"Heartfelt and exhilarating" — Ones to Watch
"Without question, it's the most anthemic they've ever sounded" — Metal Hammer
"A definitive conclusion to the band's remarkable first era" — Kerrang!
Gold-selling, billion-streaming rock band BEARTOOTH — Caleb Shomo, vocals; Zach Huston, guitars; Will Deely, guitars; Oshie Bichar, bass; and Connor Denis, drums — released their fifth album The Surface on Friday, October 13 via Red Bull Records. Get it here.
Also, watch the video for "I Was Alive," which Shomo says is "about the fact that none of this lasts forever and we get one ride on this crazy journey we're on, so we've got to give it everything we've got,".
Like its predecessors, The Surface is an intensely personal and powerful journey for Shomo, who has never shied away from sharing his demons in his music and with his fans. However, the frontman has turned a corner with a more optimistic outlook and demonstrates exceptional growth as both an artist and a human being through the songs that comprise the album.
"This album is the end of the story of a very important decade of my life and that was my 20s," the frontman shares. "It's been very up and down, sometimes more down than up. But as of right now, I have decided that since life is short, I want to focus on the positives. Sometimes all you need is some hard work to show you what you need to do with your life to be happy. Hopefully this album can inspire people to take control of their own lives in any way they desire."
The album has been one of the most successful of the band's already impressive career, with the four pre-release tracks accumulating 65 million total streams and ascending the radio charts. "Might Love Myself" continues to climb and is currently at #8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock National Airplay and #6 on the Top 40 Active Rock charts.
Additionally, Beartooth have announced an extensive North American headline tour to precede their EU/UK dates next fall. They'll hit the road with The Plot In You, Invent Animate, and Sleep Theory from January to March, bringing the new record to over 40 cities across North America. Global dates are below. Get tickets here, with the North American pre-sale kicking off today and general sale on Friday, October 20.
"I cannot wait to get back on tour and play a bunch of new songs for a bunch of amazing fans. We get to take out three awesome bands doing great things for the scene. We're gonna play loud, hot, and fast, and serve up all the new stuff like you've never seen before," says Shomo.
The band will also appear at the 2024 edition of ShipRocked.
BEARTOOTH 2024 WORLD TOUR:
NORTH AMERICAN SUPPORT: THE PLOT IN YOU, INVENT ANIMATE, + SLEEP THEORY:
1/12 — Cincinnati, OH — Andrew J. Brady Center
1/13 — Asheville, NC — Orange Peel
1/14 — Louisville, KY — Mercury Ballroom
1/16 — Detroit, MI — Royal Oak
1/17 — Buffalo, NY — Town Ballroom
1/19 — Toronto, ON — History
1/20 — Montreal, QC — M Telus
1/21 — Boston, MA — House of Blues
1/23 — Philadelphia, PA — Franklin Music Hall
1/24 — Pittsburgh, PA — Roxian
1/26 — New York, NY — Palladium Times Square
1/27 — Baltimore, MD — Rams Head
1/28 — Norfolk, VA — The NorVa
1/30 — Atlanta, GA — Tabernacle
1/31 — Charlotte, NC — The Fillmore
2/2 — Charleston, SC — Charleston Music Hall
2/3 — Orlando, FL — House of Blues
2/4 - 2/10 — Shiprocked
2/11 — Tampa, FL — Jannus
2/13 — Huntsville, AL — Mars Music Hall
2/14 — New Orleans, LA — House of Blues
2/15 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall
2/17 — San Antonio, TX — Boeing Center at Tech Port
2/18 — Dallas, TX — House of Blues
2/20 — Phoenix, AZ — Van Buren
2/21 — San Diego, CA — Soma
2/22 — Los Angeles, CA — The Wiltern
2/24 — Sacramento, CA — Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
2/25 — Portland, OR — Crystal Ballroom
2/27 — Seattle, WA — Showbox SoDo
2/28 — Spokane, WA — Knitting Factory
3/1 — Boise, ID — Knitting Factory
3/2 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Complex
3/3 — Denver, CO — The Fillmore
3/5 — Fargo, ND — Sanctuary Events Center
3/6 — St. Paul, MN — Myth Live
3/8 — Chicago, IL — Riviera
3/9 — Madison, WI — The Sylvee
3/10 — Sauget, IL — Pop's
3/12 — Indianapolis, IN — Egyptian Room at Old National Center
3/13 — Nashville, TN — Marathon Music Works
3/14 — Fort Wayne, IN — The Clyde Theater
ABOUT BEARTOOTH:
Caleb Shomo first turned the pain of his struggle with mental health and self-image into music in 2013. Beartooth began as a living document, a diary, a journal of repressed rage and depression. Alone in his basement studio, screaming and singing, playing all the instruments, and self-producing a batch of furious but melodic songs filled with reflection and confession, the Ohio native stared into the abyss, initially with no intention of returning to the heavy music world that burned him as a teen. A decade later, the different pieces of his body of work connect in title, sound, and spirit. As the frontman hits 30, Beartooth’s fifth album, he Surface, completes this era in 2023. Even more importantly, it kicks off a new chapter filled with surprising optimism and just as honest. Depression is a sick, disgusting, aggressive disease below the surface. Shomo stands ready to bask in the light.
Like Nine Inch Nails, Beartooth remains a one-person band in the studio. On the heels of the introductory Sick EP (2013), Disgusting (2014) produced the band's first Gold single, "In Between." Aggressive (2016) and Disease (2018) expanded on the desperation and pain, each a step closer to a balance between the blood and tears of classic recordings and the shimmer of modernity.
Rolling Stone heralded Beartooth as one of 10 Artists You Need to Know. The rabid response to Shomo's music demonstrated how many people related to his struggle for self-acceptance. Below (2021) topped the Rock and Alternative charts and several Best Rock/Metal Albums of the Year lists. As of 2023, the Beartooth catalog boasts more than 1 billion streams across all platforms.
Beartooth began as both bomb and balm, an outright refusal to suffer in silence, weaponizing radio-ready bombast, delivering raw emotion mixed with noise-rock chaos. Other bands play the "devastating riffs and catchy hooks" game, but this music is the difference between life and death, and now, a sort of life after death while still here. The band Forbes sees "inching towards a tipping point of becoming the latest arena headliner" is now one step closer
