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This summer, revered rock institution Titus Andronicus have stoked fans’ excitement for their forthcoming seventh studio album The Will To Live with a string of singles that have run the gamut from concise and hard-hitting (“(I’m) Screwed,” “Give Me Grief”) to burly seven-minute epics (“An Anomaly”), leaving listeners breathlessly curious about what could possibly follow.
Today, those questions are answered with the album’s final pre-release single, the rollicking, rapid-fire “Baby Crazy,” which Vulture described as “an ethics lesson wrapped in a tuneful punk jam." With a barrage of pounding piano chords, ribbons of saxophone and a heart-racing rhythm, the album’s ambitions to achieve “Ultimate Rock” are laid bare in just over four minutes. If you were waiting for 2022's answer to "We Didn't Start the Fire," it's here. The track is accompanied by yet another unforgettable official music video, which finds frontman Patrick Stickles simply belting the densely-worded track as the lyrics scroll by.
"As inscrutable as some of my artistic choices may sometimes appear, I do wish to be understood, as communication is the purpose of all art,” Stickles says. “This led me to approach this song as something of a user's guide for the album, wherein I explicate as clearly as I can the meaning behind the recurring symbology I utilize throughout -- the mother, the father, the baby, etc. It is my hope that this will lead the listener to a richer listening experience... or they can just tap their foot to it, whatever works." Stickles will further explain the story behind The Will To Live in a Reddit AMA on r/indieheads this Friday at 1pm ET.
WATCH “BABY CRAZY” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
PRE-ORDER THE WILL TO LIVE
WATCH “AN ANOMALY” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
LISTEN TO “GIVE ME GRIEF”
WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
LISTEN TO “(I’M) SCREWED”
WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
After ravenously taking in The Will To Live’s early singles, fans will finally get the chance to see Stickles and co. perform them live as they kick off the first leg of their 2022–23 world tour with their record release show on September 30 at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC. The band has announced a run of European dates for 2023 as well. For complete details and ticket information, please visit titusandronicus.net/tour.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
TOUR 2022-23
2022
Sept 30 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
Oct 1 Columbia, SC – Jam Room Festival
Oct 3 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
Oct 4 Nashville, TN – DRKMTTR
Oct 5 Oxford, MS – Proud Larry’s
Oct 6 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks
Oct 7 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
Oct 8 Austin, TX – Far Out
Oct 9 Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum Art Co
Oct 10 Tulsa, OK – The Vanguard
Oct 12 Fayetteville, AR – George’s Majestic Lounge
Oct 13 St. Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill
Oct 14 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
Oct 15 Cleveland, OH – Mahall’s
Oct 16 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
Oct 17 Ottawa, ON – Club SAW
Oct 18 Montreal, QC – L’Esco
Oct 21 Woodstock, NY – Colony
Oct 22 Holyoke, MA – Race Street Live
Oct 23 Pawtucket, RI – The Met
Oct 25 Portland, ME – Space
Oct 26 Portsmouth, NH – 3S Artspace
Oct 27 Boston, MA – Crystal Ballroom
2023
Feb 4 - Dublin, IE - The Grand Social
Feb 7 - Edinburgh, UK - The Mash House
Feb 8 - Glasgow, UK - Broadcast
Feb 9 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room)
Feb 10 - Leeds, UK - Belgrave Music Hall
Feb 11 - Sunderland, UK - Pop Recs
Feb 13 - Nottingham, UK - Bodega
Feb 14 - Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
Feb 15 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach
Feb 16 - Brighton, UK - The Hope and Ruin
Feb 17 - London, UK - Moth Club
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With The Will to Live, Titus Andronicus invite listeners on a journey from fear to faith, from anger to acceptance, from grief to gratitude, all chasing the mythical ideal of Ultimate Rock. Drawing on maximalist rock epics from Who’s Next to Hysteria, the band have crafted their richest, densest, and hardest-hitting album to date, matching the sprawl and scope of their most celebrated work while also streamlining their ambitious attack to greater effect than ever before.
“It may strike some as ironic we had to go to Canada to record our equivalent to Born in the USA,” says Stickles, “but the pursuit of Ultimate Rock knows no borders.”
Titus Andronicus made their long-awaited return to the stage in November of 2021 to celebrate the anniversary of their landmark second album, 2010’s The Monitor. The act of playing that material before an ecstatic audience left Stickles determined to deliver an album that would reach for those same lofty heights, this time relying less on the reckless fire of youth, but more on the experience and perspective at which a band only arrives with a thousand shows under their belt.
To reach this level of focus and clarity, Stickles had to stand on the nexus of triumph and tragedy. He credits a newfound domestic bliss and steadfast mental health regimen for his own recent stretch of personal stability, as well as the endurance of what has become the longest-running consistent lineup of Titus Andronicus – Liam Betson on guitar, R.J. Gordon on bass, and Chris Wilson on drums, all of whom featured on 2018’s A Productive Cough and 2019’s An Obelisk. On the crueler side of the coin, The Will to Live was created in large part as an attempt to process the untimely 2021 death of Matt “Money” Miller, the band’s founding keyboardist and Stickles’ closest cousin. The result proves a milestone for Titus Andronicus, an ambitious, forward-facing work which stands tall on the nexus of triumph and tragedy, fueled by newfound focus and clarity, showcasing a uniquely gifted rock ’n’ roll band at the very peak of their creative powers.
“Certain recent challenges, some unique to myself and some we have all shared, but particularly the passing of my dearest friend, have forced me to recognize not only the precious and fragile nature of life, but also the interconnectivity of all life,” Stickles says. “Loved ones we have lost are really not lost at all, as they, and we still living, are all component pieces of a far larger continuous organism, which both precedes and succeeds our illusory individual selves, united through time by (you guessed it) the will to live. Recognition of this self-evident truth demands that we extend the same empathy and compassion we would wish for ourselves outward to every living creature, even to those we would label our enemies, for we are all cells in the same body, sprung from a common womb, devoted to the common cause of survival.
“Naturally, though, our long-suffering narrator can only arrive at this conclusion through a painful and arduous odyssey through Hell itself – this is a Titus Andronicus record, after all.”.
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TITUS ANDRONICUS
THE WILL TO LIVE
(Merge Records)
Release Date: Friday, September 30
The album comes packaged with gorgeous triple-gatefold artwork by illustrious illustrator Nicole Rifkin.
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