Progressive stoner rock trio APE SHIFTER has dropped a groove-heavy new single, “Village Strut,” available today via all digital music providers via Heavy Progressive Records.
“Village Strut” comes on the heels of APE SHIFTER’s first digital single since the release of 2019’s
Ape Shifter II album, “Betty Davis,” which was released on July 26 to coincide with the American funk and soul singer’s 76th birthday. Inspired by Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin and ZZ Top “Village Strut” is full of rock ‘n’ roll swagger.
“Joe Walsh and Rick Derringer were getting a lot of spins on my turntable,” says guitarist Jeff Aug. “APE SHIFTER had been playing around with this groove for a while now, but it wasn´t ‘clicking.’ Then one night, I pulled up a drum beat in my Studio One program and just went with it. Out came this arrangement. We sent it to our drummer Tony and he knew exactly where we were going with it.”
Fusing a classic heavy rock sound that arcs in the stoner rock direction with technical musical prowess, APE SHIFTER is dissimilar from any other progressive instrumental band.
APE SHIFTER has been ripping it up in Europe over the last five years playing festivals, headline shows and as serving as support for acts such as Loudness, The Skull, Chris Slade Timeline and Chris Haskett (Rollins Band). The group was founded in 2015 by Sorry About Your Daughter guitarist Aug, a cool underground guitarist who has been living at the foothills of the Alps in Southern Germany for the last 20-some years. Their debut,
Ape Shifter I, was released in March 2017.
Born in D.C. and raised in Laurel, Maryland, Aug has toured with Allan Holdsworth, Soft Machine, Stu Hamm, Greg Howe, Alex Skolnick, Carl Verheyen, Johnny A., Albert Lee, and has performed shows with Jawbox, Shudder To Think, and Ice-T and Body Count as a member of Sorry About Your Daughter. He has worked with John Stabb from punk legends Government Issue, has been touring and recording with Anne Clark for the last 18 years and has been touring and releasing albums as a solo guitarist for the more than 30 years. Aug can also be heard on the Atari Teenage Riot album Is This Hyperreal?. Not surprisingly, Aug set the world record for the “most concerts performed in different countries in 24 hours,” not once but twice in 2009 and 2012). He´s been featured on NPR´s show Morning Edition and has had a #1 selling album on iTunes Acoustic Music Charts in the U.S.
“Village Strut” also features bassist Florian Walter and D.C.-based drummer Tony Mcghee, filling in during APE SHIFTER drummer Kurty Münch’s sabbatical. Listen to “Village Strut” now via
Bandcamp,
Spotify,
Amazon Music and
YouTube.
APE SHIFTER tour dates:
8/20 – Reichenbach in Vogtland, Germany @ ArtRock Festival
8/21 – Nordhausen, Germany @ Open Air
8/22 – Fürstenwalde, Germany @ Park Club Open Air
9/3 – Bremen, Germany @ Lila Eule (TBC)
9/4 – Fehmarn, Germany @ Open Air
APE SHIFTER online:
