FYI - Beller sent out an e-mail this morning. He'll be touring with Joe Satriani again starting next year. Kenny Aronoff on drums, Rai Thistlewayte on keyboards. Also a new album from Satch.

No Mike Keneally, who's touring with Devin Townsend, or Joe Travers, who's busy with Zappa-related stuff.

ARISTOCRATS CREW (AND FAN) APPRECIATION, ITALIAN EDITION:
Well, we had one hell of a week in Italy just now, and I’ll discuss below. But first things first: Tonight is our last show “on the ground” for our 59-show European tour, which means it’s the last show with our full crew. So last night we had a great group dinner in Hard, Austria, shared some laughs, and took this picture. From left to right: Marco Minnemann, drum tech (and cowbell holder) Emilio Simeone, Guthrie Govan, yours truly, tour manager/booking agent Riccardo Cappelli, front of house sound engineer Dimitris Karpouzas, guitar/bass tech Enrico Piazza. These guys work way harder than we do, and without them, there’s no show anywhere, on any night. Thank you to Emilio, Enrico, Riccardo, and Dimitris!

Now, you may have noticed that we’ve got a decidedly Southern European flavor to our traveling entourage: Three Italians and one Greek. We never made it to Athens on this tour, which was sad for Dimitris because we’d been there on all previous tours, but hopefully next time we can fix that. We did, however, make it into Italy. And then we made it out of Italy, a little sooner than we would have liked. Perhaps you heard something about that?

For an American, every European tour is a learning experience. There’s so many different cultures - and fine distinctions even within those cultures - that you could come back 30 times and still have plenty to process. On this trip, with such a predominantly Italian team, I got a glimpse into how Italians feel about their own country: It’s beautiful. It’s crazy. The best food. The worst government. The great parts are the greatest, and…the rest is a guttural flurry of Italian curses and flying hand gestures. Experienced touring musicians and crew people know that touring Italy is “special”, and no one more so than the Italians! But obviously none of us had no idea of what was in store for us with this Coronavirus situation.

So we found ourselves in the midst of a typically chaotic Italian run - you haven’t truly lived until you’ve driven the spaghetti bridge-and-tunnel highway approach to Genova, or braved the streets of Napoli, or dealt with parking in Rome - while in the background, a news-panic storm was building about what was going on in Northern Italy. When we got to the point where we were supposed to drive to Torino and Montebelluna, it was the worst possible moment of the situation. The regional governments were shutting down all public events on the morning of the Torino show. And then there were news reports about Austria considering closing the border with Italy, which is crazy but then the whole thing was off-the-rails crazy. The EU apparently stepped in and killed that thought in the crib, but it was starting to become difficult to distinguish rumor from fact, and in the end we just got in the car and drove to Austria post haste to make sure we could continue the tour without any further interruption.

I don’t have any grand wisdom as to how the whole thing should or shouldn’t have been handled by Italy, China, the USA, or anyone else. I just feel terrible for the fans who wanted to see us in Torino and Montebelluna and couldn’t. Scheduling, logistics, and situational complexities beyond our control prevented us from being able to reschedule them at the end of the tour. I know that there were fans who bought tickets and traveled from great distances to come see us in those two Northern Italy shows. I’m so sorry we couldn’t do them. If any ticket holders (who will all be refunded) from those two shows is feeling adventurous, we’re playing in Hard, Austria tonight, and we’d love to see you before we head off to Russia, Ireland and UK to finish the run.

More than anything, I want to express my gratitude to the fans in Italy who came out and saw the seven shows we were able to do there. I know it’s a real challenge there right now. I could feel it while we were in the country. Thank you for taking the time to make room for a little live music in your life while this was all going on. And please, everyone, stay safe.

-BB

Just wanted to add my photo with Guthrie into this general thread from last Summer’s Aristocamp in Upstate NY.

One year ago everything was completely different as I was able to enjoy the Catskills mountains with this fella and other rock royalty. One of the highlights of my life.

THE ARISTOCRATS ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICA
“DEFROST” TOUR FOR SUMMER 2022

The Aristocrats, (guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann) will make their long-awaited return to the stages of North America this summer, for the DEFROST tour. The ten-week, 50-show run will mark their first live performances since the FREEZE! Live In Europe 2020 album was captured, more than two years ago. Audiences starved for some trademark Aristocratic musical mayhem will be treated to a debut of select new material not yet released on any album, as well as a carefully curated collection of fan favorites and deep cuts.

The ultra-power-trio issued a joint statement to mark the occasion: “We’re beyond thrilled to get back out there and do what we do best - playing together, live and loud, in the same room - for our amazing fans who’ve been so generous with their support of what we do as a band. Even though modern technology is great, we wanted to wait until we were physically together before playing any new material, because that’s just how we do it. That’s finally going to happen right before we head out on the road, so it will be really fresh and exciting. We can’t wait!”

In addition to The Aristocrats’ return to the live stage, the band will soon share news of a collaboration project one year in the making, which is slated for release in the spring. More details will follow on this project soon.

Over the past ten years The Aristocrats have released critically acclaimed albums, toured the world, and established themselves as one of the most musically original, refreshingly irreverent, and astoundingly entertaining instrumental rock-fusion acts on the planet. Anyone who’s witnessed their live musical high-wire act - employing random amounts of rock, jazz, pop, metal, and even traditional country – can attest that it is informed by the spirit of a true band, one whose improvisational soul allows for anything to happen onstage at any moment…including the occasional wink and nod at the audience.

