Greats of rock music SHOWER have released the official lyric video for “Illusion”the second single from their upcoming studio album, “The surface seems so far away”which was announced on 20 September Fantasy RecordsThe LP presents SHOWERs typical mix of aggression and introspection. The tracklist for the new album – the successor to the 2020 “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”which boasted three No. 1 hits – sets the tone for an honest and exciting journey through themes of melancholy (“Remorse”),Self-reflection (“Same mistakes”) and pure emotions (“Dead on the vine”), with catchy hooks and driving bombast that emphasizes the many twists and turns. SHOWER‘s impressive catalogue, SHOWER Frontman and songwriter Shaun Morgan and his bandmates — Dale Stewart (Bass),John Humphrey (drums) and Corey Lowery (Guitar) — sounds alternately confident and confessional, consistently full of venom and vulnerability “The surface seems so far away”which Morgan produced with experienced producer Matt Hyde (DEFTONES, HUNTRESS) as a sound engineer and mixer.

Beginning of the month SHOWER released the official music video for the band’s current top 10 rock hit “Judas Spirit”. The clip, directed by David Brodsky for My Good Eye Music Visuals and produced by Allison Woestcan be seen below.

“‘Judas Spirit’ is a song about understanding that there are bad actors in our lives trying to force an outcome on us that we do not consider to be our destiny,” shared Morgan“It’s about standing up to people who have a vision for you that you don’t share.”

SHOWERknown for their authentic and thrilling live shows, support the release of “The surface seems so far away” this fall on a co-headlining tour with FRYING PANThe 18-day tour kicks off September 17 in Asheville and travels across the US with stops in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Albuquerque, Denver, Omaha and more before ending in Minneapolis on October 20. SHOWER will also occur in Louder than life And Aftershocks Festivals during the fall tour.

With five gold and platinum albums and two dozen Billboard Rock Airplay Top 10 hits, including 20 No. 1 hits on US radio during a career spanning two decades, SHOWER is as alive and relevant as ever. The South African-born Shaun Morgan proudly draws inspiration from its grunge and hard rock roots, creating a unique sonic identity that has propelled the band’s gold-certified American debut and continues to resonate with fans worldwide. The rock quartet, which also hosts the annual Rise Above Fest has been raising awareness of suicide prevention and mental illness for almost ten years, remains a beacon of integrity on “The surface seems so far away”which promises to captivate both loyal fans and newcomers with its mixture of catchy hooks, driving rhythms and uncompromising rock spirit.

“The surface seems so far away” Song List

01. Judas Spirit
02. illusion
03. Under the veil
04. Similarity to me
05. Walls fall
06. Attempts to heal
07. Paint the world
08. The same errors
09. Lost control
10. Dead on the vine
11. Remorse

Last May Morgan explained Ronnie Hunter And Lewis the 99.7 The Flash Radio station, why he and his SHOWER Bandmates were not willing to play the material from their successor “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” album. He said, “We live in such a terribly over-connected world that even the smallest things that make life a little bit more exciting, even for us, I think are cool. So if we played (the first single) live, it would be all over the internet the next day, and then the surprise is kind of gone. And maybe we should do that so we don’t talk about it too much. And (people will say), ‘Oh, that’s what it was about.’ But I think anticipation is a good thing.

“We finished that in January and mastered it in early February, so we’ve been sitting on it for a long time as well,” he explained. “So we’re excited to get it out and play it as well. But I think the anticipation can’t be underestimated, considering how much it can mean when it finally happens… In the past, you’d wait for album releases and think, ‘Oh my God. Finally, we can go to the store and buy the album. We can go home. We can read the lyrics,’ all those things. That doesn’t happen anymore. Most of the time, albums just come out and you think, ‘Oh, they’ve got a new album? I had no idea.’ And that’s a pretty sad world. We used to all line up around the block to buy a new album when it came out, so we want to build as much anticipation as possible.”

When asked whether the pressure increases every time he and his SHOWER Bandmates start writing a new album, Shaun said: “The idea is not to put pressure on yourself with a deadline. And when it’s done, it will be done and you will know it. So if you had a deadline, you would panic and write stuff just for the sake of writing. But I think at the end of the day, as long as you understand that once it’s done, it presents itself as done, you can say, ‘Okay, it’s done’ and move on. But then you start recording, and when you’re done recording, you think, ‘Ah, I should have changed that,’ and now it’s too late. You can’t change those words. So it’s always evolving and it’s always a process. But I think from, ‘Okay, we’re done with this tour. Let’s take a couple of months off and then we’ll start again’ to, ‘All right, let’s see what happens’ is always kind of like, ‘All right, let’s see what happens.’ And the first three months might suck, but at least it gets going again. And then you get into the swing of things. And then it gets done on its own and you know when it’s done. And then it’s like, ‘Hey guys, label guys, we have this album for you.’ And luckily they’re not a very pushy A&R company; they pretty much leave us alone. And that’s great too, because you don’t have a guy breathing down your neck trying to force your thumb to sound a certain way or do a certain thing.”

Photo credit: Alex Berger