Published on March 7th, 2018 | by Denise Borders
0Strung Out Announces Tour Dates + New EP + New Drummer?
Strung Out has announced a new 8-song acoustic EP entitled Black Out the Sky. The album will drop May 11th on Fat Wreck Chords. Vocalist Jason Cruz commented:
“To call this album simply an acoustic record is not doing it the justice. I believe this band is capable of so much and it’s pretty evident on this release. To me, punk is about defying expectations. Everything around us is screaming for attention or trying to sell us something by bombarding our senses. What better way to answer back than with a whisper. That’s punk.”
The EP contains six new songs along with two acoustic versions of the band’s classics, Matchbook (originally on Twisted by Design) and Unkoil (from An American Paradox). Cruz and bandmates Rob Ramos, Jake Kiley, and Chris Aiken came together in January of 2017 with producer Kyle Black to record the album.
Brooklyn Vegan debuted the first song, Town of Corazon. Check it out now.
To support the album, the band is hitting the road with their pals Pennywise starting March 9th.
Pre-order the upcoming record now!
If you’re an avid Strung Out fan and follow their social media, you’ve probably caught wind that long-time drummer, Jordan Burns, is no longer with the band. In a recent Facebook post, JB wrote:
“Hello everyone, JB here… In light of me being terminated from my band of almost 25 years, i just want to say to all of the fans out there, thank you so much for all of your loyal support. The comments that have been left on my behalf, the love for my drumming and the music we all made and created together, is pretty incredible and heart felt. All of you have given me the opportunity to travel the world and perform for you and I’m very thankful for that. For those of you that have met and interacted with me, know that i was forever fan friendly. The fans are what kept me going and without them, we would have been nothing. I’ve always appreciated and respected that.
Anyhow, it honestly seemed that this day was inevitable. In any band and or work situation there is typically personality clashes which can be unbearable and we were not immune to that fact. It can be so enjoyable, pleasing and rewarding to be in a band, but it can also be extremely difficult. I seriously bent over backwards to do everything positive for this band always with our best interests in mind but at times it’s been really tough. I often felt like a doormat, walked all over. It’s been painful but I told myself for years, i’ll never quit and I never did! Well, that pain will be gone now and I am honestly relieved. This band was absolutely a huge part of my life and now its time to see what’s next. I’m fortunate to have my company Moto XXX with lots of other ideas pre-heating in the oven. So please dont worry, cause i am not sad, im not angry, i am not depressed…im all good. I am however disappointed in the way that this has come to an end for me. Please remember everyone, there’s two side’s to every story. You can not judge what you don’t know and dirty laundry shouldn’t be aired on the internet to the general public so i will stay respectful in that sense as both parties should.
Again, i just want to say thank you so much to all of you. You guys and gals gave me over 1100 comments of positive reinforcement and I read each and everyone one of them! I’ve received countless phone calls, text messages and facebook messages from so many other bands, friends, promoters as well as fans around the world and it’s all so greatly appreciated. So yes, i am done with my work here and the guys will continue on and do their thing. I’m not foolish enough to think the band would not go on without me but, i know that the inner relationship issues were simply very unhealthy for me for well over a decade. After nearly 25 years of service, I will always be a OG member of Strung Out, that cant be taken away from me… you’ll just never see me on stage with Jason, Rob, Jake or Chris ever again. Those four brothers plus one new one, will be seeing you soon with Pennywise….Good luck to them and good luck to you RJ, you’re a ripper
I’d also like to say thank you so much to Jon LaLopa and David Friedman for all of your solid dedicated years of service drum teching, stage managing, doing sound, driving and keeping us safe. Your help was always greatly appreciated by me. Thank you to all the rest of the crew guys that have also worked with us off and on over time.
A special shout out as well to the entire motocross community. We literally made thousands of fans through the MX scene starting with our (me and Smelly’s) own movie Moto XXX 1, as well as Crusty 1. I will always be connected to and grateful for the MX scene. Thank you all for your longtime support!
If you’re interested in doing so, you can keep up with me by following me on my personal social media accounts. If you send me a message, i will always try to reply. Once again, i was always all about the fans..that’s never changed!
Take care and thank you for reading this….
Jordan”
[Link to original post for source]
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Who knows what is coming next for the band, but they obviously need a drummer to do this upcoming tour, but whether it will be a permanent hire or a fill in is still unknown! I’m eager to see who they bring on! Do you have any suggestions? Tell me on Twitter or Facebook!