NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Virgin Records) - Coming off an incredible showing at this year's SXSW including a headlining performance at Stubb's, an over-capacity crowd at DirecTV's 'SXSW Live,' and a legendary taping of Austin City Limits,
Ben Harper and Relentless7 proudly announce the release of their debut record, 'White Lies For Dark Times' on May 5, 2009 on Virgin Records.
The album will be available as CD, deluxe CD with bonus DVD, digital download and 180-gram 2xLP. Rolling Stone calls the new album 'an 11-song set soaked with hard rock and Delta Blues.'
Ben Harper and Relentless7's energetic live performance is the heart of the band. In December 2008, the band embarked on a highly successful short club tour with a handful of dates in California and New York. 'The band's combined force was almost too big for the room,' RollingStone.com said of the band's intimate performance at Spaceland in Los Angeles.
The sweaty, gritty and energetic vibe of the clubs proved to be an incredible match for the band's new hard-hitting sound, and they are pleased to announce their return to the road on a larger club tour of the U.S. as well as dates abroad. 'We thought, this is a new band, a new opportunity, a new energy. Let's earn it the way that new bands dolet's play clubs, let's play small places,' said drummer Jordan Richardson. Current confirmed tour dates are listed below.
BHR7 will make an early late night television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly on March 27th, and will follow with week-of-release performances on The Late Show with David Letterman (5/6), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (5/7) and Jimmy Kimmel Live (5/21).
Ben Harper and Relentless7 2009 tour dates:
(Dates and information subject to change.)
US TOUR DATES:
April 30 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 1 Memphis, TN Beale Street Music Festival
May 2 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
May 4 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
May 5 New York, NY Webster Hall
May 8 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
May 9 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
May 10 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
May 12 Montreal, CANADA Metropolis
May 13 Toronto, CANADA Phoenix Concert Theatre
May 15 Detroit, MI St. Andrews Hall
May 16 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
May 25 George, WA The Gorge Amp. / Sasquatch Festival
May 27 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 28 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
June 13 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES:
April 9 Sydney, Australia Metro Theatre
April 11 Byron Bay, Australia Byron Bay Bluesfest
April 13 Byron Bay, Australia Byron Bay Bluesfest
April 19 London, England The Forum
April 20 Paris, France La Cigale
April 21 Bourges, France Le Printemps du Bourges
April 22 Rome, Italy Piazza del Popolo
June 19 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany Southside Festival
June 20 Scheessel, Germany Hurricane Festival
June 22 Berlin, Germany Columbiahalle
June 23 Munich, Germany TonHalle
June 25 Amsterdam, Netherlands Paradiso
June 27 London, England Hard Rock Calling Festival
BHR7 History:
Harper met guitarist Jason Mozersky in the late nineties, when the lead singer of Mozersky's then band, WAN SANTO CONDO was working as a van driver shuttling bands back and forth to the venue for a Texas promoter. He asked the then captive Ben Harper, 'Can I play you my demo?' Harper obliged, and in his own words 'was blown away,' and helped the band secure a record deal and release an album on Everloving Records. The band broke up after one record, but what survived was a lasting friendship between Harper and Mozersky.
In 2005, Harper invited now long time friend Mozersky to lay down guitar work on a track during the recording sessions that would become a double record entitled 'Both Sides of the Gun'. Mozersky brought along bass player Jesse Ingalls and drummer Jordan Richardson and the session would spawn not only the song 'Serve Your Soul' but the framework for Relentless7.
To reignite the chemistry discovered during the 'Both Sides of the Gun' session, they reunited in the summer of 2008 just to jam and write songs together, and emerged with a new sound and enough tracks for an album. 'White Lies For Dark Times' is a timeless rock record, with a cohesive collection of music that is as raw, unrelenting and thunderous, as it is arrestingly haunting and emotional.
