starset 2019 divisions

Starset find personality and purpose with anthemic ‘DIVISIONS’—listen

As a civilization, we’ve come too far along to just require our bands to be able to simply “rock out, man.” Sci-fi rockers Starset realize this, which is why the term “half gestures” isn’t in their vocabulary. Anticipation is high for the release of their new album DIVISIONS and it’s more than just empty hype. Frontman/chief conceptualist Dustin Bates—who is a PhD candidate in a science-related discipline in addition to having an impressive vocal range—has made sure that every aspect of his band’s art has purpose, personality and most importantly power

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Since their 2013 beginnings in Columbus, Ohio, Starset have tirelessly pursued an aesthetic that’s based more on science than fiction. But despite the number of folks that bought Fear Inoculum last week, for the most part, Americans still hold intelligence suspect. Avenged Sevenfold may have gotten Neil Tyson DeGrasse to wax eloquently on their last album, but Starset aim to get to your heart via your brain, like some cool nephews of Bill Nye who always ruined the grading curve in your science classes but always had impeccable taste in books, music and deep knowledge of the molecular structure of energy drinks.  

The Starset fans (the Stan-set?) have taken the band’s quest for knowledge to heart, inspiring them to pick up their camera-phones and walk, creating videos based upon the tracks from 2017’s Vessels, seemingly far away from gravity’s pull, with a cumulative amount of views totalling a mere billion.

Read more: Starset’s Dustin Bates talks, science, technology and going to Mars  

That kind of consciousness has spread worldwide, allowing the band to do things that are both cool and crushing. On 2018’s reissue of Vessels 2.0, the band added acoustic versions of tracks, as well as a Type O Negative cover (“Love You To Death”). Signed to Fearless Records, Starset were the first act on the label to play China, throwing it down in a 20,000-seat arena during the World Electronic Sports Games this past March. Plans call for the band to embark on a 15-date tour of Russia in the spring of 2020.

Furthering their dedication to knowledge and its relationship to art and culture, the band will be offering everything from an online portal (The Starset Society orientation packet) with assets to aid fans in their artistic manifestations of promotion and dedication to the group, all the way to an NFC chip inside vinyl pressings of DIVISIONS containing even more exclusive content.

Read more: Watch Starset perform at the 2017 APMAS

From the 3-D printing of the band logo (which their label had shot into space) to an exhaustively immersive experience involving everything from augmented reality, graphic  novels, video and of course, music, Starset are going places a lot of bands haven’t been. Mainly because those groups haven’t considered the possibilities in the first place.

Check out the full stream of DIVISIONS below.

Starset kick off their headlining tour with Palisades, HYDE and A Brilliant Lie as support in Cincinnati Friday with tickets here. DIVISIONS is available now, and you can check out the full tracklisting below.

Tracklisting:

1. “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE”
2.
“MANIFEST”
3. “ECHO”
4. “WHERE THE SKIES END”
5. “PERFECT MACHINE”
6. “TELEKINETIC”
7. “STRATOSPHERE”
8. “FAULTLINE”
9. “SOLSTICE”
10. “TRIALS”
11. “WAKING UP”
12. “OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE”
13. “DIVING BELL”

Dates:

09/13 — Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
09/15 — Reading, PA @ Reverb
09/17 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
09/18 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
09/20 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
09/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
09/24 — Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theatre
09/25 — Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
09/28 — Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
09/29 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
10/01 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Pressroom
10/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
10/04 — San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
10/05 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
10/07 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
10/08 — Ventura, CA @ The Majestic Ventura Theater
10/13 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
10/14 — Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
10/16 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
10/17 — Denver, CO @ Summit
10/20 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
10/21 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/24 — Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
10/25 — New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
10/26 — Hartford, CT @ The Webster
10/27 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

See more: 16 memorable band photos

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