25 Aug cleopatrick announce 2022 headline tour
Following the release of their gargantuan debut album ‘BUMMER’, which received praise across the board from The Guardian, Independent, MTV UK, DIY, Kerrang, Rock Sound, Dork and Upset – Canadian duo cleopatrick have announced extensive European tour dates for 2022 – including their biggest headline show to date at London’s Electric Ballroom. Tickets for all shows go onsale this Friday, August 27th at 10am local time.
The shows will follow the band’s forthcoming completely sold-out November headline UK tour, that will see them play across Royal Tunbridge Wells, London, Birmingham and Nottingham. Support comes from Brighton grunge rockers Sick Joy.
In anticipation for these shows cleopatrick have run a series of uncompromising live sessions of tracks from the album on their YouTube channel, titled ‘LIVE FROM THE BASEMENT’ – watch here.
Released earlier this year via their own label Nowhere Special Recordings, ‘BUMMER’ was lauded for its transgressive take on guitar music, with DIY Magazine commenting “Blending together their love for guitars and hip hop, the pair seem to have hit on an intoxicating formula that showcases the power those genres can possess when united…no one in rock right now sounds like Luke Gruntz”. CLASH’s 8/10 review stated “‘BUMMER’ is a record made to be played hard and loud, heard blaring out of car windows and making cavalcades in faceless crowds”, with Kerrang noting “Absolutely titanic riffs…cleopatrick’s obvious love of deafening rock and roll deserves praise”. ‘BUMMER’ will be available on vinyl on 16th October.
The band garnered further high-profile fans including The Guardian, Independent, MTV UK, DIY, Rock Sound, Dork and Upset, as well as being chosen as BBC Radio 1’s first ever Future Artist, alongside regular support from indie tastemakers Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Dan P Carter.
Since their inception, cleopatrick have proved themselves to be one of the most in-demand rising rock bands on the planet. They were the only band picked for Amazon Music UK’s Ones To Watch 2021, and have amassed over 100 million streams alongside multiple sell-out tours across Europe which included an immediately sold-out underplay at London’s Electrowerkz and several shows (including London’s Alexandra Palace) supporting Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes in 2020.
Comprised of best friends since the age of four Luke Gruntz (guitar/vocals) and Ian Fraser (drums), cleopatrick’s debut album ‘BUMMER’ saw the duo harness all the magic they’ve been brewing over their two-decade friendship and funnel it into a record that aims to reinvigorate the rock landscape from the ground up in every sense. Taking the ethos of their New Rock Mafia collective – a group of friends and fellow bands, united in making a more inclusive, equality-driven space in rock music – and imbuing it with the sonic ambition and ferocity of a record designed to be played hard and loud, ‘BUMMER’ is an album made to mean something.
“We want our music to feel as big as hip hop does in the club – big subs and loud drums and vocals right up front. But lyrically, we want to sing songs that everyone in the crowd feels comfortable singing along to. There’s a [historical] formula to rock music where people sing about drugs and alcohol and sex and it’s so fucking phony; it makes us so angry that kids who want to hear guitar music and get something from it and have a favourite band have to settle for that, and listen to these dudes lying to them,” Luke asserts. “It’s so gross to me and completely the opposite of how this genre started.”
Recorded with 21-year-old NRM peer and producer Jig Dubé putting their supportive, community-driven money where their mouths are, cleopatrick’s debut is a time capsule of a record – nodding to their insular, small town beginnings (second single ‘THE DRAKE’’ was written in reference to a traumatic gig in which their high school bullies turned up and started punching people in the mosh pit) but reaching for something altogether more exciting, utopian and full of life.
At its heart, it’s an album about two friends, who’ve been with each other since the formative first steps that adorn ‘BUMMER’’s heartwarming cover images (two pictures taken by the pair’s kindergarten teacher from when Luke and Ian accidentally showed up to school in matching sweaters) and made something that’s a testament to the power of sticking to your guns.
cleopatrick live dates
2021
24th November – Royal Tunbridge Wells, Forum* (SOLD OUT)
25th November – London, Islington Assembly Hall* (SOLD OUT)
26th November – O2 Institute, Birmingham* (SOLD OUT)
27th November – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham* (SOLD OUT)
*with Sick Joy
2022
3rd March – Belfast, Limelight 2
4th March – Dublin, Academy 2
5th March – Glasgow, Garage
7th March – Leeds, The Wardrobe
8th March – Newcastle, Newcastle University
10th March – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
11th March – Bristol, Trinity Centre
12th March – Sheffield, Leadmill
13th March – Manchester, Gorilla
15th March – London, Electric Ballroom
18th March – Southampton, The Loft
19th March – Norwich, The Waterfront
20th March – Brighton, Concorde 2
22nd March – Brussels, AB Club
23rd March – Paris, FVTVR
24th March – Amsterdam, Paradiso Nord
25th March – Hamburg, Molotow
27th March – Berlin, Hole
28th March – Munich, Backstage Halle
29th March – Nurnberg, Club Stereo
31st March – Frankfurt, Nachtleben
1st April – Stuttgart, Im Wisemann Studio
2nd April – Cologne, Luxor
