FUELED BY THE ONGOING CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR ‘THE LOST ART OF EMPATHY’, CHICAGO PUNK POWERHOUSE VOICE OF ADDICTION HITS THE ROAD WITH A NEW LINEUP – AND GEARS UP FOR THE DEBUT OF “PUNK BAND,” A HARD-HITTING, FEATURE-LENGTH TOUR DOCUMENTARY
The exasperation and rage Ian “Johnny X” Tomele felt about our new bizarro America is fueling explosive new chapter in the life of Chicago punk powerhouse Voice of Addiction. Fusing fiery, propulsive, guitar-driven energy with biting wit and sociopolitical commentary, the band’s visionary founder, frontman and chief songwriter wrote and recorded The Lost Art of Empathy as testimony to this seriously jacked up era.
While raging against the machine with enough spit, grit, fire, and angst to fill the deplorable 24-hour news cycle, the singer covers the waterfront of problems plaguing us. Kicking them off is “Rustbelt,” an explosive rant about the despair people in his hometown of Cleveland felt during the time he was growing up when the jobs they counted on for years were suddenly lost to economic circumstances beyond their control. The track is included on Revolution Vol. 1, a new compilation spotlighting 12 of today’s hottest punk bands on Bongo Boy Records.
Hitting and fraying more than a few nerves in the punk press, the album’s insane ongoing critical acclaim continues to add momentum to a dynamic slate of happenings throughout 2018 – including a summer West Coast tour with a whole new lineup, filming live performance videos at Portland, OR’s Bridge City Sessions and highly anticipated release of “Punk Band,” a full length documentary chronicling the band’s crazy 2016 Midwest and West Coast Tour.
The whirlwind of critical accolades includes the punk tastemaker Dyingscene.com’s founder Dave Buck including The Lost Art of Empathy in his Top 10 Punk Albums of the year. Slotting it at #5, he writes, “My consternation at dropping the ball as a punk news agency was almost immediately outweighed by the thrill of discovering a new band, and better yet, an album worthy of my Top 10 list!! Angsty, politically driven punk rock at its finest!” Too Much Love magazine praised Tomele’s “blood vein bursting screams, echoing, “The Lost Art of Empathy re-establishes Voice of Addiction as one of modern punk rock’s smartest and most musically adept acts.” Beat.media pegs Tomele’s intention perfectly in writing, “Fueled by passion, disgust, anger and raw power, The Art of Empathy is an album every punk rock fan should already own.”
The party for the album’s long-awaited release on vinyl at Liar’s Club in Chicago May 4 doubles as the official kick-off for their upcoming West Coast tour, which starts in Omaha May 10 and hits over 30 cities (among others, Sacramento, San Jose, Seattle, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Tucson, Denver, Ventura and even Tijuana) before wrapping closer to home in St. Paul. The tour marks the debut of Voice of Addiction’s new killer lineup featuring guitarist Ricky Hendrix and drummer Andy Ducey. When they hit Oregon, Voice of Addiction will stop at Bridge City Sessions, a renowned Portland-based recording and film studio, to shoot performance videos of two previously released songs and two unreleased tunes that are sneak peaks from their next album.
One of the most fascinating and unexpected tunes on The Lost Art of Empathy is the final track, the acoustic guitar-driven “Are We Even Human Anymore,” which rolls like an adventurous, playfully schizophrenic diary/travelogue about VoA’s 4 ½ week Midwest and West Coast Tour in late 2016. Renowned music video director Bradley Pontecore of Madness Maker Films followed the band during this stretch to create the full-length feature documentary “Punk Bands.” The film, which features live performances and pre- and post-show interviews, will premiere August 17 at Beat Kitchen in Chicago. After the screening, there will be performances by VoA and other bands featured on the soundtrack, a “who’s who” of Chicago punk bands, including 88 Fingers Louie, Pegboy, Local H and Naked Raygun. A month later, the band will reconvene for a month-long Canadian/East Coast tour that begins September 27, with dates currently being booked.
MADNESS MAKER FILMS
CHICAGO, IL
Voice of Addiction Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/voarockers/
