Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol to Tour Europe in Spring 2025; Playing Austin City Limits & Levitation This Fall
What you can glean from Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol signing with Doomstar Bookings and heralding tour plans for the first half of next year is (1:) that will probably include a slew of festival slots and (2:) their earlier-2024 fifth album, Big Dumb Riffs (review here) and the past couple years of hard touring have helped spread the word of their particular take on heavy, combining taut songcraft, a willful drive toward directness, and a heaping dose of shenanigans for a take that feels like it’s been in development for about eight years because, well, it has.
I look forward to seeing where 2025 takes them, and in the meantime they’ll apparently have another US tour for the last quarter of this year — I guess around their hometown appearances at Levitation and Austin City Limits so whatever angle you’re looking from, there’s more to come.
The PR wire dives in on where they’re at and headed:
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol join Doomstar roster for EU & UK touring
More US dates September-December 2024
Austin trio Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol today announce they have joined the roster of Doomstar Bookings for EU & UK touring beginning in Spring 2025. Meanwhile, the band continues domestic dates this Fall supporting their new album BIG DUMB RIFFS from September through December. All tour dates will be announced soon. See current shows, including Austin City Limits’ prestigious ACL Fest and Levitation 2024 with The Sword and Pentagram.
BIG DUMB RIFFS is available on digital, LP and cassette, released May 10th, 2024. Order/stream the album on all formats HERE: https://taplink.cc/rickshawbillie
The band-curated second annual Rickshaw Billie’s BIG DUMB FEST in Austin, TX on June 1st SOLD OUT at Mohawk Austin. This follows a string of sold out dates throughout Texas, Denver, Los Angeles, Brooklyn and more.
“Our catalog has never been short on big dumb riffs, but the idea on this record was to really turn the screw,” says RBBP bassist Aaron Metzdorf. On Big Dumb Riffs, that screw is cranked incredibly tight.
“We just wanted ‘the part’: The opening of Pantera’s ‘Primal Concrete Sledge’, the breakdown in Primus’ ‘Pudding Time’ — the shit that makes you move and lose your mind. Just that part the whole time.”
Across 11 concise, taut songs — most clocking in around 2 minutes or less — Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol demonstrates their skillful ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-string guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumming.
Hot on the heels of their breakout 5th studio release Doom Wop (2023), Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol returns with Big Dumb Riffs: A whole new variant of the fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. While Big Dumb Riffs is decidedly more aggressive and rhythmic, it still retains the overtly melodic feel of Doom Wop. But Leo Lydon’s vocals are considerably more angry and negative (song titles like “1-800-EAT-SHIT” and “Body Bag” should be a clue.)
“The whole writing process was, ‘what if we just played two notes the whole song’,” Metzdorf says. “‘What if we tuned down to almost unusable string tension?’, ‘what if we write a record that will make everyone say ‘wow that is dumb’? Leo and I really move around on stage a lot. Being a dingus is crucial to the groove. All these riffs were designed to allow us to act bigger and dumber on stage.”
Big Dumb Riffs is available on Limited Edition transparent orange vinyl LP, cassette, download and streaming, released on March 22, 2024. Orders are available HERE: https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bigcartel.com/
RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL LIVE 2024:
10/13 Austin, TX – Austin City Limits’ ACL Fest
11/03 Austin, TX – Stubb’s – w/ The Sword, Pentagram
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