Flobots
/Denver, CO – Alternative hip-hop band Flobots release a new track, “Handle Your Bars,” in response to YouTuber Logan Paul’s song, “No Handebars,” which lifts its hook -- but not its message -- from Flobots’ platinum hit song “Handlebars.”
Lyrically, Logan Paul’s version of the song drastically diverges from a core value of Flobots’ - empowerment. With this in mind, Flobots felt compelled to respond – in song. “Handle Your Bars” is a searing track – smart and quick and bringing the conversation back to what matters. Jonny5 states, “To see our song used this way, especially against the backdrop of a national conversation about respect for women, we felt a duty to speak up.”
Flobots, who recently returned from the West Coast leg of their RISE + SHINE Tour, will play a special hometown New Year’s Eve show at Denver’s Marquis Theater on December 31st. Tickets are on sale now at www.flobots.com.
in support of their recently released fourth album, NOENEMIES. The RISE + SHINE Tour is Flobots’ call to action, set to remind us that the division and negativity that currently dominate the national conversation is not in the spirit of human nature – that our true potential is much more positive and welcoming. Flobots’ RISE + SHINE Tour offers the opportunity to elevate above the rhetoric and come together for a night of music and connection. Flobots state, “The music on our album NOENEMIES is about our power to see each other more fully. We find that there’s nothing better for the soul than meeting people face to face. We cannot wait to hit the road.”
Flobots’ second leg of the RISE + SHINE Tour kicks off on January 9th, 2018 in Omaha, NE and brings the band’s politically charged live show to major cities such as Chicago, New York and Philadelphia before wrapping up on January 28th in Kansas City, MO. Special guests Tropidelic and McLovins support Flobots for select 2018 dates. The complete list of shows is included below, with tickets on sale now at www.flobots.com
Flobots’ recent album NOENEMIES (released May 2017) is, without question, Flobots’ most ambitious and sophisticated statement to date - both lyrically and musically. Funded entirely by a Kickstarter campaign that garnered $31,000 over its goal, the music on NOENEMIES is undeniably Flobots music, but it’s also assuredly music made by artists who have matured and expanded their horizons. The release was highly-anticipated by fans and critics alike -- NOENEMIES shot up the Billboard Independent Album chart, where it debuted at #12.
Influenced by stories shared by the late Dr. Vincent Harding, a Southern Freedom Movement historian and professor and longtime band friend and mentor, and inspired by the band’s recent grassroots community work hosting workshops, classes and keynote speeches about using collective song to build social movements, NOENEMIES is a body of songs that speak to the urgency of the current moment.
Each of the tracks on NOENEMIES serves as a powerful, poignant new anthem, many packed with surprises both subtle and grand. Taken as a whole, the album is enormous in breadth, enveloping and electrically charged, befitting of the finely crafted, carefully chosen words. NOENEMIES virtually begs the listener to delve and to contemplate, to share and revel.
From the beginning, Flobots’ sound defied categorization. Weaving conscious hip-hop lyrics and classical viola solos over live instrumentation, their anthems captured attention from all directions. When Flobots first catapulted onto the global scene in 2008 with their platinum single ‘Handlebars’ from their first album release Fight With Tools, it was the fastest charting song debut by a new artist in 10 years. Released during the frenzy of that year’s election, the band’s call to envision “another America” resonated with a generation experiencing a sense of profound political and social awakening. In a span of months, Flobots went from playing at local clubs to selling out tours internationally, performing on late-night television, signing a major label record deal, and receiving constant rotation on alternative radio.
Now, a decade later and with three critically acclaimed albums under their belt, Flobots are still dedicated to creating and performing anthems for a better world. And in 2017, amidst a nation taking to the streets, for Flobots that means delivering a unique brand of protest songs. Enter NOENEMIES - bringing the songs back to the people.
