Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck are reviving their supergroup Filthy Friends for a new album out May 3 via Kill Rock Stars. Titled Emerald Valley, the record follows 2016’s debut, Invitation, and sees the duo team up once again with The Minus 5’s Scott McCaughey and The Fastbacks’ Kurt Bloch while bringing in new drummer Linda Pitmon. The band has shared the record’s ripping lead single “Last Chance County,” which was written by Tucker. She told Rolling Stone this about the song:
“It’s about a teenage girl riding the bus through a depressed Northwest town in the 1980s, a version of myself and the frustration I saw there. Riding the bus to work, I saw people struggling to make ends meet and make sense of their lives. It’s disheartening that 30 years later, the struggle for working people might be even greater.”
The title, Emerald Valley, is taken from the nickname for her hometown of Eugene, Oregon. “It’s a beautiful, green, lush valley filled with hippies, yuppies, loggers, farmers, migrant workers all trying to make a life for themselves,” she says. “We try and paint a picture of that for people.” Filthy Friends will tour behind the new album, with a kickoff show in Seattle on Thursday, May 9.
Since the last Filthy Friends record, Tucker and Buck have both been busy – Tucker working on a new St. Vincent-produced Sleater-Kinney record and Buck releasing the debut album from his collaborative project with Joseph Arthur, Arthur Buck, last year.
Listen to “Last Chance County” and watch Filthy Friends’ 2017 KEXP in-studio performance below.
The legendary R.E.M. guitarist discusses collaborating with Joseph Arthur and the choices he’s made to make room for hope in his life.
The fourth annual Project Pabst descended upon the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland over the last weekend of August. Since its inception, the festival has been set like a variety jukebox arrangement one would listen to over a few cold beers or, in this case, cold PBRs. Yet, the best quality a…
With so many indie rock legends on one stage, you wouldn't be faulted for being a little overwhelmed during Filthy Friends' set at the Mural Stage during Day One of the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. The band boasts -- deep breath -- Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, The F…
