Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
The Good Life has announced a co-headlining tour with Speedy Ortiz this May and June, beginning on May 24th with a hometown show in Omaha, NE. The dates will take both bands throughout the midwest, west coast, and southwest before wrapping up in Oklahoma City, OK on June 14th, save for the Seattle show on May 29th, where the band will play with La Sera. A current itinerary is below.
A vibrant sonic evolution for the band, their latest album – and first since 2007 – Everybody’s Coming Down was released on August 14, 2015 via Saddle Creek and earned strong press attention from Noisey, Alternative Press, Stereogum, Paste, Village Voice, Substream, Consequence Of Sound, Ghettoblaster, Exclaim!, Absolute Punk, and All Music Guide, among others. The album fully expresses The Good Life perhaps more so than any previous release, combining and reflecting each member’s nature and strengths: drummer Roger Lewis’s love of classic rock, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Fox’s chaotic approach to melody, Stefanie Drootin-Senseney’s propulsive yet tuneful bass parts, and singer/guitarist Tim Kasher’s deft, complementary song writing. Viscerally hitting songs like rollercoasting anthem “Everybody” and the boisterous “Holy Shit” sit alongside psychedelic-tinged rock like “Flotsam Locked Into A Groove” and the ambient, atmospheric “Diving Bell,” as well as the band’s now-known lyrical, folk-indebted pop (“The Troubadour’s Green Room;” “Midnight Is Upon Us”). Lyrically, Everybody’s Coming Down is an engrossing, contemplative mix that touches on existential and cosmic queries, ruminations on regrets and self-worth, and the power of memory versus experience.
The Good Life’s previous album, Help Wanted Nights, was released in 2007 and earned the band press attention from outlets including Alternative Press, The AV Club, Big Takeover, CMJ, Paste, Pitchfork, and Under The Radar, among others. After touring in support of the record, and playing a handful of June 2010 shows, the band dispersed to focus on other projects – Cursive and solo albums for Kasher, Big Harp for Drootin-Senseney, the bands Conduits and Oquoa for Lewis, and solo material and a tape label, Majestic Litter, for Fox – but always planned to regroup for another album. Everybody’s Coming Down was written mainly in late 2014, and The Good Life played a few shows that August, October, and December to road test some of the new songs. Recording began in January 2015 at Omaha’s ARC studios and finished in the quartet’s respective homes, which are scattered across the US: Chicago, IL (Kasher), Omaha, NE (Lewis), Los Angeles, CA (Drootin-Senseney), and Portland, OR (Fox). The band then traveled to Dallas, TX to mix with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Baroness, Angel Olsen, Cloud Nothings) at his Elmwood Recording.
The Good Life tour dates:
MAY 24 OMAHA, NE WAITING ROOM*
MAY 25 DENVER, CO MARQUIS THEATRE*
MAY 26 SALT LAKE CITY, UT KILBY COURT*
MAY 28 SPOKANE, WA THE BARTLETT*
MAY 29 SEATTLE, WA BARBOZA#
MAY 31 PORTLAND, OR DOUG FIR LOUNGE*
JUN. 2 SAN FRANCISCO, CA RICKSHAW STOP*
JUN. 3 FRESNO, CA STRUMMERS*
JUN. 4 VENTURA, CA LARGE MARGE*
JUN. 5 LOS ANGELES, CA ECHOPLEX*
JUN. 6 PHOENIX, AZ RESCENT BALLROOM*
JUN. 7 ALBUQUERQUE, NM LAUNCHPAD*
JUN. 8 EL PASO, TX BOWIE FEATHERS*
JUN. 10 AUSTIN, TX BARRACUDA*
JUN. 11 MCALLEN, TX YERBERIA CULTURA*
JUN. 12 HOUSTON, TX WALTERS DOWNTOWN*
JUN. 13 DALLAS, TX CLUB DADA*
JUN. 14 NORMAN, OK THE OPOLIS*
* co-headline with Speedy Ortiz
# with La Sera