We’re Back!
Hi everybody,
It’s been a long and difficult road over the past year or so, but I am proud to announce to everyone that Tourmaline is back! And we come bearing gifts.
We might look a little bit different these days, as Max and Justin left the band a while back. Max is currently fronting Washington Square Park, who we will support endlessly. Rob Pratola stepped in as drummer and we just added Zach Inkley as our permanent bassist. These guys are awesome musicians and people.
We’ve kept it pretty close to the vest, but last year, my dad, Charles Rauch passed away, not long before we were scheduled to hit the studio to record some new material. Those of you who have lost a parent know how I felt—my whole world was turned upside down. And given how close we’ve always been as a band, it affected everyone.
However, my dad was a huge Tourmaline fan, and he wanted nothing more than to see us succeed, so we decided that recording would be therapeutic for everyone and this new record and everything we do from here on is dedicated in his memory.
The events going on in our lives definitely influenced these new songs, but I wouldn’t call them dark. We’ve all gone through loss of some type in our lives, and my hope is that the songs can be the light at the end of the tunnel—the rock that helps you cope and make every day better than the one before.
We again worked with Grammy-winning, multi-platinum producer Joe McGrath (Morrissey, Green Day, Ryan Adams, B.B. King) on the new material, and we absolutely could NOT be prouder of it. My good friend Jason Gleason (Further Seems Forever/ActionReaction) lent us his amazing voice, doing backup vocals on most of the songs.
I’m so proud of these new songs that we’re giving away 3 of them for free as the “Save Me EP.” You can get the MP3s for free right here, and if you come out to a show, we’re giving out CD samplers (soon to be replaced with dropcards).
Our friends and fans in the Jersey/NYC area have been able to see us perform pretty regularly, but we haven’t been so great getting out to other cities. That’s going to change. We will have all sorts of regional/East Coast dates coming up over the next few months, and hopefully the full US before long.
All of these plans definitely do come at a cost. None of us are wealthy, so we’ve always scrapped together money to make things happen. We posted some new merch in our store, and have lowered the price on our last record, The Swindle. If you believe in us and believe in the music, it would mean so much to us if you’d pick up something to help us put the new record out.
Your friends always,
Matt Rauch, Corey Zaloom, Ryan Baredes, Rob Pratola, and Zach Inkley
Tourmaline
