Tasjan also announced his upcoming 2024 headline tour (see dates below).
The album’s lead single, “Horror Of It All” has lyrics which reflect on the joy, confusions and humiliations of the queer adolescent experience.
On the song, Tasjan stated: “When I think of what scares me the most about ‘being myself,’ is that I’ll get rejected for it. This song examines the concepts of both rejection and self-acceptance through metaphors of childhood playground heartbreak and the dramatic nature of the teenage experience. The story is being told through the eyes of a young queer person. I wanted to use experiences from childhood in the song because I feel like those heartaches are the ones that are truly everlasting. In life, we have to deal with and learn from the heartbreaks of our youth. Those lessons stay with us because the pain of the experience can be processed but the memory of it happening always remains.”
Listen to “Horror Of It All” HERE
Watch the music video HERE
With lyrical wit, Tasjan shares poignant self observations and his personal reflections, in part inspired by the dark times the queer community has experienced in the South. Written in the context of bathroom and drag bans, which were enacted in Tennessee, while right-wing rhetoric around LGBTQI+ people became uglier and uglier. Tasjan knew this album needed to reflect both his personal experience and offer a safe space for the vibrant queer community that has become home to him.
“The record became a sort of rallying cry for being who you are in a time when people literally wanna try to make it illegal to do that,” says Tasjan, “ I felt like it was really important to let people know that they’re not alone, that we’re all in this fight together and that we see each other, and that we’re gonna do what this community always does, which is come together and have each other’s backs.”
“The record became a sort of rallying cry for being who you are in a time when people literally wanna try to make it illegal to do that,” says Tasjan, “ I felt like it was really important to let people know that they’re not alone, that we’re all in this fight together and that we see each other, and that we’re gonna do what this community always does, which is come together and have each other’s backs.”
“Alien Space Queen” celebrates living outside the gender binary and Tasjan’s bi-sexuality and queer identity. Rocker "The Drugs Did Me” is an autobiographical account of Tasjan’s journey to sobriety. Tasjan gets funky on his ode to Talking Heads and Scary Monsters era Bowie, “Pants,” a call for authentic and righteous self-expression. He protests on “I Love America Better Than You,” and loves so much he lets it go on the powerful ballad “Dylan Shades.”
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, band leader, activist, and Grammy nominee, Aaron Lee Tasjan's four solo albums landed award nominations including, Emerging Artist Of The Year by the Americana Music Association. 2021’s Tasjan Tasjan Tasjan caught the attention of Elton John. He’s toured the world as the guitarist in the New York Dolls and later on his own, an acclaimed singer-songwriter opening for Sheryl Crow, Greta Van Fleet, Cheap Trick and Marcus King, alongside with festival appearances at Stagecoach, Bonnaroo, and Newport Folk Festival.
He co-founded and co-wrote all of the material for the band Semi Precious Weapons. In 2021 he was nominated for a Grammy for his writing on Yola’s “Diamond Studded Shoes” and most recently, Tasjan produced Mya Byrne's album Rhinestone Tomboy (Kill Rock Stars Nashville) which helped to establish her as one of the first openly trans artists in Americana Music. His activism has seen him curate benefit shows such as The Aaron Lee Tasjam which raised money for The Ben Eyestone Fund/Music Health Alliance which funds primary care and diagnostic testing for uninsured Musicians and curate All Newport's Eve, the Newport Folk Festival kick off concert event, which Tasjan used to support female and LGBTQI+ artists.
As he set out to work on Stellar Evolution, Tasjan knew better than ever what was important to him to express and the message he wanted to share - this was an album about personal evolution and societal revolution.
“I realized that part of being an artist means building a community,” says Tasjan, “What do you want that community to look like? Who do you want to be a part of that community? As an artist, it’s your job to curate that, and to be a reflection of the change you wanna see in the world. I gradually got braver to share more and more of myself through each record, and the music just kinda had to follow suit.”
TRACK LIST:
As he set out to work on Stellar Evolution, Tasjan knew better than ever what was important to him to express and the message he wanted to share - this was an album about personal evolution and societal revolution.
“I realized that part of being an artist means building a community,” says Tasjan, “What do you want that community to look like? Who do you want to be a part of that community? As an artist, it’s your job to curate that, and to be a reflection of the change you wanna see in the world. I gradually got braver to share more and more of myself through each record, and the music just kinda had to follow suit.”
TRACK LIST:
01 Alien Space Queen
02 The Drugs Did Me
03 Dylan Shades
04 Horror Of It All
05 Pants
06 Ocean Drive
07 Nightmare
08 I Love America Better Than You
09 Roll Your Windows Down
10 Bird
11 Cry Till You’re Laughing
12 Young
TOUR DATES:
April 18, 2024 - Duck Room - St. Louis, MO
April 19, 2024 - SPACE - Chicago, IL
April 20, 2024 - Acorn - Three Oaks, MI
April 21, 2024 - Monarch Tavern - Toronto
April 23, 2024 - Middle East Up - Boston, MA
April 25, 2024 - Baby’s All Right - Brooklyn, NY
April 26, 2024 - Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia, PA
April 27, 2024 - DC9 - Washington, D.C.
April 28, 2024 - Cat’s Cradle Back - Raleigh, NC
April 30, 2024 - Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC
May 2, 2024 - The Blue Room - Nashville, TN
May 12, 2024 - The Casbah - San Diego, CA
May 14, 2024 - Moroccan Lounge - Los Angeles, CA
May 15, 2024 - Cafe Du Nord - San Francisco, CA
May 17, 2024 - Polaris - Portland, OR
May 18, 2024 - Sunset Tavern - Seattle, WA
May 21, 2024 - Globe Hall - Denver, CO
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