Joseph Arthur and Peter Buck of band R.E.M. have announced their first ever North American tour in support of the duo’s first studio album Arthur Buck, set to be released June 15th. The tour will kick off September 7th in Seattle, WA and will hit major cities throughout September including Los Angeles, Nashville, and Chicago before concluding in Minneapolis September 24th.

In a press release, the live band will consist of Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M., The Baseball Project) on bass, Linda Pitmon (Minus 5, Filthy Friends, The Baseball Project) on drums, and Gregg Foreman (Pharmacy, Delta 72, Cat Power) on Keyboards. See the 2018 tour dates below.

The new album is set to feature 11 songs with all of them being co-written by Buck and Arthur. It was produced by Buck and mixed by Tchad Blake, who has also worked with U2 and The Black Keys. Two songs have been released from the album so far, called “Are You Electrified” and “Forever Waiting” which premiered today via Billboard.  Arthur discusses “Forever Waiting,” stating it “was one of the initial songs we wrote together in Mexico.  One of the first four and to me then, it was evidence of a blooming chemistry. ‘You call it weakness to sell your love across the wall.  But now all your secrets.  Won’t cover up the way you crawl.’  Those somewhat esoteric lines remind me of what it’s like to be an artist and the strangeness of profiting off the damage of your life.  But they are abstract enough to create other meanings.”

Arthur Buck 2018 Tour Dates

Sept. 7 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
Sept. 8 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
Sept. 10 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
Sept. 11 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
Sept. 13 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
Sept. 16 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
Sept. 18 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live – Downstairs
Sept. 19 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Sept. 20 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sept. 21 – Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
Sept. 23 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
Sept. 24 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry

Arthur recently had a month-long residency at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, CA and Buck recently celebrated the 25th Anniversary of his band, R.E.M’s album Automatic by The People. The band reissued the album along with unreleased tracks.