Armed with lyrical daggers, rib-rattling chops and a catchy hook, L7’s video for new single “Stadium West” is released today. Directed by Rob Sheridan, the high-octane visual offers another taste of the grunge rock legends’ forthcoming first new album in 20 years — Scatter the Rats, due out May 3 on Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records. “Stadium West” follows fiery lead single “Burn Baby” which received accolades from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Revolver and many more. “Burn Baby” is available now digitally and on the Record Store Day 7” alongside with b-side “Fighting The Crave”.
L7 will support the album with a national spring tour, unleashing their ferocious live show to ecstatic crowds in DC, Chicago, Portland, Philadelphia and more including two very special intimate shows in NYC at Elsewhere. Fans can also catch the band as they join The Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival tour across the US with Rancid and others.
Working with producers Norm Block (Jenny Lee, Paper Cranes, Plexi) and Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), L7 recorded Scatter the Rats at Happy Ending Studios, and Sunset Sound in L.A., instilling each track with a kinetic vitality. The new collection embodies everything that made the band so iconic in the first place—the distortion-heavy riffs and headbanging rhythms, sludgy grooves and indelible melodies. Incendiary, cathartic, and down right fun it touches on issues of codependency, lonely hearts, internal conflict and setting aside old grievances for the greater good. Harnessing their revolutionary spirit and boundless energy, L7 achieve a direct transmission of raw feeling, often spiked with biting commentary on the chaos of the world today.
Having toured the world, delivering their take-no-prisoners spirit to massive sold-out crowds in recent years, L7 looks forward to introducing a certain elusive element back into the musical landscape on their upcoming US tour. “I think it’s good for people to enjoy a meat-and-potatoes rock band for a change,” says Sparks. “We’re not rocket science, we’re rock & roll. And there’s value to that, and we do it pretty well. So if you want to rock, come on back to L7.”
L7 National Tour Dates
# = The Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival
% = w/ Le Butcherettes
5/10: Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse %
5/11: Phoenix, AZ @ Hance Park #
5/12: Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Raceway #
5/14: Austin, TX @ The Mohawk %
5/16: Dallas, TX @ Trees %
5/17: Kansas City, MO @ The Truman %
5/19: Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity %
5/21: Chicago, IL @ Metro %
5/22: Columbus, OH @ Express Live %
5/23: Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom %
5/28: Washington DC @ The Fillmore Silver Spring %
5/29: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
5/31 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %
6/01: Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere %
6/02: Englishtown, NJ @ Old Bay Raceway #
6/04: Pittsburg, PA @ Rex Theater %
6/06: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown %
6/08: Boise, ID @ Memorial Stadium #
6/09: Tacoma, WA @ America’s Car Museum #
6/10: Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory %
6/12: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom %
6/14: Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom %
6/15: San Jose, CA @ Santa Clara Fairgrounds #
6/16: Sacramento, CA @ Murphy’s Park #
