Versatile Toronto post-hardcore band F*cked Up have never done things the standard way, playing 12-hour marathon shows, releasing more than 40 7″ singles on various labels and freely mixing elements of disparate genres into their basic hardcore punk-meets-shoegaze template.
Their latest album, “David Comes to Life” (Matador Records), is a sprawling 80+ minute rock opera about a man named David losing the love of his young life to a fatal accident in an imaginary Northern British industrial town. The first single, “The Other Shoe,” was a HitFix song of the day. The video that accompanies the album’s latest single, “Queen of Hearts,” also eschews traditional expectations, and appears to be tied into the project’s overarching narrative.
Directed by Scott Cudmore (who has helmed videos for Hidden Cameras and Sloan), the clip features a school teacher leading her class, divided by gender, through an interpretation of the loud love songs’ blisteringly wordy verses set to a beat up old stereo. The rendition begins with the boys screaming the words ala F*cked Up frontman Damian Abraham, and leads up to the females of the class singing back, in the style of album guest Madeline Follin (of the band Cults). The studio version of the song is never properly heard. The background offers a gloomy view of a far-off industrial setting, most likely the light bulb factory in which David works.
Now imagine those words being screamed by a shirtless 300-lbs. bald guy (possibly bleeding) backed by three very loud guitars, and you can see why they’re not to be missed in a live setting.
Here are the band’s upcoming tour dates:
Thu 23 June – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 (with Dinosaur Jr and OFF!)
Fri 24 June – Boston, MA @ Royale
Sun 26 June – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
Mon 27 June – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Tue 28 June – Raleigh, NC @ King’s Barcade
Wed 29 June – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Thu 30 June – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
Fri 01 July – St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
Sat 02 July – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Sun 03 July – London, ON @ Call the Office
Fri 22 July – Seattle, WA Capitol Hill Block Party
Sat 23 July – Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Mon 25 July – San Francisco, CA The Independent
Tue 26 July – Los Angeles, CA El Rey
Wed 27 July – San Diego, CA The Casbah
Sat 30 July – Montreal, QC Osheaga Festival
Tue 09 August – Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre (opening for the Foo Fighters)
Wed 10 August – Montreal, QC Bell Centre (opening for the Foo Fighters)