cleopatrick have shared their new single ‘2008’, taken from their forthcoming highly anticipated debut album ‘BUMMER’ due for release June 4th via their own label Nowhere Special Recordings (pre-order here). Stream here.
‘2008’ is unlike anything the Canadian duo have released before. Fully stripped back and uncompromisingly raw, the track sees sole focus on frontman Luke Gruntz’s breathtaking vocal ability and vulnerable lyricism, accompanied solely by a lucid guitar riff.
After playing Reading & Leeds festivals this summer, cleopatrick will be heading out on a UK headline tour this November. The four shows have been on sale less than a month and are already nearly sold out, including a date at London’s 850-capacity Islington Assembly Hall on November 25th. Tickets here, and additional tour dates for 2022 to be announced soon.
At just 23 years old, cleopatrick have proved themselves to be a genuine underground global sensation. They were the only band picked for Amazon Music UK’s Ones To Watch 2021, and have amassed nearly 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. Along the way they’ve garnered high-profile fans across the board including The Guardian, Independent, MTV UK, DIY, Kerrang, Rock Sound, Dork and Upset, as well as BBC Radio 1 plays from Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Dan P Carter.
Comprised of best friends since the age of four Luke Gruntz (guitar/vocals) and Ian Fraser (drums), cleopatrick’s debut album ‘BUMMER’ sees 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 s*x and it’s so phoney; 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.
