Legendary American grunge pioneers, L7, have signed with Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records for their first album in 20 years, Scatter the Rats, due out May 3, 2019. “I’ve been friends with L7 for years and am very excited and proud to have the opportunity to release their new album on Blackheart!”shares Jett. “When we decided to make a new record, Joan was there for us as the good friend she has always been. So great to stomp into Blackheart Records with her at the helm. We’re very excited to work with Joan and the entire Blackheart family. Just imagine the family dinners!” says Donita Sparks.
Opening the album with a galvanizing reflection on letting go of old grudges for the sake of fighting a greater evil, the band has unleashed a blazing new video by Blue Hats Creative for lead single “Burn Baby” directed by Courtney and Hillary Andujar. The new track sees the band tight as ever, delivering their ferocious energy through a wall of rage. “Burn Baby” will be available on a special Record Store Day 7” with b-side “Fighting The Crave”.
Working with producers Norm Block (Jenny Lee, Paper Cranes, Plexi) and Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), L7 recorded Scatter the Rats at Happy Ending Studios, and Sunset Sound in L.A., instilling each track with a kinetic vitality. The album’s title track came to life in a moment of pure spontaneity. “There were a couple of rats in the basement of the studio, where all the amplifiers were, and at one point Norm said to us, ‘Let’s get rockin’, we can scatter the rats,’” Sparks recalls.
Scatter the Rats embodies everything that made the band so iconic in the first place—the distortion-heavy riffs and headbanging rhythms, sludgy grooves and indelible melodies. Incendiary, cathartic, and down right fun it touches on issues of codependency, lonely hearts, internal conflict and setting aside old grievances for the greater good. Harnessing their revolutionary spirit and boundless energy, L7 achieve a direct transmission of raw feeling, often spiked with biting commentary on the chaos of the world today.
Having toured the world, delivering their take-no-prisoners spirit to massive sold-out crowds in recent years, L7 looks forward to introducing a certain elusive element back into the musical landscape. L7 will be joining The Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival tour across the US with Rancid and more with additional US dates to be announced soon. “I think it’s good for people to enjoy a meat-and-potatoes rock band for a change,” says Sparks. “We’re not rocket science, we’re rock & roll. And there’s value to that, and we do it pretty well. So if you want to rock, come on back to L7.”
L7 The Bash Music & Craft Beer Festival Tour Dates
5/11: Phoenix, AZ @ Margaret T. Hance Park
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones & H2O)
5/12: Tucson, AZ @ Rillito Park Racetrack
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, H2O)
6/02: Englishtown, NJ @ Old Bridge Township Raceway
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Penynwise, Madball)
6/08: Boise, ID @ Memorial Stadium
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, special guests)
6/09: Tacoma, WA @ America’s Car Museum
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, Noi!se)
6/15: Santa Clara, CA @ Santa Clara County Fairgrounds
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, Sharp Shock)
6/16: Sacramento, CA @ Papa Murphy’s Park
(w/ Rancid, Suicidal Tendencies, Pennywise, Sharp Shock)
Scatter the Rats Tracklist
1. Burn Baby
2. Fighting the Crave
3. Proto Prototype
4. Stadium West
5. Murky Water Cafe
6. Ouija Board Lies
7. Garbage Truck
8. Holding Pattern
9. Uppin’ The Ice
10. Cool About Easy
11. Scatter The Rats
Formed in 1985, L7 first began as a collaboration between Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner. Later adding Jennifer Finch and Dee Plakas to the lineup, L7 released their self-titled debut in 1988, followed by 1990’s Smell the Magic and 1992’s Bricks Are Heavy, a Billboard 200 hit whose lead single “Pretend We’re Dead” reached the top 10 on the Alternative Songs chart. In the meantime, L7 founded Rock for Choice and organized the abortion-rights nonprofit’s inaugural, history-making concert (a 1991 event also featuring Nirvana and Hole). With Hungry for Stink arriving in 1994, the band joined that summer’s Lollapalooza tour, later releasing 1997’s The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum and 1999’s Slap-Happy. Announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2001, L7 returned for extensive touring in 2015, then put out a pair of back-to-back singles: 2017’s “Dispatch from Mar-a-Lago” and 2018’s “I Came Back to Bitch.” In addition, 2016 saw the release of L7: Pretend We’re Dead, a feature-length documentary on L7 by Blue Hats Creative.
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