IMMEDIATELY.

The album showcases performances recorded across Spain in February 2020, during our last European tour and just weeks before live music went on extended hiatus. FREEZE! leans heavily on debut live-recorded renditions of material from our most recent album You Know What…? It also contains an extra special version of “Get It Like That”, with a drum solo by Marco specially dedicated to Rush’s Neil Peart, who very sadly passed away while we were on tour.

Here’s a few things we’ve got to say about it, from each of us:

GUTHRIE: “FREEZE! documents a particularly memorable period for us and it’s really fortunate that we were able to capture this musical ‘snapshot’. After months of relentless gigging, the material from our latest studio recording had started to feel really natural for us and yet… somehow, there was still an unmistakable element of excitement and musical risk-taking on stage every night when we played those songs.”

MARCO: “Growing together as a band also means knowing, focusing and perfecting the details of our musical presentations. On tour, we sometimes become our worst critics and maybe one out of ten gigs fully pleases the band as a collective. But I believe that sort of ‘quality control’ is necessary and trying to give 110% every night is the least we can do for us and especially our fans. I have to admit that I at first was reluctant listening to the recordings, almost fearful about how many mistakes I would find. However, with a little bit of distance and fresh ears, I was actually more than pleased finding out that this ‘hand-picked’ selection of Aristocratic tunes I believe showcases the band as a very well-toured, oiled and locked machine, with not only love and attention to detail, but also playfulness and fun. Furthermore, Neil Peart sadly passed away during our European leg …. I played my heart out for him every single night.”

BRYAN: “Like Guthrie and Marco said, by February 2020 we were deep into the You Know What…? touring cycle, almost up to 100 shows. We were greased up and ready to go, every night. But we had no way of knowing as we ploughed through Spain that these would be some of the last shows we’d play for a while. So it’s special on several levels for us to be able to share this frozen moment in time, which is what a live album truly is. It’s a statement of what we were bringing to stages every night in the heat of a world tour; it’s something for our fans who may not have caught this tour to experience and hopefully enjoy at home; and, ideally, it’s also something to keep the flame burning for when we can get back out there and let loose onstage once again. Because that’s what we do best.”

FREEZE! Live In Europe 2020 is available for pre-order now in all purchase formats and will be available starting May 7th on CD and digital download, with streaming services to follow in subsequent weeks. Also, a limited-run double-vinyl version of FREEZE! will be available through Diggers Factory.

For our longtime fans, we’re happy to announce that not only are Hi-res digital downloads of FREEZE! available exclusively at our brand new Bandcamp store, but also that CD-or-better quality digital downloads of our entire back catalogue are available for the very first time. Click here to check out our new Bandcamp store!

As mentioned above, all pre-orders of FREEZE! include an instant download of the song “Spanish Eddie”.
JUST CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER.

That’s all for now – we can’t thank all of you enough for your continued support, and fingers crossed we will see you all again very soon, on a stage near you!

Cheers to all,
The Aristocrats

11/22The Aristocrats are on JamTrackCentral

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Hello Aristocrats fans,

Here we are, inviting you to check out our latest offering through JamTrackCentral – the jam tracks and full guitar transcriptions for our latest album, “You Know What…?”! For our fourth studio album, we really wanted to push the boundaries and explore new sounds and vibes on the guitar. Here’s what we came up with:

* For “D Grade Fuck Movie Jam” we went full blues-rock Hendrix-on-steroids. It’s a wild ride of loud and aggressive guitar mayhem that Guthrie had a lot of fun with. It should be a blast to play along with.

* “Spanish Eddie” has a smorgasbord of guitar-istic delights: Some incredibly tricky finger-picked chords, a trademark GG hammer-on melody motif, a “New York Jazz Guy” clean solo, and something very close to metal (especially for Guthrie). High degree of difficulty on this track!

* “All Said And Done” gives our British guitarist a chance to explore his Beatles fandom, in the closest thing to a “pop” tune The Aristocrats have ever released. It’s a bit trickier than it sounds, though.

* “Terrible Lizard” is a nasty heavy dirge, with chords and tones thick and dense enough to bring down large buildings. Guthrie really gets a chance to stretch out in the solo on this one! Another serious challenge out there for the guitarists.

* “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde” is a long, epic tune that starts out softly and wistfully, and slowly builds to a frenzy of Guthrie flying all the way up and down the neck to convey the song’s cinematic, dramatic intent. Another great GG solo on this cut. This track is a bit more approachable and could be fun for intermediate players. Also, if you’ve got a Les Paul, you might want to break it out for the proper effect. ;-)

* “Last Orders” is the album closer, and by far the quietest of all listed here. The head is fairly simple and sweet, and while it gets loud for a quick bit in the middle, the real feature is the extended outro solo section. It wasn’t even supposed to be in the record, truth be told. We just didn’t know how to end it, and suddenly we were having a really cool jam that we knew we didn’t want to cut off. Players of all levels can have a good time jamming along with Bryan and Marco at the end of this one.

