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MATES OF STATE

Mates of State, the iconic indie band featuring married couple Jason and Kori, today announce a 17-show tour for this summer 2024 in conjunction with going back into the studio to record all new songs.

Mates garnered a rabid following beginning in 1998 and toured nearly non-stop for 15 years, performing all over the world including runs with NPR’s This American Life, The Postal Service, The Strokes, Jimmy Eat World, Santigold and Death Cab for Cutie. They’ve also been seen on David Letterman, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Conan O’Brien, and Yo Gabba Gabba.

Since 2000, Mates’ have released 7 full length albums (on labels including Barsuk and Polyvinyl) while simultaneously starting a family of 3 daughters(!) who travelled the world with them on tour. The Mates’ paused touring for a minute to “give their girls a bit of an anchor through their teenage years”, while continuing to write and explore to find their next musical phase. This new direction is coming to light and Mates are hitting the road hard with 17 shows in 17 days, no days off.

They also are currently recording a full-length album with long-time collaborator, producer Peter Katis, at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT.

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify

AL MENNE

Al Menne has spent a lot of time driving in cars. Whether taking trips up and down the West Coast, touring in a van, or working as a delivery driver, they’ve become intimate with the possibility, at any moment, of disaster. “At the end of a very long driving shift,” Menne says, “there’s a moment when you realize, I shouldn’t be driving right now. Anything can happen. You really can’t be in control of everything that’s happening around you.” Freak Accident, their debut solo album, probes this feeling as it unfurls with the patient ease of a passing landscape while harboring the kinetic weight of life’s chaos at its core.

Menne came up in the music scene as the lead singer of Seattle-based rock band Great Grandpa. In this outfit, Menne’s remarkable voice was on full display, despite not being the primary songwriter. When Great Grandpa took a break in 2019 due to various life circumstances, Menne was free to explore new musical pockets and step into their own as a songwriter, which precipitated a move from their lifelong home in Seattle to Los Angeles in 2021.

At just under thirty minutes, Freak Accident is an inviting meditation on seeking protection from life’s chaotic thunderbolts in our relationships and connections. These nine songs, like smooth rocks pocketed for self-soothing, serve to shore us up against situations that are ultimately out of our control. On tracks that veer through canyons, careen across highways, and wend through the avenues of memory, Menne offers us a way through.

Links: Official Website | Facebook | Instagram| Spotify