Indie-Rock Trio LAST DINOSAURS Announce New Album + Global Scavenger Hunt Contest; U.S. Tour Dates On Sale Now!
May 27, 2022 BY Jason Currell
After sharing their sunny new single “CDMX,” Brisbane indie-rock trio Last Dinosaurs are proud to announce their forthcoming full-length album From Mexico With Love due out November 4th via Nettwerk. The ten-song effort was self-produced by the trio with the help of Australian producer James Agnus. Pre-order/Pre-save From Mexico with Love (here).
To celebrate their forthcoming new album, Last Dinosaurs announce a global scavenger hunt contest! The band invites fans and followers all over the world to enter by pre-saving From Mexico With Love, https://lastdinosaurs.ffm.to/frommexicowithlove, or by visiting https://www.lastdinosaurs.com/play/.Enter to play the “LOST DINOS” puzzle andstay tuned for the grand prize announcement and additional details to follow!
Last Dinosaurs are also gearing up for their North American Tour which begins at Bottom Lounge in Chicago on May 31st with support from Rebounder, Boy Wonder, and Okamoto’s in select dates. The tour will culminate at Lollapalooza Music Festival on Thursday, July 28th before they make their grand return to Mexico to play in Monterrey, Guadalajara, and a 2-night run in Mexico City.
Tickets are going fast with Los Angeles, Austin, Brooklyn, Washington, D.C., and night one in Mexico City fully sold out! Check out the complete list of tour dates below!
Watch & Share “CDMX” Music Video Here:
Despite coming up in Australia, indie rock band, Last Dinosaurs would say they’re an international enterprise – and they’ve got a track record to prove it. Brothers Lachlan and Sean Caskey, along with Michael Sloane have played sold-out headlining shows and festivals across the UK, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Africa, and the Americas. The success of studio albums, In a Million Years, Wellness, and most recently, Yumeno Garden, have taken them around the world and back.
Considering this, it’s all the more interesting that their next studio album, From Mexico with Love, was written during a time when the world stood still. While living the international rock star life is good writing material, “the deep stuff comes from being alone,” remarks Lachlan.
When Australia closed its borders due to COVID, Lachlan found himself stuck in Canada before making his way to Mexico to work on the album in creative solitude. Sometimes magic comes from chaos as Lachlan found a wellspring of creativity and as soon as Australia opened, Lachlan took his raw material back home to the band to produce From Mexico with Love. While the writing was a solo act, the band agrees that it’s the final touches that are so important to the sound. That’s where the collaboration with Sean, lead guitarist, and Sloane, on bass comes in. The melodies are funky and upbeat. Electric guitar riffs paired with smooth vocals, feel simple and happy: the kind of music you want to roller skate under a disco ball to. But the lyrics are anything but simple.
The result is an electric testimony to the DIY tradition that investigates the places we go not just externally but internally. Inside that, landscapes spanning gratitude within the exhaustion of touring in the first track, “Hanson’s Ghost,” to the feeling of leaving behind a familiar life in “Look Back.” He speaks of taking risks for love in “Put Up with the Weather!” With “Collect Call,” Lachlan muses on forgotten dreams and letting go against an impossibly catchy melody.
Watch & Share “Look Back” Music Video Here:
Thankfully for us, Mexico was more than just a place to quarantine. It was an inspiration as complex as the album itself, a fact that’s honored in the album title and the song “CDMX.”
“In Mexico, I had a lot of time to think about life, to face the demons and just figure shit out. But there were also rapturous moments where I felt so free,” says Lachlan of the writing process.
Considering this, it’s not surprising that woven into the flowing and sunny songs are real messages about self-work and growth. Songs like “Auto-Sabotage” and “Note to Self” deal with the reality that sometimes we’re the ones getting in our own way. In “Can’t Afford Psychoanalysis,” Lachlan ironically sings ‘I think I might require psychoanalysis.’ (Something that he would probably recommend to the posers he sings about in “The Hating.”) In ”When Pigs Fly,” the ending track, deep feelings of doubt and pessimism float over a bright and airy melody.
While it may seem counterintuitive to pair such intense sentiments to upbeat “Japanese city pop” inspired melodies, that paradoxical nature is part of their musical DNA. Half Japanese, the Caskey brothers attribute it to their upbringing watching Studio Ghibli films. “They border on heartbreaking but the music is sweet,” says Sean,” That’s where I got my melodic sense. I think melancholy is a big part of Japanese culture.”
To Lachlan, it’s the hidden nature of these messages that make them even more powerful: “Melancholy was what made us want to be musicians in the first place,” says Lachlan, “The Strokes, The Beach Boys. It’s the idea that someone who really listens would say it’s a sad song, but a passive listener wouldn’t get it.”
Now, with From Mexico with Love, an album about exploring the world both around and within us, Last Dinosaurs are more than ready to pick up the momentum where they left off and share their new music with the world. To start, that means an international headlining tour of Europe and the UK, over 20 headlining shows in the US and Canada, and a multi-single and album release campaign in Mexico, Southeast Asia and South America.
After that? Maybe Madison Square Garden, or traveling to Russia to play shows. As Lachlan says, “Australians have a natural urge to explore,” which might be why, despite coming so far already, Last Dinosaurs are only just getting started.
LAST DINOSAURS IN THE PRESS…
“Bright and buoyant, ‘CDMX’ is a cinematic celebration: The feel-good song comes to life with sun-soaked guitars and joyous vocals that, working together, invite us all to bask in a space of revelry and cheer.”
–Atwood Magazine
“…breezy, vocoder-sprinkled single… the band is ready to make 2022 their year.”
–FLAUNT Magazine
“Juxtaposing a hazy soundscape of guitars and synths with lyrics on self-sabotaging behaviour, the earworm offering fills us with encouragement to find the best way forward in our lives despite any troubles bogging us down.”
–EARMILK
“…a powerful song that is undeniably encouraging to all who listen.”
–Rolling Stone AU
“…a buoyant, buzzy guitar-pop cut…”
–NME
Track List:
- Hanson Ghost
- Look Back
- CDMX
- Put Up With the Weather!
- Auto-Sabotage
- Note to Self
- Can’t Afford Psychoanalysis
- The Hating
- Collect Call
- When I See Pigs Fly
LAST DINOSAURS 2022 TOUR DATES:
U.S. SUMMER TOUR DATES:
May 31 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge – ALMOST GONE!
June 01 Toronto, ON @ The Axis Club
June 03 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
June 04 Washington, DC @ Union Stage – SOLD OUT
June 05 Philadelphia, PA @ Foundry @ The Fillmore
June 08 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – SOLD OUT
June 10 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
June 11 Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
June 13 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio – ALMOST GONE!
June 14 Austin, TX @ Antone’s – SOLD OUT
June 15 Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
June 17 Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre
June 18 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Beehive
June 20 Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
June 21 Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
June 22 Seattle, WA @ Neumos – ALMOST GONE!
June 24 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
June 25 San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
June 26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre – SOLD OUT
July 28 Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Music Festival
MEXICO TOUR DATES:
July 06 Monterrey, MX @ Nodriza – DATE ADDED
July 08 Guadalajara, MX @ Anexo Independencia
July 09 Mexico City, QC @ Foro Indie Rocks – SOLD OUT
July 10 Mexico, City, QC @ Foro Indie Rocks – 2ND SHOW ADDED
