Parquet Courts Debut “Black Widow Spider”

Parquet Courts photo by Pooneh Ghana

Parquet Courts share a new single/video, “Black Widow Spider.” The track is of the New York City band’s forthcoming release Sympathy For Life, available October 22nd via Rough Trade Records. “Black Widow Spider,” follows lead single “Walking at a Downtown Pace.” In A Savage’s words, “I told [producer] Rodaidh McDonald that I wanted to find a sound that was equal parts Can, Canned Heat and This Heat. He was really into that and probably took some glee in having such a bizarre challenge.”

The accompanying video, directed and animated by Shayne Ehman, is simply great. “We were inspired by the claymation master Art Clokey,” says Ehmman. “I wanted the video to feel like it was shot in the 1950’s and so I used very old lenses. One was a brass projection lens from the 1860’s and another was radioactive.”

Alongside the release of their first single last month, the band also announced the Power of Eleven – eleven global happenings that will occur around the release of the album. The first of these took place in Manhattan with the Gay & Lesbian Big Apple Corp marching band debuting “Walking At A Downtown Pace”. The second of these is happening in Tokyo in conjunction with Big Love Records, with an extremely limited “Black Widow Spider” 7” and t-shirt.

Sympathy For Life was built largely from improvised jams and produced in league with Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne) and John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, Dry Cleaning). “Most of the songs were created by taking long improvisations and moulding them through our own editing,” explains Austin Brown. “The biggest asset we have as artists is the band. After 10 years together, our greatest instrument is each other. The purest expression of Parquet Courts is when we are improvising.”

Parquet Courts
Live Dates

Sat. Sept. 18 – Augustine, FL @ Sing Out Loud Festival
Wed. Sept. 22 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre &
Fri. Sept. 24 – Marfa, TX @ Trans-Pecos Festival
Sun. Sept. 26 – Accord, NY @ Woodsist Festival
Sat. Oct. 2 – Tampa, FL @ Gasparilla Music Festival
Thu. Oct. 28 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom ^
Fri. Oct. 29 – Richmond, VA @ The National ^
Sat. Oct. 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar ^
Sun. Oct. 31 – Lancaster, PA @ Tellus360 ^
Wed. Nov. 03 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground !
Thu. Nov. 04 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre !
Fri. Nov. 05 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts !
Sat. Nov. 06 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony !
Mon. Nov. 15 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory
Wed. Nov. 17 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Fri. Nov. 19 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Sun. Nov. 21 – Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Music Festival
Sun. Feb. 27 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel *
Mon. Feb. 28 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre *
Wed. March 2 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse *
Thu. March 3 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn *
Fri. March 4 – Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom *
Sat. March 5 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant *
Mon. March 7 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall *
Tue. March 8 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room *
Thu. March 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue *
Fri. March 11 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall *
Sat. March 12 – Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre *
Sun. March 13 – Detroit, MI @ MOCAD *
Tue. Mar. 15, 2022 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
Wed. Mar. 16, 2022 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre *
Thu. March 17 – Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
Fri. March 18 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Thu. March 31 – Boston, MA @ Royale #
Fri. April 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel $
Sat. April 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
Mon. April 4 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
Tue. April 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore %
Fri. April 22 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
Sat. April 23 – Vancouver, BC @ The Imperial
Mon. April 25 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Wed. April 27 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
Thu. April 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern Theatre
Fri. April 29 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
Sat. April 30 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
Sat. May 21 – Paris, FR @ La Trianon
Sun. May 22 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
Tue. May 24 – Cologne, DE @ Stollwerck
Wed. May 25 – Berlin, DE @ Heimathafen Neukölln
Fri. May 27 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Sat. May 28 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Mon. May 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. May 31 – Lille, FR @ Le Grand Mix
Wed. June 1 – Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Fri. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Wed. June 8 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Thu. June 9 – London, UK @ Brixton O2 Academy
Sat. June 11 – Dublin, IE @ Helix
Sun. June 12 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Mon. June 13 – Leeds, UK @ Stylus
Wed. June 15 – Glasgow, UK @ The Barrowland Ballroom
Thu. June 16 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute