They’ve just had the most successful year of their career – covers of Revolver, Alternative Press, Outburn, AMP and HM, played the Main Stage at Warped Tour, plus the Sounds of the Underground tour, saw their third album, With Roots Above and Branches Below, debut at #11 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Charts and was nominated for a Golden God Award. So, what is The Devil Wears Prada going to do now? Release their first-ever EP, the conceptual Zombie EP on August 24 (Ferret Music) what else? ( http://www.tdwpslays.com )
Fans can pre-order Zombie EP at http://tdwp.merchnow.com/products/118686 and http://tdwp.merchnow.com/products/118685
“The whole thing is just completely based upon zombies,” explained TDWP’s front man Mike Hranica. “Last fall, I was on a real zombie kick, I read “The Zombie Survival Guide” by Max Brooks, and I thought, ‘what if we made a zombie song?’ All it took was me just saying that to the band, and we had our hearts set on doing this EP.”
Zombie EP is an extremely heavy record that includes songs such as “Survivor,” that follows the plight of a man who loses his beloved to the undead and ultimately, in surviving the zombie plague, spends his days warding off the brain-starved and loneliness. The story continues to unfold with the tracks “Outnumbered,” “Escape,” “Revive,” and “Anatomy.” Serious TDWP fans will note that the Zombie EP song titles are straight-ahead and serious, unlike the “joke” titles that the band’s full-length CDs have been known to feature – “Reptar, King of the Ozone” from 2007’s Plagues, as an example.
“The sound is definitely The Devil Wears Prada, but so much more,” Hranica continues. “It’s sinister and bad-ass.” Guitarist/vocalist Jeremy DePoyster agrees, maintaining that Zombie EP is faster than anything TDWP has done before. “It’s going to be sick,” said DePoyster. “It’s us, but it’s more Hatebreed-influenced and just straight-up thrash metal-influenced with some serious Slayer riffs.”
The release of Zombie EP will be preceded by a major Summer tour, with TDWP playing some of the biggest venues of their career, and multiple nights in some of the smallest, 25,000 screaming kids one nigt, and 250 hot and sweaty fans the next. The “Back To The Roots” tour, in partnership with Rockstar Energy Drink, kicked off last week and will go through to the Labor Day weekend.
“We wanted to go back to our roots,” said Hranica, “play little hole-in-the-wall places where fans can be right there in front of the stage, where we can hand someone a mic and really have the fans be an active part of the show, not behind a barrier ten feet away.”
Dates for The Devil Wears Prada summer tour are as follows:
JULY
6 The Shelter, Detroit, MI*
8 Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ*
9 Valentine’s, Albany, NY*
10 Valentine’s, Albany, NY*
11 Xtreme Wheelz, Buffalo, NY*
13 Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA*
14 Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA*
15 Pop’s, St. Louis, MO*
16 Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS*
17 Sonshine Festival @ Willmar Civic Center, Willmar, MN**
19 Mesa Theatre, Grand Junction, CO*
21 The Underground, Reno, NV*
22 The Boardwalk, Sacramento, CA*
23 The Boardwalk, Sacramento, CA*
25 Chain Reaction, Anaheim, CA*
26 Chain Reaction, Anaheim, CA*
28 SOMA Sidestage, San Diego, CA*
29 SOMA Sidestage, San Diego, CA*
31 Heaven Fest, Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO**
AUGUST
2 The Door, Dallas, TX*
3 Emo’s Alternative Lounge/Inside, Austin, TX*
4 Emo’s Alternative Lounge/Inside, Austin, TX*
5 Rock The Desert Fest 2010, Midland, TX**
8 Summer Sonic Festival, Marine Stadium, Tokyo, Japan**
11 Orpheum, Tampa, FL*
12 Orpheum, Tampa, FL*
13 The Social, Orlando, FL*
14 The Social, Orlando, FL*
15 The 7 Venue, Atlanta, GA*
17 The Brewery, Raleigh, NC*
18 The Ottobar, Baltimore, MD*
19 The Ottobar, Baltimore, MD*
20 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA*
21 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA*
22 Highline, New York, NY*
23 Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY*
25 Harpers Ferry, Boston, MA*
26 Harpers Ferry, Boston, MA*
27 Crocodile Rock, Allentown, PA*
28 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH*
29 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH*
SEPTEMBER
4 Revelation Generation @ Revelation Farms, Frenchtown, NJ**
* headline dates
** major outdoor festivals
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tdwp
Twitter: http://twitter.com/tdwpband
About the Author
