The Beths – Straight Line Was A Lie
The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist/guitarist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — release their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie, today on ANTI-.
The band celebrated earlier this week with sold out record release shows at Bowery Ballroom in New York City (with comedian Marcia Belsky) and Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles, where comedian Margaret Cho opened the evening.
The path from The Beths’ critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before.
With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.
Next month, The Beths will embark on their world tour starting in the UK and Europe. Come October, they’ll headline some of their biggest venues to date in the U.S, including The Wiltern in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Salt Shed in Chicago, Brooklyn Paramount in New York City, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and more.
The Beths Tour Dates:
Wed. Sept. 17 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory !
Thu. Sept. 18 – Dublin, IE @ Button Factory ! [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Sept. 20 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall !
Sun. Sept. 21 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio !
Mon. Sept. 22 – Leeds, UK @ Project House !
Wed. Sept. 24 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy !
Thu. Sept. 25 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO !
Fri. Sept. 26 – London, UK @ Roundhouse !
Sat. Sept. 27 – Brighton, UK @ CHALK !
Mon. Sept. 29 – Tourcoing, FR @ Le Grand Mix !
Tue. Sept. 30 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo !
Wed. Oct. 1 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique !
Fri. Oct. 3 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine !
Sat. Oct. 4 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso !
Sun. Oct. 5 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust !
Tue. Oct. 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan !
Wed. Oct. 8 Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret Scene !
Thu. Oct. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset !
Sat. Oct. 11 – Berlin, DE @ Lido !
Sun. Oct. 12 – Munich, DE @ Strom !
Mon. Oct. 13 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza !
Wed. Oct. 15 – Barcelona, ES @ Razzmatazz 2 !
Thu. Oct. 16 – Madrid, ES @ Nazca !
Fri. Oct. 17 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV !
Thu. Oct. 30 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel*
Fri. Oct. 31 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Sat. Nov 1 – Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl *
Mon. Nov. 3 – Dallas, TX @ The Studio At The Bomb Factory *
Tue. Nov. 4 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
Thu. Nov. 6 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren *
Fri. Nov. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern * ^
Sat. Nov. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore * [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Nov. 9 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore *
Wed. Nov. 12 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades *
Fri. Nov. 14 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
Sat. Nov. 15 – Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 16 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Tue. Nov. 18 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Wed. Nov. 19 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 21 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman *
Sat. Nov. 22 – St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre *
Sun. Nov. 23 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed (Indoor) * +
Tue. Nov 25 – Cleveland, OH @ Globe Iron *
Wed. Nov. 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre *
Fri. Nov. 27 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall *
Fri. Nov. 28 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall * [SOLD OUT]
Sat. Nov. 29 – Montreal, QC @ Beanfield Theatre *
Mon. Dec. 1 – Boston, MA @ Royale *
Tue. Dec. 2 – Boston, MA @ Royale * [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Dec. 3 – Providence, RI @ Fete Music Hall *
Fri. Dec. 5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount * #
Sat. Dec. 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer * [SOLD OUT]
Sun. Dec. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Tue. Dec. 9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club * [SOLD OUT]
Wed. Dec. 10 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club * [SOLD OUT]
! w/ Dateline
* w/ Phoebe Rings
^ w/ Bret McKenzie
+ w/ Squirrel Flower
# w/ illuminati hotties
#thebeths