The Aristocrats unveiled the official visualizer video for the first single “Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?” taken from the upcoming concept album “Duck” due out on February 16, 2024. Watch the video through the YouTube player below:
The band sayeth: “The DUCK saga leads off with Marco’s song “Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?”, and it’s got an aggressive, swinging, ‘here comes trouble’ attitude that we felt really set the tone for both the music and the story of the album. It has all of the elements of an Aristocratic tune – it’s fun, it’s loud, it’s tricky in a few spots, and it takes some unexpected turns into open space and improvisation. And it’s a good soundtrack to set the opening scene for the protagonist of our “DUCK” story… who’s trying to figure out how he got himself into such a mess, over a few stiff drinks.
DUCK album formats include CD, double vinyl, and hi-res digital (Bandcamp). Physical band web stores are based in the USA, EU and UK. There are DUCK shirts as well. It’s our first studio album release in a while and we hope you’re as excited as we are. 🙂
Stay tuned for more news and previews from DUCK in the coming weeks!
Cheers to all, The Aristocrats“
What happens when the world’s most raucous Rock/Fusion Instrumental power trio decides to make a concept album? You get “Duck,” the story of a web-footed Antarctic island native fleeing a penguin policeman all the way to New York City…where considerable misadventure and danger await. The Aristocrats – Guthrie Govan/guitar, Bryan Beller/bass, Marco Minnemann/drums – have created a kaleidoscopic musical universe, employing both trademark genre pastiches and inventive new arrangement explorations – some surprisingly emotional and sensitive – to move the story along to its frantic conclusion. And while their obvious virtuosity and inherent absurdity are present as always, it’s now employed in service of the band’s most ambitious compositional and sonic production to date.
“We’ve always been writing with a storytelling aspect in mind, and our live shows always include our stories behind the songs,” says the band, speaking as one. “But the stories had mainly been about us. Then Marco came into the studio with a song about a duck, and we were all looked at each other and said, ‘What if all of stories for the songs on this album…happened to a duck? What’s that story about?’ And suddenly we had a concept album on our hands.”
The wildly diverse music follows the protagonist duck into a big city dance club (“Aristoclub”) to being forcibly ejected from a dive bar (“Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?”) to a dark-riffed theme for his penguin pursuer (“Sgt. Rockhopper”), eventually concluding with the action-packed, Balkan-fFusion finale “This Is Not Scrotum,” featuring violinist Rusanda Panfili (Hans Zimmer Live) as a rare Aristocrats album special guest.
Mixed by Australian sonic guru Forrester Savell, and with original character artwork by Lance Myers (Space Jam), “Duck” is The Aristocrats’ first new studio album in five years. And it’s clear that Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann have taken their collective artistry to a whole new mindblowing – albeit ridiculous – level.
Pre-Order the album here: https://linktr.ee/AristocratsBand
The Aristocrats announced a mini-tour in support of their new album.
The band states: “The secret name is revealed for our five-city mini-tour celebrating the release of our fifth studio album DUCK on February 16. And the shows are selling out fast! Seattle and L.A. are already SOLD OUT, and Portland and San Francisco are in LOW TICKET ALERT status. We thought you should know since it’s still nine weeks out! These will be intimate unique shows with debut new material, truly special events of a limited run. (Get tickets HERE)
Thanks to everyone for the great response to the unveiling of our new album title and concept, and hope to see you soon.
Cheers to all, The Aristocrats“
Lineup:
Guthrie Govan / Guitar
Bryan Beller / Bass
Marco Minnemann / Drums