The Aristocrats DEFROST North American Tour

July 1, 2022 Alvas Showroom San Pedro, CA
July 2, 2022 Alvas Showroom San Pedro, CA
July 3, 2022 Ramona Main Stage Ramona (San Diego), CA
July 6, 2022 The Mob Mexicali, MX
July 7, 2022 Rhythm Room Phoenix, AZ
July 8, 2022 Club Congress Tucson, AZ
July 9, 2022 Rockhouse Bar & Grill El Paso, TX
July 10, 2022 Launchpad Albuquerque, NM
July 13, 2022 The Parish Austin, TX
July 14, 2022 Guitar Sanctuary McKinney, TX
July 15, 2022 Guitar Sanctuary McKinney, TX
July 16, 2022 Scout Bar Houston, TX
July 18, 2022 Southport Music Hall New Orleans, LA
July 20, 2022 Jack Rabbits Jacksonville, FL
July 21, 2022 Will’s Pub Orlando, FL
July 22, 2022 Boca Black Box Boca Raton, FL
July 23, 2022 The Brass Mug Tampa, FL
July 26, 2022 Aisle 5 Atlanta, GA
July 27, 2022 City Winery Nashville, TN
July 28, 2022 Isis Music Hall Asheville, NC
July 29, 2022 Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC
July 30, 2022 The Pour House Raleigh, NC
August 1, 2022 Rams Head On Stage Annapolis, MD
August 2, 2022 Sellersville Theater Sellersville, PA
August 3, 2022 Gramercy Theatre New York City, NY
August 9, 2022 The Middle East Boston, MA
August 11, 2022 Imperial Bell Quebec City, QC
August 12, 2022 Café Campus Montreal, QC
August 13, 2022 Café Campus Montreal, QC
August 14, 2022 Opera House Toronto, ON
August 16, 2022 This Is Red Pittsburgh, PA
August 17, 2022 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
August 18, 2022 The Magic Bag Detroit, MI
August 19, 2022 Irving Theater Indianapolis, IN
August 20, 2022 Reggie’s Chicago, IL
August 22, 2022 Amsterdam Bar And Hall St, Paul, MN
August 23, 2022 xBk Live Des Moines, IA
August 24, 2022 RecordBar Kansas City, MO
August 26, 2022 The Black Sheep Colorado Springs, CO
August 27, 2022 Marquis Theater Denver, CO
August 28, 2022 Mesa Theater Grand Junction, CO
August 29, 2022 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
August 30, 2022 The Shredder Boise, ID
September 1, 2022 Rickshaw Theatre Vancouver, BC
September 2, 2022 Neumos Seattle, WA
September 3, 2022 Star Theater Portland, OR
September 4, 2022 Sessions Music Hall Eugene, OR
September 6, 2022 Harlow’s Sacramento, CA
September 8, 2022 1720 Los Angeles, CA
September 9, 2022 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA

Having recently wrapped an exclusive run of completely sold out dates on the west coast of the United States (the “Duckling” tour) around the DUCK album’s release, guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann will now bring their trademark musical virtuosity and inherent absurdity back to stages all across the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico. They’ll be playing (and perhaps even explaining) a sizeable chunk of their new album DUCK, as well as classic cuts from their five-album catalogue.

Of the upcoming tour, Guthrie commented, “Our new concept album tells the tale of a Duck who travels thousands of miles from his home on a small island and ultimately finds himself in the US… As the sole UK-based member of The Aristocrats, I’m particularly looking forward to retracing his anatine steps this summer!". Marco adds, “It was exciting experiencing the great response and equally great fun we had taking our newest ‘Duck’ material briefly out on the road for a test drive. I cannot express more how much I look forward to presenting our most recent offerings to all of you wonderful people around the globe.” Bryan concludes, “We’re extremely proud of the DUCK album, but live onstage is where our music always truly comes alive. With that said: North America, we’ll see you soon!”

Tuesday, July 2 - Monterrey, MX - Cafè Iguana
Thursday, July 4 - Guadalajara, MX - C3 Stage
Saturday, July 6 - Mexico City, MX - Foro 28
Thursday, July 11 - Ramona, CA - Ramona Mainstage
Friday, July 12 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
Monday, July 15 - McKinney, TX - Guitar Sanctuary
Tuesday, July 16 - McKinney, TX - Guitar Sanctuary
Wednesday, July 17 - Austin, TX - Empire Control Room
Thursday, July 18 - Houston, TX - Scout Bar
Sunday, July 21 - Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
Monday, July 22 - Orlando, FL - The Abbey
Tuesday, July 23 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
Thursday, July 25 - Atlanta, GA - Vinyl
Saturday, July 27 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
Sunday, July 28 - Raleigh, NC - The Pour House
Wednesday, July 31 - Washington, DC - Howard Theater
Thursday, August 1 - Phoenixville, PA - Colonial Theater
Friday, August 2 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
Saturday, August 3 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom
Sunday, August 4 - Portland, ME - Portland House Of Music
Tuesday, August 6 - Montreal, QC - Les Foufones Électriques
Thursday, August 8 - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground
Friday, August 9 - Buffalo, NY - Electric City
Saturday, August 10 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
Sunday, August 11 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
Tuesday, August 13 - Kansas City, MO - Recordbar
Thursday, August 15 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
Sunday, August 18 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
Wednesday, August 21 - Vancouver, BC - Hollywood Theatre
Thursday, August 22 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
Friday, August 23 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
Sunday, August 25 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow's
Tuesday, August 27 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent
Friday, August 30 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex