Julian Casablancas and the Voidz Plan New Album ‘Tyranny’
Four years after making his solo debut with Phrazes for the Young and 15 months after the most recent Strokes LP, Comedown Machine, Julian Casablancas will be releasing his first album with backing band the Voidz on September 23rd. According to a press release, the album, Tyranny, will combine “world underground music from the Seventies and Eighties, hardcore/punk and modern harmonies” and will be released on Casablancas’ own Cult Records. Pre-orders are available at the label’s website.
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Regarding the title, the frontman explains: “Tyranny has come in many forms throughout history. Now, the good of business is to put above anything else, as corporations have become the new ruling body. Most decisions seem to be made like ones of a medieval king: whatever makes profit while ignoring and repressing the truth about whatever suffering it may cause (like pop music, for that matter).”
Last year, Casablancas appeared on Daft Punk’s Grammy-winning Random Access Memories, singing vocoded vocals over the French duo’s New Wave track “Instant Crush,” and this March, he claimed that there was a second collaboration that had failed to make the album. “There is another Daft Punk song that we worked on that was cool,” Casablancas told Chilean news outlet Cooperativa. “Maybe I’ll get those guys … we can do that one day soon, finish it.”
The Strokes, meanwhile, recently played a homecoming, headlining gig at New York’s Governors Ball. “Julian Casablancas’ vocals radiated emotional intensity, even when it kind of looked like he’d forgotten some of the words,” Rolling Stone wrote of the performance. “Judging by how much the crowd was screaming along, New York is mostly just glad to have them back.”
Alongside Tyranny, the Voidz also announced initial dates for a fall tour:
10/16 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
10/17 Washington DC – 9:30 Club
10/18 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theatre
10/20 Chattanooga, TN – Track 29
10/21 Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
10/22 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
10/28 Birmingham, AL – Iron City
10/30 Austin, TX – Emo’s
10/31 Houston, TX – House of Blues
11/6 Los Angeles, CA – Wiltern Theatre
11/9 San Francisco, CA – Regency Center
11/11 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
11/13 Seattle, WA – Showbox