ARISTOCRATS UPDATE

The Aristocrats are Bryan Beller, Guthrie Govan and Marco Minnemann.
Here's what Bryan Beller says in his latest newsletter:

The Aristocrats are going to Korea and Japan in the second half of July. Ah yes, The Aristocrats. Our west coast tour was a stunning success, with sellouts almost everywhere we went. The San Francisco show was particularly fun, with Mike Keneally and Scott Thunes showing up out of nowhere because Mike was rehearsing with Satch that week. (Thunes would flip double birds at the stage whenever we did something really difficult, which is his personal sign of approval.) Other cool folks in attendance were my old boss from SWR days gone by, Daryl Jamison; legendary metal bassist Steve DiGiorgio; good friend and great players, guitarist Travis Larson and bassist Jennifer Young; and dear friends and talented artists Jane Kubel and Deani Weitzel, who created a "sketch" of The Aristocrats that's going to be featured on the front cover of the CD.

Oh yes, the CD. It's SO almost done. We're in mastering and it's on the verge of approval. Artwork should be done by the end of this week. I'm just confident enough to say that the U.S. release should be in September...right before we launch a U.S./Canada tour that should take us to the following cities:

Atlanta (we hope)
Raleigh, NC
Philadelphia/Washington D.C./Baltimore (it's going to be 2 out of those 3)
New York City
Boston
Burlington, VT
Toronto
Montreal
Chicago

Details are being worked out right now. The latest info is up at my website calendar.

I think I started this off by saying we're going to Korea and Japan. Well, we are. I don't know how many Japanese and Korean fans are reading this, but for those out there, we can't wait to get there! I have never played in Korea or Japan before. I've never even set foot on Japanese soil before. It's going to rock.

I just wanted to take a moment and say how wonderfully fantastic it is to play with Guthrie Govan and Marco Minnemann. I sense that there's a lot of hype around The Aristocrats and Guthrie in particular right now. I am usually loathe to say this, but in this case I will: It's justified. This is a very, very special band. And we're a complete democracy. We vote on everything. I haven't been in a band like that since college. It's a really refreshing experience, and musically it's pushing me to the limits of my ability. I can't wait to share this experience with you.