News

Xavier Rudd Takes Flight with Headlining White Moth Tour Partners with CLIF Bar and Embraces Greening Initiative Acclaimed Australian Performer calls upcoming Anti- disc his “Proudest Work” Special Guest of Dave Matthews Band on Australian and U.S. Tours

Xavier Rudd – the acclaimed Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist – will launch an extensive North American tour on June 16th with a performance at the 2007 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. The following day, a six-week headlining trek in support of his forthcoming Anti- album, White Moth (which drops June 19th), gets underway at the Madison Theatre in Covington, Kentucky. The tour wraps on July 31st at the Pearl Street Ballroom in Northampton, Mass.

Presale tickets will be available through MusicToday.com beginning tomorrow, Tuesday April 17th and run through Friday, April 27th. Presale ticket buyers will also be given the option to purchase White Moth in advance for $9.99; an advance purchase of the DVD enhanced CD without a ticket will cost $14.99. A General Announcement of The White Moth tour takes place on April 28th. Additionally, the tour will embrace a greening initiative in partnership with CLIF Bar’s Green Notes program to, as Xavier explains, “reduce our carbon footprint on the environment.”

In advance of his upcoming North American dates, Rudd will spend early May in his homeland, opening for the Dave Matthews Band on its tour of Australia. Then, following Bonnaroo (where he was the hottest merchandise seller when he last played there in 2005) and his own U.S. headlining commitment, Xavier will again join DMB as a special guest on select East Coast dates of their North American summer tour.

As for the hotly-awaited follow up to his acclaimed Anti- debut, Food In The Belly, Rudd says of White Moth, “It is my proudest work. I am so stoked with it. It’s a refection of my journey during the last year. Actually, it extends to seven years. Recording-wise, I got to do things I’d always wanted to do but never had the time or the budget.”

The disc finds Rudd speaking out against his country’s Aboriginal land right policies which have led to the wholesale displacement and mistreatment of its indigenous people. Xavier and co-producer Dave Ogilvie (David Bowie, Marilyn Manson and N.E.R.D.) recorded the bulk of White Moth in the woods of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast at Gggarth Richardson’s studio, The Farm.

Also featuring the voices of Aboriginal people captured in Arnhem Land – to the northeast of Australia’s Northern Territory – White Moth boasts members of the esteemed Aboriginal musical group Yothu Yindi on a number of tracks. Joined by percussionist Dave Tolley – a guest on Food In The Belly turned new addition to Rudd’s line up – the album also finds guest player Panos Grames (who lent his wares to Food In The Belly track “Mother Earth” and is the right hand man to esteemed Canadian environmental scientist and activist David Suzuki) in tow. First Nations Cree elder Kennitch also traveled from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to the White Moth sessions and can be heard lending traditional healing prayers and drum to “Foot Print” and “Message Stick.”

As for praise, The Boston Globe wrote “[Rudd] offers a strikingly original mix of music,” of Food In The Belly. “Some of his sound (and idealism) echoes the surf-folk of Jack Johnson, while his Weissenborn guitar-playing evokes Ben Harper. But mostly, Rudd is on a plateau of his own, playing a one-man blend of guitars, Yidaki (didgeridoos), stomp box and various percussion.”

Xavier Rudd’s previous albums, Solace (2004) and the aforementioned Food In The Belly (2005) earned platinum and gold sales certifications in Australia. His DVD Good Spirit (2006), counting footage from his sold out April 14, 2004 show at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, was just recently certified gold in Australia.

For The White Moth Tour, Xavier Rudd is partnering with CLIF Bar, a natural food company, and their GreenNotes campaign to promote environmental awareness and calling music fans to action by taking such environmentally conscious steps as using biodiesel to fuel tour buses; offsetting the tour's CO2 emissions through the purchase of clean, renewable wind energy credits; using recycled paper and soy based inks for printed materials; serving organic food backstage for artist and crew; providing organic cotton merchandise options for fans; and minimizing the idling of tour buses. Additional information on Xavier's tour and how fans can take action is available at www.clifgreennotes.com.

Here are Xavier Rudd’s upcoming, confirmed headlining U.S. Tour Dates with support act Serena Ryder:

6/17, Madison Theater, Covington, KY 6/19, Park West, Chicago, IL 6/20, First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 6/22, Gothic Theatre, Englewood, CO 6/25, El Rey, Los Angeles, CA 6/26, House of Blues, San Diego, CA 6/27 The Attic, Santa Cruz, CA 6/29, Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR 6/30, The Showbox, Seattle, WA 7/6, Grandstand Stage, High Sierra Music Festival, Plumas County Fairgrounds, Quincy, CA 7/7, Big Meadow Stage, High Sierra Music Festival, Plumas County Fairgrounds, Quincy, CA 7/23, Vogue Theater, Indianapolis, IN 7/24, House of Blues, Cleveland, OH 7/26, Highline Ballroom, New York, NY 7/27, Highline Ballroom, New York, NY 7/28, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC 7/29, 8 X 10, Baltimore, MD 7/31, Pearl Street Ballroom, Northampton, MA

Here are Xavier Rudd’s opening dates with The Dave Matthews Band:

8/1 Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts Mansfield, MA 8/2 Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts Mansfield, MA 8/4 New England Dodge Music Center Hartford, CT 8/5 New England Dodge Music Center Hartford, CT 8/7 Tweeter Center at the Waterfront Camden, NJ