The Aristocrats have debuted their first new song in five years, Hey, Where’s MY Drink Package?
Alongside the new single, the fusion three-piece supergroup – featuring world renowned electric guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan, bass player Bryan Beller and drummer Marco Minnemann – have also announced a new concept album, DUCK.
While the title might seem somewhat enigmatic at first, it’s actually more on the nose – or rather, beak – than you might first think.
“We’ve always been writing with a storytelling aspect in mind, and our live shows always include our stories behind the songs,” explains the band.
“But the stories had mainly been about us. Then Marco came into the studio with a song about a duck, and we all looked at each other and said, ‘What if all of the stories for the songs on this album… happened to a duck? What’s that story about?’ And suddenly we had a concept album on our hands.”
Reportedly, from said inspiration, rose a backstory of an avian fugitive, on the run from Antartica to New York City in attempt to evade the penguin police. Which is not a sentence we would have predicted writing today (or any day for that matter), but then this is why it’s fun to cover The Aristocrats.
When it comes to the album’s first single, the band say they have chosen to debut a track penned by Minnerman first.
“It has all of the elements of an Aristocratic tune – it's fun, it's loud, it's tricky in a few spots, and it takes some unexpected turns into open space and improvisation,” says the band of Hey Where's MY Drink Package?
“It's a good soundtrack to set the opening scene for the protagonist of our Duck story, who's trying to figure out how he got himself into such a mess, over a few stiff drinks.”
Whether you dig the duck inspiration or not, it’s definitely a treat on the guitar front, packed with dark, scuzzy rock tones and ’80s style shred leads, all periodically sliced through with clean arpeggios.
Is it the ideal soundtrack to a half-drunk fugitive duck’s barroom meditations? Well, we’ll leave you to decide that. Either way, we extend a warm welcome back to The Aristocrats.
DUCK is released on February 16, which gives you just over a month to channel Guthrie Govan’s top tips for soloing...
For more information on DUCK, head to The Aristocrats’ site.
