As summer returns, so too will Los Angeles’s psych/surf rockers Allah-Las for a blissfully timed Australian tour this December. Armed with songs from their upcoming album, the band will play seven shows around the country – from Brunswick Heads to Perth.
Friday December 1 – Hotel Brunswick, Brunswick Heads, NSW
Saturday December 2 – Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta, QLD
Sunday December 3 – Seasonal Fruit, Brisbane, QLD
Wednesday December 6 – Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday December 7 – Metro Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Friday December 8 – Estonian House, Adelaide, SA
Sunday December 10 – Freo.Social, Perth, WA
For the last 15 years, Allah-Las have alchemically melded surf rock washes with folk rock jangle and rock, cultivating a sound from the annals of California culture. Across four hazy albums, Allah-Las has captured the melodies and moods of the sand, sea and everything in between.
Last in Australia in February 2020 right before the world shutdown, it’s only fitting Allah-Las return with their new album, Zuma 85, crafted during the two years of downtime that followed.
Zuma 85 signals the start of a new era for Allah-Las and finds the band reinventing itself in defiance of the algorithmic categorization and robotic sterility. Recorded in the midst of the shift from the Old World to whatever branch of reality we’re on now, it’s a return, too: The album will be released October 13 on their own label, Calico Discos, in partnership with Innovative Leisure, which released early defining statements like Allah-Las (2012) and Worship The Sun (2014).
A lot has changed since the members of Allah-Las first bonded over psych rock vinyl in the back room at Amoeba Records where they worked in the late aughts. Zuma 85 finds the quartet departing familiar beachy territory for off the map expanses with a wealth of new sounds, drawing from an eclectic mix of progressive rock, prog, kosmische, and Eno-esque art rock, scuzzy Royal Trux riffs, and detouring into tones and textures that call to mind ‘90s and 2000s pop. The band have offered a taste of what’s to come via new singles ‘The Stuff’ and ‘Zuma 85’.
If you want to see Allah-Las this summer, be advised to buy tickets quickly as their last two Australian tours were met with huge demand.