Waltzer to debut Wayne White-directed video in variety show-style webcast

RISING CHICAGO INDIE ACT WALTZER PRESENTS "BEHIND THE MASK" VARIETY SHOW-STYLE WEBCAST VIA CHICAGO VENUE THE HIDEOUT THIS THURSDAY, MAY 28 AT 8PM CT / 9PM ET WILL FEATURE DEBUT OF NEW SINGLE "EUGENE," OUT MAY 29 VIA SIDE HUSTLE RECORDS, AND VIDEO CREATED BY WAYNE WHITE (PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE, SMASHING PUMPKINS), SKETCHES, LIVE PERFORMANCES & MORE GUEST APPEARANCES BY MEMBERS OF THELMA & THE SLEAZE, PUJOL,THE SERATONES & MANY MORE LIMITED "EUGENE" 7" LATHE CUT AVAILABLE SOON 

Photo credit: Amanda Wiggins

TUNE IN TO "BEHIND THE MASK" ON MAY 28 WATCH THE "DESTROYER" MUSIC VIDEO

"...a dark soul, rock n roll, country outfit summoning influences from George Harrison  to Harry Nillson." 

"['Destroyer' is] a sweet and sultry track with a twangy melody. But don’t be fooled... “Destroyer” is here to tear you apart and keep you coming back for more."

Rising Chicago indie outfit Waltzer is excited to announce its latest single "Eugene," out this Friday, May 29 via Side Hustle Records. The debut of the track and its Wayne White (Pee-wee's Playhouse, Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight")-directed music video will take place this Thursday, May 28 at 8pm CT / 9pm ET via Chicago venue The Hideout's Twitch channel in an irreverent variety show-styled webcast of sorts, dubbed "Behind The Mask." Tune in to the webcast HERE. The new single will be promptly pressed to a limited run of 7" lathe-cut vinyl -- find more details about the limited vinyl HERE. The webcast earned its name from Waltzer's Sophie Sputnik moonlighting at a factory producing face masks during the current period of social isolation. The program will feature appearances and performances by a number of Waltzer friends, including LA from Thelma & The Sleaze, Daniel Pujol of Pujol, AJ Haynes of The Seratones and many more, as well as a number of timely sketches and asides. Waltzer is unquestionably one of the most exciting acts to emerge from Chicago in recent years. Situated in the dichotomous territory between country western-indebted melodies and the sardonic sneer of modern indie and punk, Waltzer has enough style (see: Sophie's penchant for custom Nudie suits) to carry them far beyond the DIY haunts in which they've gotten their start.

“Get me into trouble,” an all-too-human voice wails on Waltzer’s latest single, “Eugene.” At first listen, the abstraction is at once both meaningless and full of immediacy -- noting the visceral longing for mischief that humanity seems so starved for at this very moment. While we may be dying to escape our social distancing that is mandated by various levels of government, Waltzer’s siren-like vocal is imbricated with the dirge of distorted guitars to blend surrealism with an abrasive truth: that desire emanates through and between us.  “It’s about time,” says Sophie Sputnik, the singer-songwriter now based in Chicago, about her choice to deliver new material under the Waltzer banner in such an unconventional manner. “I don’t know when I can do this other than right now. There’s hardly any way of knowing if there will ever be a good time to do this ever again.”  The single will be unveiled during a live streamed performance via social media that will be recorded and then pressed on a lathe to vinyl -- limited to 100 copies. A studio recording of the song will follow before Time Traveler, Waltzer’s first proper collection of songs, is made available to the public later in 2020.  There is, as they say, no time like the present -- however chaotic this present time may be. “I could wait and be ‘strategic’ -- I could ‘shop this record around’ to the A&R music industry professionals working from home during this pandemic,” proffers Sputnik. “I could follow trends and try to time this release with market calculations to ‘maximize exposure.’ I could pretend to be naive and tell myself that I have unlimited time and that this is a terrible moment to release new music. All bets are off -- so why not release these songs that I am very proud of right now?”  There’s not an ounce of irony in Sputnik’s quip that “we’re all gonna die” when speaking about her reasons to unveil a record during a time of almost stunning precariousness. That notion of death -- and perhaps, more accurately, the desire to act in the face of certain death or extinction -- is Time Traveler’s central theme.

Photo credit: Asher Greyson

There is a somewhat typical backstory you’d expect from a person capable of crafting songs this enthralling -- failures from prior artistic endeavors, the discovery of oneself through trial and error, and the relocation to a major metropolitan area after coming of age in radically different environments. Should Time Traveler have any cultural purchase, music journalists will investigate the particulars. For now, suffice it to say that this collection of songs was a long time coming, that its origin is not without conflict, and that current events only instill a refined sense of urgency in the recordings -- all of which were produced with ROOKIE’s Christopher Devlin at the helm and feature several other collaborators from Chicago’s rich music scene.   While “Eugene” may be the collection’s trailblazing track, Time Traveler is nothing if not a unified charter document for Waltzer, a manifesto that underscores the point that a wide range of human emotion can exist in a work that spans fewer than 30 minutes -- it is a collection imbued with a maturity and breadth that feels earnest without affectation. Despite its traditional rock instrumentation, it maneuvers into progressive and thoughtful moods throughout. In short, Time Traveler’s pop sensibility does not diminish its artistic complexity.  “I don’t want to be making masks in a factory during a pandemic to make ends meet, but I also feel an uncontrollable urge to fund this record and make it available as soon as possible,” says Sputnik, who is moonlighting in a textile plant in Chicago to produce medical-grade face masks as she prepares to release Time Traveler. “I don’t have much of a choice, but I also don’t see these tasks as somehow separate from one another. I am releasing this record and making these masks to get by the best I can. What people choose to do with the masks and these songs is entirely up to them. I am grateful for the work, but I want these songs to be heard.”  If humanity’s current state of uncertainty is inciting a collective state of anxiety across the globe, Waltzer’s Time Traveler offers a much-needed dose of escapism, a cycle of affective states that reflect our processing of how we deal with this new way of life -- it confronts our new reality with a sharp wit and imagery that is, at times, grandiose. The record -- as well as the unconventional release of “Eugene” -- invites us to confront this grim moment in history with a creative force that can help overcome cynicism. If audiences cannot currently experience Waltzer in a live, unmediated form, Time Traveler is a brooding statement that will unsettle listeners who take the time and give it the attention it demands.  About Side Hustle Records: Founded in 2019, Side Hustle Records is a digital label comprised of the music industry veterans at Big Hassle Media. Not tied to any one genre or style, but rather to musical artistry in all its forms, everyone at Side Hustle has set their sights on advancing artists' careers in any way they can. Side Hustle Records is distributed exclusively by The Orchard. Look out for more exciting releases from Side Hustle in the coming months.

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