ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
UK SHOWS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
NEW ALBUM ‘THE CROSSING’ OUT NOW
MIGRANT-THEMED ALBUM FEATURING THE STOOGES’ JAMES WILLIAMSON, WAYNE KRAMER, PETER PERRETT, JOHN PERRY, JOE ELY & OTHERS
Alejandro Escovedo, who released his new album ‘The Crossing’ through Yep Roc Records last month, will tour the UK in October and November. Recorded in Villafranca, Italy and co-produced with Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Gomez, Iron & Wine), the album features a host of guest musicians, including The Stooges’ James Williamson, Wayne Kramer from the MC5, Peter Perrett and John Perry from The Only Ones (recording together for the first time since 1980), Joe Ely and Richmond Fontaine/The Delines’ bandleader Willy Vlautin.
Escovedo has now shared ‘Outlaw For You’, the new single taken from the album. Of the track, he says “‘Outlaw For You’ is really just a fun little kind of song – he wants to impress this girl and he loves this girl and he’s telling her that her record collection matters. If it’s not the right record collection, then no amount of beauty will overcome the fact that she’s listening to the wrong records. He says at one point, “I love The Stooges and I hate U2, but I wanna be an Outlaw For You.” So he’s in love with this kind of wild rock ‘n’ roll, not this commercial rock ‘n’ roll. He’s in love with the rock ‘n’ roll that’s found in the streets and small clubs and bars and dungeons and basements and backyards. He wants nothing to do with the corporate world.
“Outlaw For You’ follows the release ‘Sonica USA’, the first single taken from the album, which features Wayne Kramer of MC5 on guitar.
Alejandro has also confirmed a string of UK dates in October and November, including a London show at Bush Hall on the 30th October.
October
Tues 30th – London – Bush Hall
Weds 31st – Bristol – The Tunnels
November
Thurs 1st – Oxford – Bullingdon
Scorching and cinematic ‘The Crossing’ follows the story of two young immigrants, one from Mexico and one from Italy, as they come to the United States to pursue their American dream and in search of their punk rock idols. As Escovedo puts it, the two protagonists, Salvo and Diego, find they have arrived “in a different America, one that’s not as open and free as they believed it was going to be.” Mirroring Alejandro’s own experience as the child of Mexican immigrants, ‘The Crossing’ is a sweeping, epic seventeen-song suite focusing a poignant, sharply honest lens on the issues of our time and navigating cultural identity, minority rights, ancestral weight and racism in this particularly troubled moment.
Not only is it Alejandro’s first album with Yep Roc, it is his first album recorded in Europe. He co-wrote and performed it with Italian band led by Don Antonio from Mogdilana who has a rich musical history of his own in Italy with his cult band Sacri Cuori. The album was recorded in a month in Villafranca, Italy with Brian Deck co-producing. “The thing about Italians and their music is, they’re always reaching for melody. It’s always very romantic, even when it’s tragic” The band also comprises Denis Valentini on bass, Matteo Monti on drums, Gianni Perinelli and Franz Valtieri and on horns plus Nicola Peruch on keyboards.
Over the course of 15 albums, Alejandro’s been a punk with San Francisco’s legendary, The Nuns, a cowpunk in Rank & File, an unrepentant rocker in Austin’s True Believers and a solo artists since the early 90s collaborating with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Cale, Los Lobos, Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey and Chuck Prophet. No Depression declared him ‘Artist of the Decade’ shortly before he was struck down with Hepatitis B, a disease he was finally clear of before the recording of this new album.
‘The Crossing’ is the kind of journey only Alejandro Escovedo could take you on. The adventure starts here.
www.alejandroescovedo.com
www.facebook.com/alejandroescovedo/
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