Fantastic Negrito is marking the one year anniversary of his GRAMMY® Award-winning album, PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD, with the premiere of a powerful new companion video. "The Suit That Won't Come Off" is streaming now at Fantastic Negrito's official YouTube channel HERE. A special closed captioned version of the video is also available to stream on Fantastic Negrito's official Facebook page with a donation link to the Braille Institute.
WATCH "THE SUIT THAT WON'T COME OFF"
Shot on location at the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, "The Suit That Won't Come Off" was directed by acclaimed 18-year-old filmmaker Freddy Macdonald - his third collaboration with Fantastic Negrito following "The Duffler" (shot on location at the Baden Blues Festival in Switzerland) and "A Boy Named Andrew" (filmed at various locations in Milan, Italy). In addition, "The Suit That Won't Come Off" further showcases the remarkable work of dancer Odil Gerfaut and choreographer Angele Carole Chappuis, both of whom are visually handicapped.
"Our freedom comes when we face our fear," says Fantastic Negrito. "It comes when we embrace and celebrate what makes us unique. We grew up feeling like outsiders; a lost tribe. Sometimes isolated or ashamed about what was unique about us. We could not fit into society's repressed fantasies of how the world should look, how it should be. This song is for everyone that ever felt left out, not good enough, imperfect, ridiculed for being different a freak. I am you, you are me, we are we -- A tribe with love in our hearts."
"The Suit That Won't Come Off" is a yet another powerful song off of Fantastic Negrito's GRAMMY®-winning second album, PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD. The expanded edition of the 2018 LP Is available now for streaming and download via Cooking Vinyl and Blackball Universe.
Recently named "Best Blues Album" at the Libera Awards, celebrating independent music and artists, PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD undoubtedly ranked among last year's most important releases, with NPR's Bob Boilen presciently declaring, "Fantastic Negrito won a GRAMMY® for the 'Best Contemporary Blues Album' for 2016's LAST DAYS OF OAKLAND. PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD, with its intense fervor, should make that two years in a row." The New York Times' Jon Pareles hailed the album as "a cranked-up, slow-grinding attack on addiction and consumerism," while the Associated Press wrote, "Negrito puts himself in the middle of the fray with PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD, and offers his songs for the soundtrack of the lives of those who won't give up and are willing to carry on." "Echoes of Zeppelin, The Black Keys, and Jack White are as prevalent as those of Leadbelly or Son House," applauded Glide Magazine. "And, like the jazz artists mentioned, urban aspects of hip-hop, rap, and spoken word filter through as does R&B" Perhaps Entertainment Weekly said it best: "When you've been a small-time drug hustler, experienced a brush with death, a false start as a major label artist, and life as a busker, you're well-positioned to sing the blues - as Fantastic Negrito does on his incendiary, consciousness-raising new album."
Along with "The Suit That Won't Come Off," PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD includes the extraordinary singles, "Plastic Hamburgers," "A Boy Named Andrew," and "The Duffler," the latter of which earned fulsome praise from Rolling Stone: "With its greasy guitar stomp and falsetto vocal delivery, 'The Duffler' fills the middle ground between modern protest music for the political rally and sweaty, sexed-up baby-making music for the bedroom."
Long hailed for his electrifying live performances, Fantastic Negrito is currently in the midst of a truly epic world tour, with dates scheduled through the fall. Highlights include appearances at such legendary gatherings as the UK's Glastonbury (June 29 and 30), his hometown of Oakland, CA's Art + Soul Oakland (July 28), Chicago, IL's Lollapalooza (August 1-4), and Atlanta, GA's AFROPUNK (October 13), along with a range of international festival sets, headline dates, and a sold out show supporting Sting, set for September 2 at Taos, NM's Kit Carson Park. For complete details and ticket information, please visit fantasticnegrito.com/pages/tour.
Fantastic Negrito has spent much of the past two years on the road, including sold out headline shows, stage-stealing festival performances, and a series on North American and European tours supporting his great fan, the late Chris Cornell, as well as Cornell's legendary supergroup Temple of the Dog. 2018 saw major market headline shows (such as the PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD release event at San Francisco's historic Fillmore), dates supporting Sturgill Simpson, sets at such festivals as Arroyo Seco Weekend, Newport Folk Festival, and AFROPUNK FEST, and a spectacular full band performance and interview on CBS This Morning: Saturday, streaming HERE.
FANTASTIC NEGRITO ON TOUR 2019
JUNE
25 - Ancienne Belgique - Brussels, Belgium
26 - LantarenVenster - Rotterdam, Netherlands
27 - Doornroosje - Nijmegen, Netherlands
29 - Glastonbury Festival (The Other Stage) - Pilton, United Kingdom *
30 - Glastonbury Festival (Left Field Stage) - Pilton, United Kingdom *
JULY
2 - New Morning - Paris, France
4 - Festival R.Pop - La Roche Sur Yon, France *
5 - Festival Beauregard - Herouville-saint-clair, France *
6 - Cognac Blues Passions - Saint-laurent-de-cognac, France *
10 - Festival international du blues de Tremblant - Mont-tremblant, Canada *
11 - Theatre Granada - Sherbrooke, Canada
13 - The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA
14 - Green River Festival - Greenfield, MA *
18 - BAM R&B Festival - New York, NY *
26 - FloydFest - Floyd, VA *
28 - Art + Soul Oakland Festival - Oakland, CA *
31 - Saint Andrew's Hall - Detroit, MI
AUGUST
1-4 - Lollapalooza - Chicago, IL *
3 - Lincoln Hall (Lollapalooza Aftershow) - Chicago, IL
22 - Teatro Ibiza - Ibiza, Spain
24 - Greenbelt Festival - Kettering, United Kingdom *
31 - Santa Fe Railyard Plaza - Santa Fe, NM
SEPTEMBER
2 - Kit Carson Park - Taos, NM (w/Sting) SOLD OUT
4 - Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO
OCTOBER
13 - AFROPUNK - Atlanta, GA *
* FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE
