Sunflower Bean Usher in ‘Mortal Primetime’ Season This Spring
If you wandered into a New York club at any point in the last decade or so and spotted the words Champagne Taste on a flyer tacked onto the door, you were about to get lucky: That was actually a fake band name used by the fantastically fun rock trio Sunflower Bean when they wanted to play a secret show in their hometown without drawing a big crowd. Flash-forward to now, and you’ll get some of that same energy from the new Sunflower Bean single of the same name. “Champagne Taste,” out today, is a song full of confidential thrills, under-the-table excitement, and rock & roll escapism.
“Champagne Taste” is the first sip of Sunflower Bean’s fourth studio LP, Mortal Primetime, out April 25 on Lucky Number Records. It comes with a sleek, minimalist music video where singer and bassist Julia Cumming struts through an appealing pop melody, guitarist Nick Kivlen rips some Sabbath-y riffs and a short but epic solo, and drummer Olive Faber pounds out the beat on a white-out soundstage. If you’ve ever enjoyed a Sunflower Bean show, you’ll probably love this song.
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The last time we heard from Sunflower Bean, they were sharing their wild, heavy 2024 Shake EP and weighing future options. “The Bean world is always moving forward,” Cumming told Rolling Stone then. “So what comes next? Who are we rebelling against next? Who are we pissing off next, including ourselves?” Before that, in 2022, they told us the tumultuous story behind their third studio LP, Headful of Sugar, with all the personal reckonings and evolving band goals that went into it.
In a press release, Sunflower Bean say that Mortal Primetime — their first-ever self-produced LP — reflects the “personal challenges, tragedies, and transformations” they’ve gone through in the past three years, including breakups, cross-country moves, and side projects.
“It is not often that you get to announce a record, especially one with people you love so much,” Cumming added on social media. “But love is really at the heart of this record, many times literally but truly embedded into everything. It is our history and our truest forms. It’s our dedication to each other and every moment that we get to decide we don’t need to hold back.”
Sunflower Bean leave soon for a string of U.K. and Europe tour dates. They’ll return to the U.S. to play SXSW in March, followed by a full North American tour later in the spring and summer.
Sunflower Bean 2025 tour dates
Feb. 13 — Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow
Feb. 14 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo
Feb. 16 — Wolverhampton, UK @ Uni of Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall
Feb. 17 — London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Feb. 18 — London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Feb. 20 — Cologne, DE @ Palladium
Feb. 21 — Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
Feb. 23 — Amsterdam, NL @ AFAS Live
Feb. 24 — Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
Feb. 26 — Paris, FR @ Zenith
Feb. 27 — London, UK @ George Tavern
March 10-15 — Austin, TX @ SXSW
May 15 — Troy, NY @ No Fun
May 16 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
May 17 — Boston, MA @ Deep Cuts
May 22 — Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
May 23 — Washington, DC @ The Atlantis
May 24 — Raleigh, NC @ Kings
May 25 — Asheville, NC @ Eulogy
May 27 — Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records
May 28 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
May 30 — Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
May 31 — Austin, TX @ The Ballroom
June 1 — Houston, TX @ White Oak Upstairs
June 4 — Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
June 5 — San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
June 6 — Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room
June 7 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
June 9 — Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
June 10 — Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s
June 12 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
June 13 — Fort Collins, CO @ The Coast
June 14 — Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
June 17 — Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
June 19 — Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village
June 20 — Detroit, MI @ Third Man Records
June 21 — Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
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