AFI’s DAVEY HAVOK and JADE PUGET Announce BLAQK AUDIO’s “The Material Tour”

AFI's DAVEY HAVOK and JADE PUGET Announce BLAQK AUDIO's "The Material Tour"

Los Angeles, CA (February 29, 2016) – DAVEY HAVOK and JADE PUGET have announced a string of live shows for their electronic alter ego, BLAQK AUDIO. The dates will begin May 4th at the House of Blues in San Diego, CA, in support of Blaqk Audio’s new album MATERIAL, which is set for an April 15th release through Blaqknoise/Kobalt. They’ll be joined on the tour by indie band Night Riots.

The duo recently gave fans a preview of the record with lead track “Anointed,” which can be watched below. Fans can get “Anointed” as an instant download by clicking HERE to pre-order MATERIAL on iTunes.

Produced and recorded by Puget, MATERIAL is Blaqk Audio’s third release following 2012’s Bright Black Heaven and 2007’s Cexcells.

Though best known for their work with multi-platinum rock band AFI, Havok and Puget’s shared love of electronic music runs deep. Havok, who counts Devo’s Freedom of Choice and Duran Duran’s self-titled debut among the first albums he owned, saw his tastes evolve over the years from the synth pop of Erasure and Pet Shop Boys to Depeche Mode and ultimately to the heavier, darker Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Front 242 and Lords of Acid. Later, Havok immersed himself in the “futurepop” genre, which combined dark dance-y electronica with melodic vocals. From roughly 1999 to 2003, his contemporary musical diet consisted almost exclusively of artists falling under the industrial/ebm/futurepop/bigbeat/trance umbrella.

In an interview with influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ, Havok talked about the differences between Blaqk Audio and AFI: “Blaqk Audio is pure electronica whereas AFI uses organic instruments,” says Havok. AFI has drums and bass and guitar and there’s none of that in Blaqk Audio.”

Puget shared his bandmate’s long-standing love of electronic music, beginning with a passion for Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Ministry, Squarepusher, Nitzer Ebb, and Front 242, spending a great deal of time programming electronic music, which in turn led to a plan to start an entirely electronic side project: no organic instruments, just synths, keyboards, drum machines, and software.

“Being huge music fans and fundamentally driven by music in a creative sense, BA is a wonderful outlet for our long-standing love of electronic music,” says Havok. “Were it not for BA, I’d still be writing this type of music, even if it never saw the light of day.”

The tour will see them playing music from all three Blaqk Audio releases. Dates are as follows (with additional shows TBA):

Date Venue City
May 4 House of Blues San Diego, CA
May 5 Observatory Santa Ana, CA
May 6 Troubadour Los Angeles, CA
May 7 Ace of Spades Sacramento, CA
May 10 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
May 11 Croc Seattle, WA
May 13 In The Venue Salt Lake City, UT
May 14 Bluebird Denver, CO
May 16 Turf Club Saint Paul, MN
May 17 Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL
May 18 Mod Club Toronto, ON
May 20 Sinclair Cambridge, MA
May 21 U Street Music Hall Washington, DC
May 22 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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