But wait, you say: That’s only six songs! Correct. Three of the songs on the album – “When We All Come Together”, “Spiritus Cactus” and “Burial At Sea” – were so heavily layered with guitar overdubs and textures that they simply defied the ability to be JamTrack-ified into one playable guitar part. So we’ll leave those be, and focus on the six songs that lend themselves to the JTC treatment. We trust that Guthrie has left enough notes in the six songs we did to keep you busy for quite a while. ;-)

So, have at it, and we hope you enjoy the challenge of walking in Guthrie Govan’s footsteps and playing along with Marco and Bryan for the better part of “You Know What…?”. Happy shedding and shredding!

The Aristocrats

9/30New European Tour Dates!

Greetings to all our European friends – we have some new shows to announce!

January 30th – Nice (France) – Black Box
February 5th – Santiago de Compostela (Spain) – Sala Capitol
February 23rd – San Giovanni alla Vena/Pisa (Italy) – Blitz Live Music Pub
February 27th – Hard (Austria) – Kammgarn
March 3rd – Dublin (Ireland) – Button Factory

Tickets for Sala Capitol are on sale now, whilst the other shows will be on sale soon (October 2nd for the Button Factory). Head over to our Tours page for venue information and ticket links.

EUROPE TOUR LEG 1
November 10th – Budapest (Hungary) – Ellatohaz
November 11th – Vienna (Austria) – Szene
November 12th – Kosice (Slovakia) – Collosseum
November 13th – Bochnia (Poland) – Oratoria SW Kingi
November 14th – Warszaw (Poland) – Proxima
November 16th – Olomouc (Czech Republic) – S Klub
November 17th – Bratislava (Slovakia) – MMC
November 19th – Munich (Germany) – Technikum
November 20th – Hamburg (Germany) – Fabrik
November 21st – Bensheim (Germany) – Musiktheater Rex
November 23rd – Winterbach (Germany) – Strandbar 51
November 24th – Dortmund (Germany) – Piano
November 26th – Oslo (Norway) – Cosmopolite
November 27th – Gothenburg (Sweden) – Pusterwik
November 28th – Malmö (Sweden) – KB
November 30th – Stockholm (Sweden) – Nalen Klubb (4pm)
November 30th – Stockholm (Sweden) – Nalen Klubb (9pm – SOLD OUT)
December 2nd – Helsinki (Finland) – Virgin Oil
December 3rd – Tampere (Finland) – Olympia
December 4th – Jyvaskyla (Finland) – Lutakko
December 6th – Istanbul (Turkey) – Zorlu PSM – Studio
December 7th – Istanbul (Turkey) – Zorlu PSM – Studio
December 9th – Sofia (Bulgaria) – City Stage
December 11th – Tel Aviv (Israel) – Reading 3
December 13th – Tenerife (Canary Islands) – Venue TBA
December 14th – Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) – Auditorio Alfredo Kraus

EUROPE TOUR LEG 2
January 16th – Esch sur Alzette (Luxembourg) – Rockhal
January 17th – Verviers (Belgium) – Spirit of 66
January 18th – Zoetermeer (Netherlands) – De Boerderij
January 19th – Zoetermeer (Netherlands) – De Boerderij
January 21st – Newcastle (UK) – The Cluny
January 22nd – Edinburgh (Scotland) – Liquid Room
January 23rd – Manchester (UK) – Academy 2
January 24th – Coventry (UK) – The Empire
January 25th – London (UK) – Islington Assembly Hall
January 27th – Paris (France) – L’Alhambra
January 29th – Lyon (France) – Transbordeur
January 30th – Nice (France) – Black Box
January 31st – Marseille (France) – Cherrydon
February 2nd – Toulouse (France) – Le Connexion
February 3rd – Bilbao (Spain) – Kafe Antzokia
February 4th – Madrid (Spain) – But
February 5th – Santiago de Compostela (Spain) – Sala Capitol
February 7th – Lisbon (Portugal) – Lisboa Vivo
February 9th – Seville (Spain) – Sala Custom
February 10th – Murcia (Spain) – Garaje
February 11th – Valencia (Spain) – Rockcity
February 12th – Barcelona (Spain) – Apolo
February 16th – Trezzo sull’Adda/Milano (Italy) – Live Club
February 17th – Genova (Italy) – Teatro della Tosse/Sala Trionfo
February 18th – Parma (Italy) – Campus Music Industry
February 21st – Terni (Italy) – Auditorium Gazzoli
February 22nd – Roma (Italy) – Crossroads Live Club
February 23rd – San Giovanni alla Vena/Pisa (Italy) – Blitz Live Music Pub
February 27th – Hard (Austria) – Kammgarn
February 29th – Moskva (Russia) – Red Room
March 1st – St. Petersburg (Russia) – DK GAZA
March 3rd – Dublin (Ireland) – Button Factory

We have some more to announce in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

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