WARRIOR SOUL will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its “The Space Age Playboys” album by embarking on an eight-date U.K. tour this summer.
WARRIOR SOUL states: “These shows are going to be epic.
“If high-energy rock ‘n’ roll is your thing, then this is a show not to be missed.
“Not only will the band play ‘Space Age Playboys’, but expect a few other classics thrown in the mix.”
Tour dates:
July 10 – Bannermans – Edinburgh
July 11 – Waterloo – Blackpool
July 12 – Cart & Horses – London
July 13 – Bootleggers – Nottingham
July 14 – The Victora – Coalville
July 15 – [to be announced]
July 17 – Trillian – Newcastle
July 18 – [to be announced] – Glasgow
In 2005, “The Space Age Playboys” was ranked No. 323 in Rock Hard magazine’s book of “The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums Of All Time.”
METALLICA‘s Lars Ulrich has repeatedly praised “The Space Age Playboys” as one of his favorite albums, telling “The Metallica Report” in a 2023 interview: “WARRIOR SOUL is underappreciated. The record that I go back to, but a lot of their early stuff is all great, but there’s an intensity and a vibe around ‘The Space Age Playboys’ album that came out, I think, around — what? — ’94, give or take a year, and songs like ‘Rocket Engines’, ‘Let’s Get Wasted’, ‘The Pretty Faces’, ‘Rotten Soul’, ‘Fightin’ The War’, ‘The Drug’ — all these songs are incredible. There’s a sound and a vibe on that record that still perseveres close to 30 years later, and there’s an energy in that record and right in that zone between hard rock, heavy metal, but a lot of punk attitude and a lot of kind of not giving a shit and the two-finger salute and really kind of rebellious contrarian energy that that record in particular sounds as fresh today as it did a couple, three decades ago when it came out. I started going down the rabbit hole of YouTube live videos and found a clip from London where they were playing in a big club theater where they were playing…. The last one I was looking at was ‘Let’s Get Wasted’, which is such a great track. The sync was a little off, but the music and the energy was definitely much appreciated.”
Ulrich previously discussed his love of WARRIOR SOUL in a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone about his 15 favorite metal and hard rock albums, including “The Space Age Playboys”. Lars said: “WARRIOR SOUL started off on Geffen Records and had the same management as us. We played a bunch of shows with them. They were dropped by Geffen, and this record came out independently in ’94.
“If you put on ‘Rocket Engines’, it fucking starts frenetic — it’s heavy, it’s punky, it’s energetic. Kory Clarke, the lead singer, spits out word after word, attitude after attitude, memorable lyric line after lyric line, and it never lets up for a fucking hour or however long the record is. It just does not stop.
“On the early records, he got a little political. He’s talking about Native Americans, he’s talking about Charlie Manson, and he’s talking about the oppressed. But on this record, it almost got punky. It was this weird fusion between punky and a little early New York glam rock, almost like [NEW YORK] DOLLS, STOOGES type of thing. If you’ve not heard this record, I would encourage you to find this record and check it out as soon as possible.”
WARRIOR SOUL formed in 1988 by Clarke, guitarist John Ricco, bassist Pete McLanahan and drummer Paul Ferguson. Often cited as one of the most underrated bands of the time, they were signed to Geffen Records from 1989 to 1994. “Space Age Playboys” was released on the independent Music For Nations, but the band disbanded within the year. “Odds & Ends” was released the next year as a posthumous collection of demos and outtakes. Also in 1996 Clarke went on to front a short-lived band called SPACE AGE PLAYBOYS. In 2006, Escapi re-released WARRIOR SOUL‘s back catalog. All tracks on all albums were remixed and remastered.