(MSO) State Radio are set to release their second studio album Year Of The Crow--an amalgam of rock, punk and reggae that's as distinctive as it is sublime--February 5 on their own Ruff Shod Records.Hailing from Boston, the musically inventive, socially and politically charged trio fronted by Dispatch member CHAD STOKES and rounded out by bassist CHUCK FAY and drummer MAD DOG are currently on a U.S. headlining tour with Australia's Beautiful Girls. Fans can expect the group to preview songs from YEAR OF THE CROW--the follow-up to 2006's Us Against The Crown--during the month-long trek.
Produced by Tchad Blake (Peter Gabriel, Pearl Jam, Soul Coughing), YEAR OF THE CROW was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in Wiltshire, England. The eclectic 13-song disc features the furious blues-thumping anti-Halliburton missive "Gang of Thieves" and the uplifting, trombone-bolstered ska-touched "Barnstorming." Elsewhere, the frenetic, piercing, punkish, proclamation "Guantanamo" finds a seething STOKES, taking aim at the current administration while looking back on the Bush clan's sordid history.
Catch STATE RADIO on the road in the following U.S. cities:
Wed 10/31 Santa Cruz, CA The Attic
Thu 11/1 San Francisco, CA Slim's
Fri 11/2 West Hollywood, CA House of Blues
Sat 11/3 San Diego, CA Epicenter
Sun 11/4 Phoenix, AZ The Rhythm Room
Tue 11/6 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre
Wed 11/7 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre & Café
Fri 11/9 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
Sat 11/10 Chicago, IL House of Blues
Sun 11/11 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
Mon 11/12 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Small's
Tue 11/13 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church
Thu 11/15 Philadelphia, PA Theater of Living Arts
Fri 11/16 Boston, MA Orpheum Theater
Sat 11/17 Portland, ME The Station
Fri 11/23 New York, NY Terminal 5