Hailing from Melbourne, 60’s tinged psych-rock punks The Murlocs have announced their brand new studio album, Rapscallion, due out September 16 on ATO Records. Strapped with fuzzy guitar licks, feverish bass and psychedelic brightness, the 12-track collection is a coming-of-age novel in an album form. The wildly squalid odyssey populated by an outrageous cast of misfit characters — teenage vagabonds and small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients — is partly inspired by frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s own adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. Their most magnificently heavy work yet, the result is an endlessly enthralling album equally steeped in danger and delirium and the wide-eyed romanticism of youth.
Following the nameless hero through an ill-fated adventure as a train stow-away, a turn of events leads listeners to lead single “Virgin Criminal” and its frenetically giddy, fuzzed-out account of his initiation into a crew of young bandits. “It’s about him doing his first crime, ripping off a convenience store, and getting off on the thrill of being an outlaw,” says Kenny-Smith.
North American Tour Dates
10/29: Austin, TX @ LEVITATION ^
Stubb’s Outdoor – Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/31: Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #
11/2: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre #
11/7: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
11/9: New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
11/10: Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
11/11: Montreal, QC – Fairmount Theatre *
11/12: Toronto, ON @ The Axis Club *
11/14: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
11/15: Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
11/16: St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
11/17: Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge *
11/18: Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *
11/20: Boise, ID @ Neurolux *
11/22: Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
11/23: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre *
11/25: Portland, OR @ Star Theater *
11/27: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
11/28: Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
11/29: Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s *
12/2: Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom *
^ w/ King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
# w/ King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Leah Senior
* w/ Grace Cummings
Rapscallion tracklisting:
1. Subsidiary
2. Bellarine Ballerina
3. Living Under a Rock
4. Bobbing And Weaving
5. Farewell To Clemency
6. Compos Mentis
7. The Royal Vagabond
8. Virgin Criminal
9. Bowlegged Beautiful
10. Wickr Man
11. The Ballad Of Peggy Mae
12. Growing Pains
