Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White & Emmett Kelly Announce New Band The Hard Quartet

After teasing on social media, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly confirmed the launch of a new band called The Hard Quartet. The supergroup shared their first single, “Earth Hater” and confirmed a batch of tour dates.

Guitarist Stephen Malkmus is a co-founding member of Pavement and leader of his solo band The Jicks. Among guitarist Matt Sweeney’s many credits is co-founding Chavez, as well as Superwolf with Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Guitarist Emmett Kelly is the primary member of The Cairo Gang and worked with Sweeney in Superwolf. Drummer Jim White’s extensive past work includes the Dirty Three and many others including The Double with Kelly.

The Hard Quartet shared their debut single, “Earth Hater,” which arrived with an accompanying music video. Directed by EYEDRESS, watch the single’s video here:

The Hard Quartet announced a brief tour that will see the band make their live debut in October. The brief run of shows will take place in Los Angeles on October 10, in New York City on October 17 and in London on October 22. According to the band’s announcement, The Hard Quartet will tour “extensively” next year.

A presale for tickets for the three upcoming October concerts starts Wednesday, July 31 at 10 a.m. local venue time. General tickets go on sale on Friday, August 2 at 10 a.m. local.