Southern California’s multifaceted prog – psych – punk quartet RX Bandits launches a massive US tour this week in support of its forthcoming fifth proper album ‘Mandala’.

The long-running band’s highly anticipated disc hits shelves via Sargent House on July 21, 2009. Fans can hear versions of the group’s volcanic new songs live beginning Thursday, July 8th (see full dates below).

Watch promo tour video:

RX Bandits joins co-headliners Dredg for the national tour, with alternating openers Good Old War, Zechs Marquise and As Tall As Lions.

‘Mandala’: few titles are as perfectly befitting an album for a band reaching the culmination of a decade-long musical transformation. With this recording, RX Bandits have truly struck the essence of their merging of genres into a complete and masterfully detailed mosaic.

The metamorphic rock group’s latest disc showcases a more rock-oriented quartet, while deftly sweeping in elements of Latin, prog-rock, punk, rock to dub and blues. The much anticipated follow-up to 2006’s …And The Battle Begun jettisons ahead of where the last left off, scaling back the use of horns and adding more focus on balance and powerful dynamics.

Songs like album opener “My Lonesome Only Friend” easily shift from entrancing chimes to full-on syncopated rock fury (replete with a molten John MacLaughlin-meets-Kirk Hammett guitar solo.) Elsewhere, blustery blasts of metallic guitars give way to swirling, proggy synths on “Hearts That Hanker For Mistake.” Electric piano leads the blues-dub “March of the Caterpillar” while “Breakfast Cat” boasts the tightest rhythm guitar strumming and grooving drums this side of The Meters.

In an age where taking risks and being fearless can make or break you, RX have emerged as a tidal wave, a force that shatters all the boundaries set against them. Throughout their decade long career, the group has reinvented and revolutionized their identity while retaining their socially conscious lyrics and eruptive instrumentation. This concept has been the catalyst for the band’s ever-growing fanbase, which revels in their uniqueness and continue to storm their celebrated, incendiary live shows.

RX Bandits’ performance on the main stage at Bonnaroo in 2007 proved the band’s majesty to a new audience, while myriad tours with the likes of Portugal The Man, Tera Melos, Fall of Troy, et al, have built the quartet’s considerable fan base over the years.

Tracking for ‘Mandala’ took place at The Mouse House Studio in Northern Pasadena in March of 2009, and marked the return of producer Chris Fudurich to the fold. The album features dramatically hypnotic artwork by Sonny Kay.

RX Bandits first emerged in 1999, forming in Orange County, CA. The young band, fresh out of high school had already been signed to a woefully disastrous recording contract under a different name in a previous incarnation. As the band’s music rapidly matured, its label didn’t — leading to many years’ strife and struggle to stick to their guns and release the music they wanted.

Three albums (Halfway Between Here and There, Progress and The Resignation… the seething sentiments in the titles are quite telling) and nearly 7 years later, the band was freed of its bondage to self-release …And The Battle Begun on its own MDB Records imprint with Sargent House in 2006. Live From Bonnaroo, a digital iTunes exclusive release followed in December 2007.

The mandala is peaking. It’s all come full circle as we enter into a completely new realm and Mandala is the soundtrack.

Buy Music:

RX Bandits on amazon.com

RX Bandits July/August 2009 tour dates:

(Dates and information subject to change.)

July 08 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues *
July 09 San Diego, CA @ SOMA *
July 10 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee *
July 11 Tuscon, AZ @ Club Congress *
July 12 Tuscon, AZ @ Club Congress *
July 14 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater *
July 15 Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
July 16 San Antonio, TX @ The White Rabbit *
July 17 Houston, TX @ Meridian #
July 18 New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues #
July 20 Orlando, FL @ Club Firestone #
July 22 Ft Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room #
July 23 Jacksonville, FL @ Freebird Live #
July 24 St Petersburgh, FL @ Jannus Landing #
July 25 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade #
July 26 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
July 28 Towson, MD @ Recher Theater #
July 29 Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts #
July 30 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
July 31 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Aug 01 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Aug 02 Montreal, QC @ Foufounes Electriques
Aug 04 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
Aug 05 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
Aug 06 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Aug 07 Sauqet, IL @ Pop’s
Aug 08 Des Moines, IA @ People’s Court
Aug 09 Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4
Aug 11 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater
Aug 12 Murray, UT @ Murray Theater
Aug 14 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
Aug 15 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Aug 17 Sacramento, CA @ Empire Events Center
Aug 26 San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore
Aug 29 Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones
Aug 30 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theater
Aug 31 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theater

* = w/ Good Old War
# = w/ Zechs Marquise

For more info:

RX Bandits Official Website
MySpace
RX Bandits on Twitter