Alt-rock icons the Spin Doctors released new album Face Full of Cake, their first LP in 12 years and their first on Capitol Records. They’re also sharing the light-hearted roller derby-inspired video for new single “Boombox,” the album’s punchy opening track which harkens back to classic Spin Doctors with its infectious energy, hard-hitting guitar and the unmistakable staccato vocal stylings of lead singer Chris Barron.
On the new music video, Barron shares, “We got back with Rich Murray who did the ‘Two Princes’ video and went to Asbury Park where we recorded the record. We were going for the vibe of that TikTok with the guy drinking Ocean Spray on a skateboard to that Fleetwood Mac tune, but it blossomed into its own story with a thrift store and roller derby chicks. And Rich managed to make the band look really cool.”
Ahead of the band’s release show at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl tomorrow, they appeared on Pix11’s New York Living. This summer, they’ll play a four-night residency at Park City’s Egyptian Theatre, appear at major festivals like Boston Calling, Bourbon & Beyond and Oceans Calling and hit the road for a tour with Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms. For a full list of shows, please see below or visit spindoctors.com.
“Boombox” follows a series of pre-release singles including “Still A Gorilla”, which garnered praise from Relix, Ultimate Classic Rock and Rolling Stone who praised the song’s “marauding fuzzed-out riff.” The upcoming LP marks their first with new bass player Jack Daley who joined the band full-time in 2021. Recorded in Asbury Park, the fabled incubating ground of Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band’s epic, Born To Run, Spin Doctors cut Face Full Of Cake by the wintry shores of New Jersey, cloistered in the creative atmosphere of Daley’s studio Dug Deep Productions. Engineered and mixed by Grammy Award winning maestro, Roman Klun, the album features a combination of the easy-going hook-forward songs and freewheeling jam sensibilities they’ve always exhibited with bluesy funk flavor and straightforward rock’n’roll.
“The takes you hear on Face Full Of Cake are the first couple of times we’d played these songs together,” shares drummer Aaron Comess. “There’s an ease and freshness to these tracks because you can hear us basically hearing them for the first time. Even in this current time of short attention spans and short social media posts, we wanted to make an eclectic record meant to be listened to from top to bottom.”
Guitarist Eric Schenkman adds: “It was a really low pressure kind of situation. We weren’t expected to produce ‘THE record,’ and we were enjoying the time, enjoying each other, and the record’s just got a free wheeling, truthful, fun, engaged kind of vibe to it and it’s getting this really great reaction.”
Formed in 1988 in New York City, Spin Doctors’ full-length 1991 debut Pocket Full of Kryptonite sold over ten million copies across the world and spawned two massive singles: “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” which reached number two on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, and the now ubiquitous Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten hit “Two Princes,” which was the No. 1 Rock radio hit of 1993 and was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group at the GRAMMYs. They’ve appeared on SNL, played major festivals like Glastonbury and opened for The Rolling Stones. And after three decades and nearly two thousand shows, Spin Doctors remain as committed as ever.
