The Growlers announce their US tour in support of their upcoming album, Chinese Fountain Out on Everloving Records on September 23rd, hear "Big Toe."

The Growlers announce their full US tour supporting their upcoming album, Chinese Fountain!

Set for release on Everloving Records on September 23rd, hear and share the album's lead single: "Big Toe"

Tour Dates:

07/11 - San Diego, CA - North Park Theatre

07/12 - Pioneer Town, CA - Pappy & Harriets

09/05 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
09/06 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive
09/08 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
09/09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
09/10 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
09/11 - Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
09/12 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace
09/13 - Montreal, QC - Il Motore
09/14 - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
09/17 - Columbus Theatre - Providence, RI
09/18 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
09/19 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
09/20 - Washington, DC - Black Cat Mainstage
09/22 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09/23 - Nashville, TN - Exit In
09/24 - Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe
09/25 - Dallas, TX - Dada
09/26 - Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's Upstairs
09/27 - Austin, TX - Scoot Inn

10/10 - Victoria, BC - Upstairs Cabaret
10/11 - Vancouver, BC - Electric Owl
10/15 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
10/16 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett

10/17 - Portland, OR - Alhambra Theatre
10/18-19 - San Francisco, CA - Treasure Island Festival

Early love for their newest single, "Big Toe"
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"On "Big Toe," the band picks up where their nine-song Gilded Pleasures EP left off in November, delivering another trademark nugget of salt-water psychedelia, entrancing listeners with a compelling groove as singer Brooks Nielsen croons atop with slacker swagger.” SPIN

“After a few years of seemingly constant recording and touring, they’ve refined their sound into a poppy, retro-leaning style that they call “beach goth,” a combination of chiming, reverb-drenched guitars, snappy drums, and frontman Brooks Nielsen’s languid vocals, which suggest a guy who never takes his shades off, even indoors.” Entertainment Weekly

"'Big Toe' fuses their surf rock roots with a gritty rockabilly vibe. If it's any indicator, Chinese Fountain is sure to be an album loaded with post-punk charm.” Under The Radar

“...just perfect for these days where you start realizing that the recently ditched bitching about cold weather is about to switch over to humidity rants.” CMJ

"The beach drifting sound of The Growlers only continues to get bigger, the chops are tighter, and production is cleaner.” IMPOSE

"It's still got the SoCal, so-gonna-take-my-time-with-this approach to psychedelia. But where the edge of their previous material started and stopped in the fuzz of the guitars, "Big Toe"extends a mean tongue to the lyrical content.” Indie Shuffle

"If you don’t listen to what The Growlers are saying on “Big Toe,” their first released track off of Chinese Fountain, the jangle-y tune sounds absolutely delightful. If you do happen to catch what they’re crooning, the straight-from-the-gutter lyrics put the listener into both a strangely pleasant and unsettled equilibrium—a place usually reserved for tunes by The Magnetic Fields and Belle & Sebastian.” Anthemic

 

The music of The Growlers is unmistakable.

Sure, you can hone in on some influences baked into the work of this California-bred band. Heck, even they’d cop to a few, like Ricky Nelson and The Clash. But once those same RIYL tags have been filtered through the minds and hands and voices of this five-piece, there’s simply nothing else like it.

The Growlers took the phrase “Beach Goth” as an apt descriptor of their music. Sunburned and salty, that term perfectly describes their distinctive melding of reverb heavy surf guitar and Bakersfield-style honky tonk with ‘80s post-punk.

This is especially true of Chinese Fountain, The Growlers’ fifth full-length set to be released on September 23rd via Everloving Records. The 11 songs found on it are some of the strongest that they’ve committed to tape yet; a byproduct not only of eight years in the trenches together, but finely honing their gypsy folk dirges and psychedelic sea shanties to fans at close to 150 shows each year. The connection between vocalist Brooks Nielsen and guitarist Matt Taylor (the principal songwriters of the group) has only grown deeper.

“The band played better than they’ve ever played,” says Nielsen. “We’ve got the process down now. There’s less screwing around to get the songs laid out and we weren’t waiting around for take after take. We knew it and we played without much time to spare.”

That confidence bleeds through every track on Chinese Fountain, with the band assured enough to layer in shades of many new influences: the loping ska beat of “Dull Boy” and “Going Gets Tuff,” the playful disco beat behind the title track, or the Teardrop Explodes-like agitation of “Good Advice.”

Not that the band left themselves much room to second-guess anything. The five spent about three weeks writing the tracks, and about half that time in the studio recording them. That may sound rushed, but it’s not as if you can hear any strain on the finished product; Chinese Fountain is as rock solid and watertight as anything in their still-growing discography.

There’s evolution to be heard in Chinese Fountain as well, courtesy of some of Nielsen’s most pointed and poignant lyrics to date. He takes our obsession with the online world to task on the funky title track. When he drops the bomb that obliterates that most famous of Beatles’ claims with “The internet is bigger than Jesus or John Lennon” he re-contextualizes Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” in the same breath. He urges positivity no matter the obstacles (“Going Gets Tuff”). Too, he reveals a tattered heart to the world on tracks like “Rare Hearts” and “Love Test.”

“This is my chance to let it all out,” Nielsen says of these songs. “I kind of bottle things up and don’t really get emotional. But I think if I don’t open up, I’d be a really stale person.”

Love for last November's release, Gilded Pleasures:

"2013 will be remembered as the year the Growlers and their Costa Mesa surf team made waves of beach blues and songs to wash out the bummers from our jaded hearts." IMPOSE

"...combines pastoral folk-rock with a shambolic, overdriven dark side that threatens to blow an amplifier, or worse." Esquire

"Their upbeat melodies and dynamic instrumentals infuse a certain sense of youthful charm, hell-bent on making your body move right along to the 'good vibrations.'" Interview Magazine

"If a crate-digging mate played you The Growlers’ latest EP and said it was the work of a long-lost gang of groovy longhairs from Topanga Canyon in California circa 1969, you’d be forgiven for being fooled." NME

"The Growlers are a pretty chill band that sing songs about pretty chill stuff." VICE

"Think the Black Angels righteously stoned on the Meat Puppets’ seminal Up on the Sun and you start to get the idea." The Straight

"Led by singer Brooks Nielsen, The Growlers’ sound heavily owes to the psychedelic 1960s freak-out scene centered along LA’s Sunset Strip mixed with  Beach Blanket Bingo surf rock, ’50s Chicano rock à la “La Bamba,” and a dash of “Monster Mash” macabre." MTV

"If you haven’t been paying attention to The Growlers, it’s time to start." SLUG Magazine

"The Growlers call it Beach Goth. And while it’s true their brand of psych-mottled surf rock defies genre, whatever you call it, it’s pure fun." UTNE Reader

"...despite their knockabout image, The Growlers are a band who take the art of being a band incredibly seriously." Clash Music

"There’s a youthful exuberance to the record that’ll have you yearning for the coast – but judging by the band’s packed gigs, their 70s camper van is going to be full." The Line Of Best Fit