FRIENDS Unveil New Video + North American Tour Dates ! **

[Jamie Sherman]

Friends unveil video for their new single "Mind Control" worldwide TODAY
Off Forthcoming Album, Manifest!, Out June 5 via Fat Possum
Plus, North American Tour Dates Announced!

[Friends_general2_Erez Avissar]
Photo credit: Erez Avissar

Friends unveiled the video for their new single "Mind Control" yesterday on the Noisey YouTube channel, and today via outlets worldwide.  Shot by Hiro Murai (St. Vincent, Scissor Sisters, Usher), the clip combines band performance, action footage, and special effects, in a rhythmic montage cut to the Paul Epworth mixed track.  The band pays reverent homage to dystopian Sci-Fi films from the '80s (They Live, Brainstorm, Scanners).  The members take themselves less seriously in various roles in an apparently sinister brainwashing plot, evocative of the song's over-the-top lyrical message ("Hold holy only what you want/Mind control everywhere/Is trying to keep your brain washed"). Check out the video HERE<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I90FkC6BMbw>!

"Mind Control" is guaranteed to be unlike anything else you'll watch this year.  It's Friends' most ambitious video to date, following the lower-budget viral sensations for "Friend Crush" and "I'm His Girl."  All three singles appear on the debut album Manifest!, out June 5th on Fat Possum - and available now to pre-order HERE<http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/manifest!/id525638426>. Track listing is below.

The anthemic "Mind Control" sums up the seditious streak of Manifest!  The musical choices are brazen even by Friends' standards: superfly bass, slinky synth, crybaby wah, bongo solo, group chants.  Lyrically, it also might be the Friends manifesto, were it not for the strong possibility that Ms. Urbani is taking the piss - poking good-natured fun at her band's indie image and at our collective indie standards.

"I don't want to rule or be ruled/I just want the right to be cool/However I chose to do what I do/Wherever I choose to be or with whom/Hey, I don't need your money, I can grow my own food/I don't need your beauty standard, I can be my own dude."

Friends will follow their largest-ever headline gig - a sold out show at London's Scala - and their biggest European festival appearances to date, with their first ever North American headlining tour.  Tickets are on sale now - full tour routing is below.


Tracklisting

1.             Friend Crush

2.             Sorry

3.             Home

4.             A Thing Like This

5.             A Light

6.             Ideas On Ghosts

7.             Ruins

8.             I'm His Girl

9.             Proud/Ashamed

10.         Stay Dreaming

11.         Va Fan Gor Du

12.         Mind Control


North American Tour Dates
June 13                 Boston, MA                                         Brighton Music Hall
June 14                 Montreal, QC                                      Lambi's
June 15                 Toronto, ON                                        Lee's Palace
June 16                 Chicago, IL                                          Schuba's Tavern
June 17                 Minneapolis, MN                              7th Street Entry
June 20                 Seattle, WA                                         Crocodile Café
June 22                 Vancouver, BC                                   Fortune
June 23                 Portland, OR                                      Doug Fir
June 25                 San Francisco, CA                             Bottom of the Hill
June 26                 Los Angeles, CA                                Echo
June 29                 San Diego, CA                                     The Casbah
June 30                 Phoenix, AZ                                        Crescent Ballroom
July 2                     Austin, TX                                           Mohawk
July 3                     Houston, TX                                        Fitzgerald's Upstairs
July 5                     Atlanta, GA                                         The Earl
July 6                     Washington, DC                                Rock N' Roll Hotel
July 7                     New York, NY                                    Bowery Ballroom


www.afriendszone.com<http://www.afriendszone.com/>
www.facebook.com/sdneirfbackwards<http://www.facebook.com/sdneirfbackwards>
www.twitter.com/afriendszone<http://www.twitter.com/afriendszone>


For more information on Friends, please contact:
PRESS HERE
Chloe Walsh // Jamie Sherman
chloe at pressherepublicity.com<mailto:chloe at pressherepublicity.com> // jamie at pressherepublicity.com<mailto:jamie at pressherepublicity.com>

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