The highly acclaimed rock-fusion trio, The Aristocrats, releases their first new music in five years today. The visualizer for their latest track, “Hey, Where’s My Drink Package?” is now available.

Photo credit: Arthur Rosato

The first new music from renowned rock-fusion trio The Aristocrats is available today. The band is proud to reveal the first visualizer from their forthcoming concept album, DUCK; “Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?” can be experienced here. Of the virtuosic track, the band collectively commented, “The DUCK saga leads off with Marco’s song ‘Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?”, and it’s got an aggressive, swinging, ‘here comes trouble’ attitude that we felt really set the tone for both the music and the story of the album. It has all of the elements of an Aristocratic tune – it’s fun, it’s loud, it’s tricky in a few spots, and it takes some unexpected turns into open space and improvisation. And it’s a good soundtrack to set the opening scene for the protagonist of our Duck story…who’s trying to figure out how he got himself into such a mess, over a few stiff drinks.”

“Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?” is taken from The Aristocrats’ first new effort in five years, the concept album, DUCK. DUCK will be available in both standard and deluxe edition formats as well as vinyl on February 16^th, 2024 via BOING Music, distributed via Hostile City Distro/MVD in North America. The trademark Aristocratic musical mayhem is rowdier than ever, but concept album DUCK is truly like nothing else in their catalogue. DUCK is mixed by Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Twelve Foot Ninja, Dead Letter Circus) and contains original character artwork by film animator Lance Myers (Space Jam, Anastasia, Quest For Camelot). The pre-order for the album is now live; click here to access.

DUCK’s standard edition features the original CD, whilst the deluxe edition contains the original CD along with a USB DUCK drive with behind-the-scenes footage, demos and more, a DUCK pass laminate with QR code for bonus features and a custom Aristocrats-branded lanyard. DUCK will also be available in 180-gram double vinyl.

Of the inspiration for DUCK, The Aristocrats explained, “It is the story of a web-footed Antarctic Island native fleeing a penguin policeman all the way to New York City…where considerable misadventure and danger await.” Of its genesis, they elaborated, “We’ve always been writing with a storytelling aspect in mind, and our live shows always include our stories behind the songs…But the stories had mainly been about us. Then Marco came into the studio with a song about a duck, and we all looked at each other and said, ‘What if all of stories for the songs on this album…happened to a duck? What’s that story about?’ And suddenly we had a concept album on our hands.”

Coinciding with the release of DUCK, The Aristocrats will headline select dates on the West Coast of the United States for the “Duckling” tour. All dates are nearly sold out. Please see below for the itinerary. Click here to purchase tickets.

Over the past 12 years, The Aristocrats – guitarist Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson, Hans Zimmer, Asia/GPS), bassist Bryan Beller (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dethklok), and drummer Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani, Steve Hackett) – have established themselves as one of the most musically original, refreshingly irreverent, and astoundingly entertaining instrumental rock-fusion acts on the planet. Global media have gushed with the UK’s Rhythm Magazine declaring them “More fun than fusion has a right to be…” and The San Diego Union Tribune avowing, “If there is a more accomplished, empathetic and versatile all-instrumental trio in rock than The Aristocrats, I’ve yet to hear them…”

The buzz from their supposedly one-off debut gig at the Anaheim NAMM show in 2011 led to The Aristocrats self-titled debut album. Tracked in just eight days, THE ARISTOCRATS (2011) was hailed as an instant classic in leading music publications worldwide, appearing on many of that year’s top ten lists. The Aristocrats then proceeded to make three more critically acclaimed studio albums over the next decade, two of which landed in the Billboard Top 10 Jazz Chart. (Jazz? Ok, sure.) Four world tours and three live albums later, the band is known on five continents as a must-see whirlwind musical experience.

The Aristocrats United States West Coast tour dates:

FEBRUARY

16 Seattle, WA The Triple Door – SOLD OUT

17 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios – SOLD OUT

19 Redding, CA The Dip

22 Mill Valley, CA Sweetwater Music Hall – SOLD OUT

24 Los Angeles, CA The Echo – SOLD OUT

For more information, please visit:

http://the-aristocrats-band.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@thearistocrats

https://www.facebook.com/aristocratsband

https://twitter.com/acratsband