The Budos Band Announce 1st Full-Length Album In 5 years ‘VII’ & Share Blazing Single ‘Overlander’

The Budos Band detailed their first full-length album in five years, VII, arriving on May 30 through Diamond West Records. The group previewed the album with the lead single, “Overlander.”

VII follows The Budos Band’s 2023 EP Frontier’s Edge and the 2020 LP Long in the Tooth. Guitarist Tom Brenneck, however, likened the new record to their 2014 release.

“It’s almost like we’ve refined the sound we were going for on Burnt Offering,” Brenneck said. “It’s not quite as raw.”

Brenneck produced the new record alongside engineer Simon Guzmán in the band’s newly minted Diamond West Studios in Los Angeles.

Press materials detailed VII:

VII features 11 tightly constructed new tracks that draw on the group’s wide range of influences, sounding like only The Budos Band can. It’s music for getting down, for nighttime drives and for alternate headspaces — a beguiling mix of mystery and rhythm that stands with the formidable work they’ve released in their two decades of recording.

Speaking to The Budos Band’s singular style, saxophonist Jared Tankel said: “That’s the genreless aspect of the band. We’re not Afrobeat, we’re not Ethiopian jazz. We’re not world music. We’re not really funk, we’re not soul. We’re not rock. We’re just an amalgam of all these different sounds, so things pop out in all directions when you listen.”

“Sometimes it’s like we’re speaking some esoteric language that no one else understands except us, and we’re doing it wrong,” Brenneck added. “It’s like how the Stones tried to play the blues and they missed the mark and they made something new — everything The Budos tries to do, we do wrong, and it sounds like The Budos.”

The Zambian-rock influenced lead single for VII, “Overlander,” arrived with a visual directed by Nathan David Smith based on original artwork by Budos drummer Brian Profilio. Watch below:

The Budos Band will celebrate VII over the course of three concerts at the end of May including two nights at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. Scroll down for their itinerary and ticket info.