Soul Asylum are more than ready to re-start their live shows after their 2020 best-selling tour in 15 years was cut short due to the Pandemic lockdown orders. The Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum selling band used their downtime during the pandemic to create Born Free, a new collection of acoustic versions of songs from their critically acclaimed latest release, Hurry Up and Wait. The digital recordings were completed in the midst of the COVID-19 safer-at-home orders when lead singer, Pirner, got together with guitarist, Ryan Smith and began streaming Friday night Quarantine Sessions from his living room and the idea to record a few of the songs this way took hold.
Hurry Up and Wait was co-produced by John Fields and released in April of 2020 to much fan and critical acclaim landing the band their highest Billboard Chart position since 1995’s Platinum-selling Let Your Dim Light Shine. Spanning three decades, Soul Asylum’s indie success led to the band entering the major-label mainstream with 1988’s Hang Time and its 1990 follow-up And the Horse They Rode In On before achieving a platinum-level commercial breakthrough with 1992’s triple-platinum Grave Dancers Union which featured the Best Rock Song Grammy-winning “Runaway Train.” In 1995 the band released the platinum-selling Let Your Dim Light Shine followed by Candy from a Stranger in 1998. Soul Asylum returned to action in 2006 with The Silver Lining, Delayed Reaction came six years later and most recently with 2016’s Change of Fortune.
“Being off the road and at home for the past 15 months has been as hard on all of us, as it has for almost everyone in the world really, we can’t wait to get back to the road, get ready because these shows are going to be special!” — Soul Asylum Frontman Dave Pirner
The “Back in Your Face” tour kicks off on August 3 in Reading, PA with Local H and Juliana Hatfield supporting on all dates. Full list of dates below.
In other exciting release news, the posthumous album from PRINCE, Welcome 2 America is set to release on July 30th and features a cover of Soul Asylum’s 2006 single “Stand Up and B Strong” alongside the eleven Prince originals. The current Soul Asylum line-up features Dave Pirner as lead vocals/guitar, Michael Bland on drums, Ryan Smith on lead guitar, and Wynston Roye on bass. The band is currently working on songs for a new album.
Local H’s latest release LIFERS features contributions by an array of respected friends and guests —including Juliana Hatfield, John McCauley of Deer Tick, and legendary rock engineer Steve Albini— LIFERS is the first album from Local H in five years, and the release coincides with the group’s 30-year anniversary (and our collective doom). LIFERS was released April 10th, 2020, on AntiFragile Music.
Over the last four decades, Juliana Hatfield has brazenly forged her own career path; the singer/guitarist/songwriter has mined an impressive catalog of 19 solo studio albums, co-founded indie darlings The Blake Babies, the Juliana Hatfield Three, is one-half of Minor Alps and I Don’t Cares, and is an occasional Lemonhead. Recently, Hatfield has kept fans engaged and intrigued as she oscillates between impassioned original releases (Pussycat, Weird) and inspired covers collections (Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John, Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police). This year, she released her latest album of originals, Blood, which Rolling Stone called “some of the most acerbic, delightful pop songs out there…” She is currently working on her next project.
Soul Asylum with Local H and Juliana Hatfield:
August 3 – Reverb – Reading, PA
August 5 The Vault Music Hall – New Bedford, MA
August 6 – Aura – Portland, ME
August 7 – Orange Motorsports – Middletown, NY
August 8 – Wally’s Pub – Hampton Beach, NH
August 10 – The Ramkat – Winston-Salem, NC
August 11 – Oceanfront Concert Series – Virginia Beach, VA
August 12 – House of Blues – N. Myrtle Beach, SC
August 14 – Saint Louis Music Park – Maryland Heights, MO
August 15 – Grinders KC – Kansas City, MO
August 20 – The Castle Theatre – Bloomington, IL
August 21 – The Piazza – Aurora, IL
August 22 – Garfield Park – Indianapolis, IN
August 26 – The Red Carpet – Charleston, WV
August 27 – Jergels – Warrendale, PA
August 28 – Riverfront Live – Cincinnati, OH
August 30 – ACL Live at The Moody – Austin, TX
September 1 – Lava Cantina The Colony – The Colony, TX
September 3 – VBC Mars Music Hall – Huntsville, AL
September 4 – Hop Springs – Murfreesboro, TN
September 5 – Piere’s Ent. Center – Fort Wayne, IN
September 9 – Summerfest @ BMO Harris – Milwaukee, WI
September 10 – Greenway Takeover Fest. – Grand Forks, ND
September 11 – The ‘O’riginal Bar – Minot, ND
September 16 – Evans Amphitheater at Cain Cleveland Heights, OH
September 17 – Menominee Nation Arena – Oshkosh, WI
September 18 – Concert on the Lawn – Maple Grove, MN
More dates TBA
