The Front Bottoms—perennial favorites at Gainesville punk-rock bacchanal The Fest—are bringing a fall tour to Tampa when the band plays The Ritz in Ybor City on Sept. 21. And they’ll have new music to share, too.
Considering how The Front Bottoms have opened for Blink-182 a few times, it’s no surprise that the former’s latest single features Blink’s very own Matt Skiba on guitar. You probably don’t need that information to be able to audibly connect the dots, though. With verses slightly slower than the main chorus, as well as basic, yet energetic guitar riffs all throughout, “Voodoo Magic” was clearly partially composed by Skiba in tribute to Blink, as well as his other band—some group called Alkaline Trio.
Like the vast majority of active musicians old and young, the “Twin Size Mattress” duo released a brighten-your-pandemic-experience album in August of 2020. In Sickness And In Flames hasn’t really been given the opportunity to be promoted, but luckily, thanks to the mass vaccinations happening, that is about to change.
The Front Bottoms kick off a headlining tour promoting In Sickness And In Flames at Lollapalooza, but eventually make their way to Florida for the aforementioned Ritz Ybor show, along with the run’s only other Sunshine State stop in Orlando on Sept. 22 at Hard Rock Live.
The band said that there are some special guests lined up, but nothing has officially been announced yet. Still, Matt Skiba probably won’t be there to perform live on “Voodoo Magic” every night, but we can dream.
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This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2021.