Posted on: April 10, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

In preparation for the late-April release of their debut album, Summer of Hate, San Diego’s Crocodiles will be embarking on an extensive US tour next week. After several shows in Austin during SXSW, the band will be on the road until mid-May, including three weeks of dates opening for The Faint. Summer of Hate, recorded over the winter of 2008, will be released by Fat Possum on April 28th, 2009.

For the uninitiated, Crocodiles songs began slinging across the Interweb after their friends in No Age named the band’s song “Neon Jesus” as one of their Top Ten shredders of 2008. Unprompted, the forward-thinking Fader Blog posted two more stunner tracks, “I Wanna Kill” and “Summer of Hate.“ Stereogum recently named them Band to Watch and described them as “The Velvet Underground swinging Jesus and Mary Chain.” Really though, Crocodiles are just a great new rock duo hollering some fine tunes.

San Diego is a sleepy military town, stuck between Tijuana and the bright lights of Los Angeles, but this isn’t Surf City, USA. The beaches may be home to students and tanners, but they’re also home to Hell’s Angels, jocks, drug casualties, and the medicated rich. Warplanes rumble in and out of the naval base, and as in countless American cities, the kids here are bored.

Charles Rowell and Brandon Welchez met as teenagers amidst this overwhelming feeling of emptiness. Playing in various groups since then, the duo struck out on their own as Crocodiles in April of 2008. They quickly self-released a 7″ single and used it as an excuse to escape their tar pit hometown, first touring up and down the west coast and then venturing across the whole of the US. Summer Of Hate is born of the same alienation and frustration that fueled Charles’ and Brandon’s initial pairing. Poppy vocal melodies are crushed with harsh electronic drums or lifted and left floating in spaced-out noise and echo. Loud, wiry guitars jab wildly like mutant synapses skirting along a tightrope drone.

This is the dark side of the California sun.

CROCODILES TOUR DATES

Apr 10 2009: The Turf Club – St. Paul, Minnesota

Apr 13 2009: Empty Bottle – Chicago, Illinois

Apr 14 2009: Beachland Tavern – Cleveland, Ohio

Apr 15 2009: Sonar – Baltimore, Maryland*

Apr 17 2009: Orange Peel – Asheville, North Carolina*

Apr 18 2009: Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, Georgia*

Apr 20 2009: Warehouse Live – Houston, Texas*

Apr 21 2009: Stubb’s – Austin, Texas*

Apr 22 2009: Granada – Dallas, Texas*

Apr 24 2009: Rialto Theater – Tucson, Arizona*

Apr 25 2009: The Grove – Anaheim, California*

Apr 26 2009: Henry Fonda Theater – Los Angeles, California*

Apr 27 2009: Henry Fonda Theater – Los Angeles, California*

Apr 29 2009: The Fillmore – San Francisco, California*

Apr 30 2009: The Fillmore – San Francisco, California*

May 01 2009: Roseland – Portland, Oregon*

May 02 2009: Showbox – Seattle, Washington*

May 05 2009: Ogden Theatre – Denver, Colorado*

May 11 2009: The Casbah – San Diego, California**

May 16 2009: Spaceland – Los Angeles, California &

^With Asobi Seksu

*With The Faint And Ladytron

**With Spectrum

&With Magick Daggers & Blue Jungle

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