Astronautalis Plots Canadian Tour, Premieres "The Dirt Bike"

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Mar 20, 2017

Minneapolis-based MC Astronautalis Cut the Body Loose on his fifth studio LP last year, and he's set to bring tracks from his latest effort north of the border on a Canadian headlining tour this spring.

The MC will spend 10 days in May travelling through Canada with performances lined up in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City. Support on all dates will come from Transit22 and Brom.

Along with the Exclaim!-presented tour announcement, Astronautalis has shared a new song, "The Dirt Bike." Produced by Saskatoon beatsmith Factor Chandelier, the track was inspired by a dream brought on by shocking video footage and an interesting purchase the MC had made, as he explains below:

A few weeks after the Russians entered the war in Syria, I came across a slickly edited HD video shot by Russian drones flying through the skeletons of what was left of cities like Damascus and Aleppo. I had never seen anything like that. I was obsessed with this footage. It seemed impossible to imagine that it was real, and not something from a videogame, or a movie about a distant planet in a war torn galaxy.

Around the same time, I had bought an used dirt bike from some kid. A Yamaha YZ 450F. It is a wild little bike with too much torque. Compared to my giant Harley, it felt like I was breaking a horse trying to learn how to ride in my free time.

And one night, during that weird period of my life… I had this dream.


Read through Astronautalis's complete tour itinerary to hear the premiere of "The Dirt Bike" in the player below.

Tour dates:

05/18 Calgary, AB - The Gateway
05/19 Edmonton, AB - Brixx
05/20 Saskatoon, SK - Amigos Cantina
05/24 Waterloo, ON - The Starlight
05/26 Toronto, ON - The Cave
05/27 Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz
05/28 Quebec City, QC - Le Cercle

Latest Coverage