Snarky Puppy return with new album Empire Central and UK tour and Wembley Arena show

In early March Grammy-winning groove maestros Snarky Puppy headed back to where it all began to Dallas’ Deep Ellum Art Company, for eight nights, two shows per night to record their new album in the state’s "live music capital". The forthcoming album, Empire Central, is now set for release on 30 September and sees the group go back to their favoured ‘live in the studio’ approach with an audience in the room, which characterised their breakthrough albums such as 2012’s Ground Up and 2014’s We Like It Here. This will be the band's first new album since their triumphant, Grammy Award winning, Live At The Royal Albert Hall, which was recorded in front of a sold-out 5,000 capacity crowd at the iconic London venue in November 2019.

The music is heavily influenced by and pays homage to the city that gave birth to the group after they formed while studying in the fabled jazz program at the University of North Texas. The record also features the last recorded performance of ’80s funk pioneer and Snarky Puppy’s musical Godfather Bernard Wright, who passed away tragically at age 58 shortly after the Empire Central recording sessions.

With a line-up consisting of three guitarists, four keyboardists, two brass, two reeds, a violinist, multiple percussionists and drummers and bandleader Michael League on bass, Empire Central expands upon the collective’s wide array of influences including blues, hard rock, classic soul, modern gospel, funk, new tech, fusion and jazz. In reviewing the first of the band’s eight Deep Ellum performances from which the record was culled, the Dallas Morning News raves that “in classic Snarky Puppy fashion, the new tunes zigzagged with laser precision between jazz, funk and wigged-out prog-rock.”

“Snarky Puppy has always been a band that prioritizes the sound of the music,” notes bassist League. “On this record there was some collaboration in the writing process but when a song goes to the band and the players start making suggestions or changing things our collective feeling really comes through. The songs ended up being a lot more direct and funkier than those on our previous records. I think it reflects the many moods of the city’s scene.”

The band will also arrive on UK shores this month to play a set at the prestigious Glastonbury Festival, after which they will embark on an extensive European tour, before returning in October to play four concerts including their biggest UK date ever, which will conclude at one the capital’s most storied live spaces, the OVO Arena Wembley (as it’s now known!); a seismic achievement for a primarily instrumental band.

Tour dates are as follows: O2 Academy, Glasgow (4 October); O2 Academy, Bristol (5 October); O2 Apollo, Manchester (6 October) and OVO Arena Wembley, London (7 October).

Watch the video below for new single ‘Trinity and for more info visit www.snarkypuppy.com