Believe it or not, it’s been more than six years since Avenues released new music. Since putting out its Creep Show EP in 2015, the veteran Milwaukee punk quartet has toured avidly, earned some impressive supporting slots on hometown shows with touring talent, and landed on a few festivals throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada. Along the way, the band found time to write and record a new full-length.
Following an ill-fated attempt to record at Atlas Studios in Chicago (which was shortened when the band’s drummer had to undergo a serious medical procedure), Avenues regrouped about a year later at Exchange Recording Complex in Milwaukee to resume work on the album with engineer Kevin Arndt. The final product of that strange and unfortunate series of events is We’re All Doomed, a long-awaited full-length that—due to the COVID-19 pandemic—found its release delayed by yet another year.
“You have no idea the sense of relief to finally have a product coming out. We have been working on this for a long time and put everything we had into it,” Avenues guitarist Shawn Brooks says. “We didn’t want to rush anything and sacrifice the integrity of the album, but we kept getting hit with different setbacks that were out of our control. This experience helped us to learn to be patient, flexible, and work together on the things we could control during the process and not to have any setbacks get us down.”
In the meantime, the band gave listeners a taste of what was to come with We’re All Doomed when they unveiled “Devious,” the album’s closing track, last fall. A year later, they treated fans to another preview by releasing a music video for “Lights Out” last month. And with the album’s release on the horizon, the band was kind enough to let us share another single from the forthcoming record.
“Blood On The Moon” is We’re All Doomed‘s first track. The brash album opener kicks the record into motion with Avenues’ energetic skate punk style, complete with blistering guitars and snarling vocals that help introduce the ambitious record in grand fashion. If these three singles are any indication, the album’s eight other tracks will be well worth the wait.
We’re All Doomed will be released via Wiretap Records on Friday, November 19. You can pre-order the album on vinyl (which is expected to arrive in January) now. To celebrate the album’s release, Avenues will host a listening party at Rushmor Records on Saturday, November 20 from 2-4 p.m.