BEN HARPER AND RELENTLESS7 Set To Release White Lies for Dark Times May 5, Tour & More

Coming off an incredible showing at this year's SXSW including a headlining performance at Stubb's, an over-capacity crowd at DirecTV's "SXSW Live," and a legendary taping of Austin City Limits, BEN HARPER AND RELENTELSS7 proudly announce the release of their debut record, White Lies For Dark Times on May 5 on Virgin Records. The album will be available as CD, deluxe CD with bonus DVD, digital download and 180-gram 2xLP. Rolling Stone calls the new album "an 11-song set soaked with hard rock and Delta Blues." More InformationComing off an incredible showing at this year's SXSW including a headlining performance at Stubb's, an over-capacity crowd at DirecTV's "SXSW Live," and a legendary taping of Austin City Limits, BEN HARPER AND RELENTELSS7 proudly announce the release of their debut record, White Lies For Dark Times on May 5 on Virgin Records. The album will be available as CD, deluxe CD with bonus DVD, digital download and 180-gram 2xLP. Rolling Stone calls the new album "an 11-song set soaked with hard rock and Delta Blues."

Ben Harper and Relentless7's energetic live performance is the heart of the band. In December 2008, the band embarked on a highly successful short club tour with a handful of dates in California and New York. "The band's combined force was almost too big for the room," RollingStone.com said of the band's intimate performance at Spaceland in Los Angeles.

The sweaty, gritty and energetic vibe of the clubs proved to be an incredible match for the band's new hard-hitting sound, and they are pleased to announce their return to the road on a larger club tour of the U.S. as well as dates abroad. "We thought, this is a new band, a new opportunity, a new energy. Let's earn it the way that new bands do...let's play clubs, let's play small places," said drummer Jordan Richardson. Current confirmed tour dates are listed below.

BHR7 will make an early late night television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly on March 27, and will follow with week-of-release performances on The Late Show with David Letterman (5/6), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (5/7) and Jimmy Kimmel Live (5/21).

BEN HARPER AND RELENTLESS7 TOUR DATES:

US TOUR DATES:
April
30 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

May
1 - Memphis, TN @ Beale Street Music Festival
2 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
4 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
5 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
8 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
9 - Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
10 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
12 - Montreal, CANADA @ Metropolis
13 - Toronto, CANADA @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
15 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
16 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
25 - George, WA @ The Gorge Amp. / Sasquatch Festival
27 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
28 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

June
13 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival

INTERNATIONAL TOUR DATES:
April
9 - Sydney, Australia @Metro Theatre
11 - Byron Bay, Australia @Byron Bay Bluesfest
13 - Byron Bay, Australia @Byron Bay Bluesfest
19 - London, England @The Forum
20 - Paris, France @La Cigale
21 - Bourges, France @Le Printemps du Bourges
22 - Rome, Italy @Piazza del Popolo

June
19 - Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival
20 - Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
22 - Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle
23 - Munich, Germany @ TonHalle
25 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
27 - London, England @ Hard Rock Calling Festival

BHR7 History:
Harper met guitarist Jason Mozersky in the late nineties, when the lead singer of Mozersky's then band, WAN SANTO CONDO was working as a van driver shuttling bands back and forth to the venue for a Texas promoter. He asked the then captive Ben Harper, "Can I play you my demo?" Harper obliged, and in his own words "was blown away," and helped the band secure a record deal and release an album on Everloving Records. The band broke up after one record, but what survived was a lasting friendship between Harper and Mozersky. In 2005, Harper invited now long time friend Mozersky to lay down guitar work on a track during the recording sessions that would become a double record entitled Both Sides of the Gun. Mozersky brought along bass player Jesse Ingalls and drummer Jordan Richardson and the session would spawn not only the song
"Serve Your Soul" but the framework for Relentless7.

To reignite the chemistry discovered during the Both Sides of the Gun session, they reunited in the summer of 2008 just to jam and write songs together, and emerged with a new sound and enough tracks for an album. White Lies For Dark Times is a timeless rock record, with a cohesive collection of music that is as raw, unrelenting and thunderous, as it is arrestingly haunting and emotional.

VIDEO (by Danny Clinch): Shimmer and Shine


WEBSITE: www.relentless7.com