× Austin Lucas brings Warshy (Crazy Arm) and Flora Sculler (MARCH) for three NL shows this December

Austin Lucas brings Warshy (Crazy Arm) and Flora Sculler (MARCH) for three NL shows this December

02-10-2018

Austin Lucas has come home.

It’s been over two decades since the songwriter packed his bags and left Bloomington, Indiana, the Midwestern town where he was born and spent his formative years. He returns to that place, both creatively and physically, with his seventh studio album, Immortal Americans. Written after a tumultuous period that found Lucas getting sober, supporting his partner through a battle with cancer, and breaking up with his longtime record label. Immortal Americans is a clear-eyed album for murkier times, rooted in stripped-down songs that find the artist reflecting upon the changes in both his hometown and himself.

Co-produced by Lucas and Will Johnson (Centro-matic) and recorded/engineered by Steve Albini and captured in a series of live, full-band performances, Immortal Americans was written after Lucas resettled in Bloomington. He’d been away for years, touring the world as an independent solo artist before signing a record deal with New West in 2013. In many ways, the albums he released during that period were reflections of the music he’d grown up with, from the mountain music of his father (bluegrass musician Bob Lucas) to the punk records that soundtracked his teenage years. Appropriately, Lucas earned a fanbase as a folksinger with punk roots – or was it the other way around? – while touring the country with artists who represented both ends of that spectrum, sharing tours with Willie Nelson one minute and Chuck Ragan the next.

Somewhere along the way, his vices began to get the best of him. He started drinking too much. He gained weight. His marriage crumbled. Albums like 2013’s cowpunk-inspired Stay Reckless and 2016’s Between the Moon and the Midwest shone a light on those challenges, tackling everything from divorce to depression. When Lucas hit rock bottom though, he stopped writing about his temptations and instead, left them behind for good. He headed back to southern Indiana, resettling himself in a town that had changed considerably since he left.

Immortal Americans is Austin Lucas’ homecoming album, created during a whirlwind period of tumult and regrowth. With its gothic heartland sound and autobiographical lyrics, it’s also Lucas at his most honest, rooted in a string of largely unamplified anthems that don’t rely on electricity to pack a punch.

On his tour in December he'll hit The Netherlands three times, bringing Warshy (Crazy Arm) and Flora Sculler (MARCH) to support:

07/12: Eindhoven (NL) @ Rozenknopje
08/12: Groningen (NL) @ Der Aa-Theater
16/12: Hengelo (NL) @ Metropool

Warshy (as in, shy of war) is the new solo venture from Crazy Arm frontman, Darren Johns. Launched last year in the USA, while travelling on a West Coast tour with kindred spirits, Larry & His Flask, Warshy is an opportunity for Johns to explore the roots/Americana influences that have underpinned Crazy Arm's forte, and strip them to the bone. 

Occasionally Flora Sculler unplugs her guitar from her loud amp of Dutch punk rock band MARCH to play acoustically. She sings songs from her band, brand new solo work and some covers of her favourite artists.

Related artist: Austin Lucas back