The Empty Threats Announce Release Date For Upcoming Album, Share 'Bus Stop' + EU Tour Dates

"Trailblazers in the Australian music scene... fierce advocates against oppression — carving their own path, and not giving a fuck what anyone else thinks.” 
— Music JUNKEE

Kaurna land / Adelaide outfit, The Empty Threats have signed to much-loved label, Anti-Dismal for the release of their forthcoming album happy birthday (Friday, September 12). Alongside the news comes new single, ‘bus stop’, a string of tour dates in Europe in October and a handful of local shows. Stream/share 'bus stop' HERE. Pre-order happy birthday HERE.

As the name suggests, happy birthday – is certainly a celebration. Well, of sorts. It’s the sound of a sweaty, scuzzy house party; full of anxiety, messy social relations, desire, pill-popping and bruised, bopping bodies, which threatens to descend into total chaos. But for all its frenzy and rollicking bliss, it also covers the terrain of a celebration's aftermath – those painful revelations that turn crystalline at the break of dawn.

If Empties' 2023 debut Monster Truck Mondays was charged by a queer, radical politic that looked outward, then happy birthday sees the band turning inward, exploring the pleasures and anguish of romance, friendship and one’s own inner life. In a world where the rougher edges of neurodivergence are sanded down and made palatable, happy birthday, recorded and produced by guitarist Matt Schultz, is a sprawling, euphoric garage rock record that positions itself in the muck of this reality, refusing to quieten or reconcile its many ideas or energies.

Happy birthday was written during a self-imposed, two-week sequestering in an old sheep ranch, located in the remote, mountainous Flinder’s Ranges, five hours north from Adelaide. The band’s (made up of Stu Patterson (they/them - [vocals / saxophone / clarinet]), Matt Schultz (they/them - [guitars]), Lenny Regione (he/him - [bass guitar]), Michael Bond (he/him - [drums]), Alex Dearman(him/him - [guitar]), Grace Vandals (she/her - [vocals / guitar / synth] and contributions from former member Venus (she/her - guitar/backing vocals) aim was to lock themselves away and return to the city with a suite of songs. With no internet service, and precarious power sources (whenever Empties wanted to plug in their amps, they had to run outside and turn on a generator), they emerged with the 15 songs that make up happy birthday. “It really felt like one of those ‘go to the desert and lose your mind’ kind of thing,” says Patterson.

New single ‘bus stop’ is a bracing duet between Patterson and Venus, brimming with cutting riffs and melodic melancholy, exploring disconnection and restlessness, with elliptical, poetic lyrics – “Sitting at the bus stop waiting in the rain all these conversations feel the same / Sitting at the bus stop told me I’ve changed, silent altercations, no-one to blame.”

“The song is an ode to the sleepless nights where one's emotions blurs between the lines of sanity and insanity,” says Patterson.

Since their humble high school origins, and the release of Monster Truck Mondays, The Empty Threats have been lauded both in Australia and abroad. They have won multiple South Australian Music Awards, and received co-signs from Rolling Stone, The Music, triple j, Music Feeds andKEXP, among many others. The band’s reputation for unruly live shows has seen them tour relentlessly, including a headline show at the iconic Rough Trade East in London. Their ability to connect with diverse audiences is evident in their impressive list of support slots – they’ve shared the stage with everyone, including indie-pop sensation BENEE, Australian rock icons Jimmy Barnes and ICEHOUSE. They’ve also captivated festival audiences across the globe at The Great Escape,Camp A Low Hum, WOMADelaide and Yours & Owls.

The Empty Threats happy birthday

1. phone call 
2. love from mum and dad
3. the one
4. hope deny
5. want someone
6. skye's theme
7. the game show is started
8. bus stop
9. fill the conversation
10. amusement park
11. my first kiss was on the gravitron
12. chernabog's dream
13. micro
14. thank you in french

Upcoming shows:

22 Aug, Howler, Naarm/Melbourne, VIC (Supporting Wet Kiss)
23 Aug, Arthur Art Bar, Adelaide, SA (Supporting Wet Kiss)
2 October, Waves Festival, Vienna, AT 
3 October, Batch Festival, Brno, CZ
4 October, MKNŽ, Ilirska Bistrica, SL
7 October, Szimpla, Budapest, HU
9 October, Clan Destino, Faenza, IT
10 October, Slow Club, Freiburg, DE
12 October, The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham, UK
13 Oct, The Lanes, Bristol, UK
14 Oct, Wild Paths Festival, Norwich, UK
15 Oct, Signature Brew, London, UK
16 Oct, Le Chinois, Paris, FR
17 Oct, Joker’s Pub, Angers, FR
18 Oct, Festival Festival Ici Ithaque, Nantes
19 Oct, Le Chaland Qui Passe, Binic, FR
21 Oct, Festival Ici Ithaque, Berlin, DE
23 Oct, De Vorstin, Hilversum, NL
24 - 25 Oct, Left of the Dial, Rotterdam, NL

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