Injury Reserve has delivered their brand new album, By the Time I Get to Phoenix.
Clocking in at approximately 40 minutes, the 11-track project features one guest appearance from Zelooperz and marks the group’s first full-length release since the death of Stepa J. Groggs in 2020. By the Time I Get to Phoenix was mostly completed before the artist died, and surviving members Ritchie With a T and producer Parker Corey took the past year to finish the record. The two previously shared a lengthy statement in regards to the album:
“While touring europe in 2019, we had a show in stockholm that had been booked in the back of an italian restaurant instead of a typical venue. To match a certain lack of production we pivoted the show into our own improvisatory take on a dj set and ended up performing a song none of us had heard before, the board recording of which became the grounding for a new album. Over the next few months, we locked in and put together the 11 songs that that album would eventually become. Those early months of 2020 had about as much turmoil for us as one could expect last year, and between the general social upheaval, loss of livelihoods and family tragedy, the record we made carried these weights. Once the tracklist came together and we started to make sense of it, one of the last phone conversations we had with Groggs was over his love for the repurposing of Isaac Haye’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix to title the album. Shortly thereafter we were struck with his loss and of course everything was put on hold, but eventually, we regathered and felt most comfortable finishing this album we had made as it still resonated fully (in some respects even taking on what felt like haunting pre-echoes) and above all else stayed true to his constant insistence while recording to simply ‘make some weird shit.’
All this said obviously this album is dedicated to Jordan Alexander Groggs, aka Stepa J. Groggs with one p better get it right. Typing here feels small in the space of your real physical absence but you, your voice and your words continue to echo around us all thru these recordings and so many others and everything else. thank you for your time, we love and miss you, of course of course.”
Injury Reserve is also set to hit the road this Fall and will appear in Europe in 2022. Their North American tour dates will see them in areas like Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeels and Seattle before closing it out in Phoenix on December 29.
Stream Injury Reserve’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix on Spotify and Apple Music and take a look at their tour dates below.
North American Tour dates:
10/8 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian
10/11 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
10/12 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom
10/13 – Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
10/16 – Atlanta, GA @ The Loft
11/3 – Los Angeles, CA @ 1720
11/4 – Oakland, CA @ the New Parish
11/7 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
11/8 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
12/29 – Phoenix, AZ @ the Van Buren
Elsewhere in music, watch Nas’ music video for “Brunch on Sundays.”
