The Aristocrats

What happens after the world’s most raucous rock/fusion instrumental power trio releases a concept album about an Antarctic duck fleeing a penguin policeman all the way to New York City, where further misadventures and danger await? They launch the DUCK Tour, of course. The Aristocrats - Guthrie Govan/guitar, Bryan Beller/bass, Marco Minnemann/drums - bring their trademark musical virtuosity and inherent absurdity to stages across North America, where they’ll be playing (and perhaps even explaining) a sizeable chunk of their new album DUCK as well as classic cuts from their five-album catalogue. The DUCK North American tour kicks off in Monterrey, Mexico on July 2nd and runs through the end of August. Please see below for the itinerary, with more dates to be added. Click here to purchase tickets.

Of the upcoming tour, The Aristocrats’ guitarist Guthrie Govan commented, “Our new concept album tells the tale of a Duck who travels thousands of miles from his home on a small island and ultimately finds himself in the US…As the sole UK-based member of The Aristocrats, I’m particularly looking forward to retracing his anatine steps this summer!"

The band recently wrapped an exclusive run of headlining tour dates on the west coast of the United States (the “Duckling” tour) around the album’s release. All dates were sold out. Drummer Marco Minnemann added, “It was exciting experiencing the great response and equally great fun we had taking our newest ‘Duck’ material briefly out on the road for a test drive. I cannot express more how much I look forward to presenting our most recent offerings to all of you wonderful people around the globe.”

The DUCK saga is being documented via The Aristocrats’ website…bassist Bryan Beller expounded, "It's a novel concept, to be sure - an instrumental concept album about a wayward duck. The music gives some hints, but also leaves a lot to the imagination. So, for the curious who want to dig deeper into our duck's journey, we thought it would be fun to provide a nine-chapter novella, with each chapter correlating to a song on the album. Can he find his way home again?” Click here to access the tale, which will publish episodically in the coming months.

The Aristocrats’ concept album, DUCK, is out now. Of DUCK, Guitar World avowed it to be “…a treat on the guitar front…” noting, “…we extend a warm welcome back to The Aristocrats…” Metal Injection declared, “One of the Earth’s mightiest virtuoso trios has returned to make you feel terrible about your musical abilities…Just an all around fun ride…” DUCK is available in both standard and deluxe edition formats as well as 180-gram double vinyl via BOING Music, distributed via Hostile City Distro/MVD in North America, and will also be available via all streaming services as of next month, May.

Over the past 12 years, The Aristocrats – guitarist Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson, Hans Zimmer, Asia/GPS), bassist Bryan Beller (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dethklok), and drummer Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani, Steve Hackett) – have established themselves as one of the most musically original, refreshingly irreverent, and astoundingly entertaining instrumental rock-fusion acts on the planet. Global media have gushed with the UK’s Rhythm Magazine declaring them “More fun than fusion has a right to be…” and The San Diego Union Tribune avowing, “If there is a more accomplished, empathetic and versatile all-instrumental trio in rock than The Aristocrats, I’ve yet to hear them…”

The buzz from their supposedly one-off debut gig at the Anaheim NAMM show in 2011 led to The Aristocrats self-titled debut album. Tracked in just eight days, THE ARISTOCRATS (2011) was hailed as an instant classic in leading music publications worldwide, appearing on many of that year’s top ten lists. The Aristocrats then proceeded to make three more critically acclaimed studio albums over the next decade, two of which landed in the Billboard Top 10 Jazz Chart. (Jazz? Ok, sure.) Four world tours and three live albums later, the band is known on five continents as a must-see whirlwind musical experience.