Filter mainman Richard Patrick says he’d rather write about real issues affecting the world than Adele and Justin Timberlake’s brand of “sugary pop.”
The band will launch their seventh album Crazy Eyes on April 8 via Wind-Up Records. And Patrick says he wanted to be “strange, weird and heavy” on the record and tackle issues including the 2015 Ferguson race riots.
He tells Loud: “The record is about the hysteria that I see in the world. We’ve got riots up here, we’ve got cops shooting black people while they’re running away in the back. We’ve got all kinds of stuff going on, and it’s not right.
“Listen, Justin Timberlake, Adele and all those people are singing about how lovesick they are. They’ve got love songs and the sugary pop stuff down. So I’m going to let them do that and I’m going to be the exact opposite, and be strange, weird and heavy, and fucking dig a deeper hole for myself. Because I’d rather be underground and real than full of shit.”
He says album track Nothing In My Hands was directly inspired by the 2014 death of Eric Garner, who died after police approached the 43-year-old and put him in a chokehold for selling illegal cigarettes. It was reported at the time that Garner had raised both hands and told police not to touch him.
Patrick adds: “It was written when the Ferguson riots were under way, and there was a video of a guy being strangled to death for selling single cigarettes on the streets of New York.
“He didn’t want to be harassed by the cops, and he resisted, because he’s like, ‘I don’t want to go to jail for selling one cigarette.’ He resisted, which you can never do, and they strangled him – he had a heart attack and he died.
“It’s like, over what? And that’s the thing. There’s a systemic, racist thing that’s happening in America, and it’s with the advent of cell phone videos and people with cameras that you can see this stuff.”
Filter head out on a North America tour next month.
Filter Crazy Eyes tracklist
- Mother E
- Nothing In My Hands
- Pride Flag
- The City Of Blinding Riots
- Take Me To Heaven
- Welcome To The Suck (Destiny Not Luck)
- Head Of Fire
- Tremors
- Kid Blue From The Short Bus, Drunk Bunk
- You Bullets
- Under The Tongue
- (Can’t She See) Head Of Fire Pt 2
Filter 2016 tour dates
Apr 13:San Francisco Slim’s, CA
Apr 15: Portland Dante’s, OR
Apr 16: Vancouver Venue, BC
Apr 17: Seattle Studio Seven, WA
Apr 20: Minneapolis Mill City Nights, MN
Apr 21: Arlington Heights Home Bar, IL
Apr 22: Cleveland Agora Theatre And Ballroom, OH
Apr 23: Pontiac The Crofoot Ballroom, MI
Apr 24: Toronto The Opera House, ON
Apr 26: Philadelphia Theatre Of Living Arts, PA
Apr 27: Boston The Middle East, MA
Apr 28: Amityville Revolution Bar & Music Hall, NY
Apr 29: Virginia Beach Shaka’s, VA
Apr 30: Jacksonville Monster Energy Welcome To Rockville, FL
May 01: Atlanta The Masquerade, GA
May 03: New York Gramercy Theatre, NY
May 04: Washington The Howard Theatre, DC
May 05: Knoxville The International, TN
May 06: Concord Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion, NC
May 07: Athens Georgia Theatre, GA
May 08: Nashville Exit/In, TN
May 10: Houston House Of Blues, TX
May 11: San Antonio The Aztec Theatre, TX
May 12: Dallas Gas Monkey Bar & Grill, TX
May 13: Tulsa Cain’s Ballroom, OK
May 14: Lincoln Bourbon Theatre, NE
May 15: Denver Herman’s Hideaway, CO
May 17: Tempe Marquee Theatre, AZ
May 18: Las Vegas Brooklyn Bowl, NV
May 19: San Diego House Of Blues, CA
May 20: Pomona The Glasshouse, CA
May 21: West Hollywood The Roxy Theatre, CA
