That expression working its way across your face, furrowing your brow, scrunching up your nose, and inducing a slight head bob? That’s called “stank face” and it’s a direct byproduct of ingesting music from the greasiest, funkiest band on today’s music scene, Lettuce. But don’t worry, the Boston-formed group has been having this effect on listeners and concertgoers for going on three decades with zero cases of permanent damage. On June 3rd, the GRAMMY-nominated six-piece—Adam Deitch (drums), Ryan Zoidis(saxophone), Adam ‘Shmeeans’ Smirnoff (guitar), Erick ‘Jesus’ Coomes(bass), Nigel Hall (keyboards/vocals), Eric ‘Benny’ Bloom (trumpet)—will be delivering a whole host of new tunes to the world in the form of Unify, the eighth studio album from Lettuce and the third consecutive record made at Denver’s Colorado Sound Studios, completing a loose trilogy starting with 2019’s GRAMMY-nominated Elevate, and continuing with 2020’s Resonate. Fans can expect the same tight, wildly-funky instrumentals Lettuce has always been known for, but in the tightest form they’ve ever taken. And this time around, the guys have gotten the stamp of approval from one of the genre’s most legendary icons, Mr. Bootsy Collins, himself, who can be heard singing on the track “Keep That Funk Alive.”
Today, Lettuce premiered “Gravy Train,” the first single from Unify, featuring a tightly evolved rhythm section, pin-point accurate horns, and a guitar-bass unison part not executed this well since Leo and George did it down in New Orleans all those years ago. “‘Gravy Train’ just has that classic Lettuce vibe,” says Smirnoff. “It’s one of those songs that’s timeless and could have shown up on any of our first albums. This one is for the OG Lettuce Heads.” Pro tip: put your party pants on and give “Gravy Train” a spin right now at this link, pre-order or pre-save Unify ahead of its June 3rd release right here, and pay close attention to lettucefunk.com and @lettucefunk on social media platforms for news on the rollout of this much-anticipated album.
More About Unify: “Dealing with the pandemic, being in separate places, trying to survive without our best friends, without touring, not to mention the political divide in this country,” says Deitch. “We really needed to unify.” Zoidis recalls, “This album came together at a time when we were away from each other longer than we had been in years.” Although the band was able to do a lot of writing and pre-production from their respective home studios, they hadn’t been in the same room or on the same stage together since their European tour was cut short in March 2021, so the first song on Unify captures the raw energy of a much-needed reunion at Colorado Sound Studios—though, that’s not exactly where the story begins.
The roots of Unify took hold several years back when Lettuce assembled at Colorado Sound to begin work on Elevate. Armed with dozens of songs, the band tracked enough material for that record, its successor, and then some (including a vinyl-only, 45-minute, live-in-the-studio, one-take improvisation, Vibe). Combined with some stellar pre-existing tracks held over from the prior two albums, Lettuce was now primed for a third. The group decamped to the Denver studio and reunited with its esteemed engineer, Jesse O’Brien, mixing alongside O’Brien, and, once again, self-producing the finished work. And, rather than extensively road-testing the songs- fleshing out the repertoire in countless performances on tour before being recorded, this time the band discovered the music as much as made it; essentially debuting the new material as they tracked it live in the studio.
A totally collaborative effort, there were exciting cuts full of brilliant lyrics and arrangements from Hall (whom Coomes calls “one of the greatest singers ever”) and fiery horn parts from Bloom, not to mention the tantalizing prospect of unveiling it all on the upcoming tour. “It’s very, very exciting. Our audiences are going to hear how we end up interpreting these songs for the first time, in the live form, and then for the 300th time; they’ll get to hear right along with us how the songs will morph and evolve,” says Smirnoff. Adds Coomes, “We’re just getting tighter and tighter. Really, these are the first records made with the six of us as a team, and it’s the best the band has ever been: live and in the studio; the funkiest and the most fun.”
And now, Beginning March 24th in St. Petersburg, Florida, Lettuce will take their plethora of brand new material out on the road (and across the pond) for the Unify World Tour. Between their U.S. leg and September’s Europe run, the band will hit some of the country’s most beloved festivals including Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Sonic Bloom, and High Sierra. A full list of tour dates is below and ticket information can be found at lettucefunk.com/tour.
Catch Lettuce On Tour:
March 24 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
March 25 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre
March 26 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
March 27 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
March 30 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
March 31 – Baltimore, MD – Sound Stage
April 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl
April 3 – Syracuse, NY – Westcott Theater
April 6 – Hartford, CT – Infinity Music Hall
April 7 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
April 8 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
April 9 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
April 20 – Patchogue, NY – Blue Point Brewing
April 21 – Albany, NY – Empire Live
April 22 – Port Chester, NY – The Capitol Theatre
April 23 – Washington, DC – National Cannabis Cup
April 24 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
April 27 – St. Louis, MO – The Big Top
April 28 – Little Rock, AR – The Hall
April 29 – Jackson, MS – Duling Hall
April 30 – New Orleans, LA – The Joy Theater (with Soul Rebels)
May 7 – Mill Valley, CA – Mill Valley Music Festival
May 26-29 – Martinsville, VA – Rooster Walk Music & Arts Festival
June 16-19 – Hummingbird Ranch, CO – Sonic Bloom Festival
June 19 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
June 23-26 – Rothbury, MI – Electric Forest Festival
June 24-25 – Swanzey, NH – Northlands Music & Arts Festival
June 30-July 3 – Quincy, CA – High Sierra Music Festival
Aug. 11 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
Aug. 12 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center at The Heights
Aug. 13 – Richmond, VA – Jam Packed Craft Beer & Music Festival
Aug. 26 – Martha’s Vineyard, MA – Beach Road Weekend Festival
Sept. 20 – London, UK – Scala
Sept. 21 – Tourcoing, France – Le Grand Mix
Sept. 23 – Paris, France – Billard L’alhambra
Sept. 24 – Rouen, France – Le 106 club
Sept. 26 – Frankfurt, Germany – Batschkapp
Sept. 27 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Bird
Sept. 28 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso Noord
Sept. 29 – Leuven, Belgium – Het Depot
Sept. 30 – Berlin, Germany – Gretchen
Oct. 2 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset
Oct. 3 – Oslo, Norway – Cosmopolite Scene
Oct. 4 – Jahanneshov, Sweden – Slaktkyrkan
Oct. 5 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Jazzklubben Nefertiti
Oct. 7 – Hamburg, Germany – Mojo Club
Oct. 8 – Brno, Czechia – Groove Brno
Oct. 9 – Vienna, Austria – Club Porgy & Bess
Oct. 11 – Bern, Switzerland – Bierhübeli
Oct. 12 – Pisa, Italy – Lumiere
Oct. 13 – Rome, Italy – Monk Club
Oct. 14 – Milano, Italy – Santeria Toscana 31
Oct. 15 – Rovereto, Italy – Auditorium Melotti
Oct. 17 – Stuttgart, Germany – Im Wizemann
Oct. 18 – Mulhouse, France – Noumatrouff
Oct. 20 – Barcelona, Spain – Sala La Nau
Oct. 21 – Madrid, Spain – Sala Caracol
Oct. 22 – Cenon, France – Le Rocher de Palmer
