TOURISM: CLERIC ARE COMING

We don’t usually report news about tours unless they involve nationally or internationally known bands, because providing comprehensive daily news isn’t really part of our mission statement. But I’m making an exception in this post because the band is so damned interesting and because some friends in the Pacific Northwest provided the impetus for making this tour a cross-country reality.

The band’s name is Cleric and they’re from Philadelphia. I came across them in August through a recommendation by Ryan Schutte, guitarist for the awesome Seattle band Lb.! (pound) (who has since then helped Cleric arrange shows up in my part of the country). Back then, I listened to one long song from the band’s 2010 album Regressions that just completely blew my mind, and I wrote this:

This song is one of the most eye-popping, jaw-dropping, extravagant pieces of music I’ve heard all year. It’s almost 20 minutes long, and I was transfixed (and somewhat scared) the whole time. It’s an out-and-out barrage of freakazoidical, destructive, synapse-severing mayhem. It doesn’t follow a straight line, it doesn’t play nice, it doesn’t let up. A thoroughly brain-puréeing, remorselessly spine-crushing experience. Something like Portal, Blackjazz -vintage Shining, and Behold… the Arctopus communing in a hurricane. During an earthquake.

Four months after Regressions came out, they were robbed in Philadelphia “of nearly everything that helped to build and eventually portray their sound, and the closest they came to touring was driving to pawn shops looking for stolen gear.”  The story I received in a press release today continues:

“Over the next few years, the aftermath from the robbery became more pronounced. The momentum from the band’s first proper release had all but faded, and progress ground to a halt. For the members, tragedies and frustrations became all too common, and there seemed to be little in the future of Cleric to look forward to. Still, the foundations for more were being built. Portions of the band met regularly and assembled skeletons of what would be new Cleric music, and commissions for film scoring offered another outlet for musical collaboration. While the practical reality of Cleric seemed, at all times, to be in question, the music remained.

“Today, Cleric is gearing up for its first tour since a series of odd stints on the Warped Tour nearly ten years ago. They are moving forward without a longtime friend and collaborator. And, their long-delayed and highly anticipated tour in support of Regressions, three and a half years after the release is finally and against all odds, a reality. What started as talk of a two-week regional loop to signal the band’s return from hiatus, as it were, was spurred by fans in the Pacific Northwest petitioning the band to trek cross-country, therefore expanding the route to some twenty-five cities, and stretching the tour through all of November.”

I’m super-excited by this, because, to repeat, I’ve never heard anything quite like Regressions. I was also excited to learn that Cleric are currently working in the studio, again with Colin Marston, on a compilation of that music they wrote for film over the past three years, and that they’re also in pre-production on an album’s worth of new material, slated for recording next year.

So, with that build-up, here are the tour dates as they currently stand, followed by a full-album stream of Regressions. To keep up with developments, check out the band’s Facebook page here.

Cleric Live!
Fri 11/1/2013 Brooklyn, NY Coco 66 w/ Carbomb, Torrential Downpour
Sat 11/2/2013 TBA
Sun 11/3/2013 Yellow Springs, OH Glen Building w/ Hyrrokkin
Mon 11/4/2013 Detroit, MI TBA w/ Hyrrokkin
Tues 11/5/2013 Chicago, IL TBA
Wed 11/6/2013 Milwaukee, WI Rock N Roll Palace w/ Northless
Thur 11/7/2013 Minneapolis, MN TBA w/ Morality Crisis
Fri 11/8/2011 TBA
Sat 11/9/2013 Kansas City, MO Art Closet Studios
Sun 11/10/2013 Denver, CO BAR BAR
Tues 11/12/2013 Salt Lake City, UT TBA
Wed 11/13/2013 Boise, ID Red Room
Thur 11/14/2013 Portland, OR East End w/ Beringia, Lb.!, Vultures in the Sky
Fri 11/15/2013 Seattle, WA The Highline w/ Heiress, Lb.!, Czar, Un
Sat 11/16/2013 Tacoma, WA O’Malleys w/ Manhammer, Czar, Barefoot Barnacle
Sun 11/17/2013 Eugene, OR The Black Forest
Mon 11/18/2013 Chico, CA 1078 Gallery
Tues 11/19/2013 Oakland, CA Night Light w/ Ca$hpony
Wed 11/20/2013 San Luis Obispo, CA Frankie Teardrop’s
Thur 11/21/2013 Long Beach, CA TBA w/ Orange Tulip Conspiracy
Fri 11/22/2013 Los Angeles, CA TBA w/ Orange Tulip Conspiracy
Sat 11/23/2013 Tucson, AZ The Surly Wench
Mon 11/25/2013 Austin, TX TBA
Tues 11/26/2013 Fort Worth Lola’s w/ Pinkish Black
Wed 11/27/2013 Memphis, TN TBA
Fri 11/29/2013 Nashville, TN Springwater w/ The Most Amazing Century of Science
Sat 11/30/2013 Charlotte, NC Milestone w/ Cheezface
Sun 12/1/2013 Baltimore, MD TBA