Picture this: your favorite band has a new album ready and it’s teased for Spring 2020. COVID hits, so it gets delayed. Then, a record label partnership delays it further. Then, no new news, but a hell of a lot of teasing and egging on from the label via social media. The band isn’t all too active on socials, so you’re left in the dark.
Now, picture this. You’re running a label, and you’ve got a partnership with a label that has a cult-like dedicated fanbase. Best practices say that bands succeed the most when they have a tour lined up around an album release, whether it be just before, during, or shortly post-tour. Problem is, the fans haven’t had more than a short song-clip teaser to get excited about, and are lashing out on your socials. You can’t tease anything too early, as the tour isn’t until the fall.
I’ve interviewed quite a few musicians, and it’s a constant that they’re almost always sitting on new music. Rory Rodriguez was sitting on fully-recorded Hurtwave songs since 2018, and only saw the release come to fruition in 2020-21. Matt McAndrew and Slaves spread out singles over the course of a full year+ before the album with him released. For Eidola to have The Architect ready and sitting on a hard drive can only frustrate the musicians as much as it does the fans – they want them to experience it the most optimal way, even if it includes a wait.
Blue Swan Records’ partnership with Rise Records was announced in February 2021, but was evidently in the works since before last October to warrant the above announcement. Dance Gavin Dance’s new tour dates were currently rescheduled to this fall, with Eidola attached on the bill, so it’s apparent that the new music, by industry standards, has to hold off until it can be properly presented in front of a raucous, anticipating live audience.
There was speculation of the impending partnership before its initial announcement, and our friend Ryan at Scene Daddy spearheaded a reaction out of the label thanks to a single meme. Rise asked for 1,000 memes about the long delay for The Architect with #1000decentmemes, and the fans actually delivered hundreds upon hundreds of memes to generate hype for the initial news in just 5 days.
Here lies the issue: Rise Records’ twitter was fun and games on the news in February, but has been antagonistic, dismissive, or otherwise disheartening on the topic ever since.It’s great to see labels like SharpTone and UNFD interact with fans in a consistently positive light, but fans are growing weary with only seeing Rise reply to anxiously-waiting fans with manufactured vitriol like this:
The novelty has worn off after months and months of this strategy. Fans are sure to mount several reminders in the replies:
Fans are vehement about the way Rise has gone about The Architect’s release; it doesn’t help that the band hasn’t posted much of anything other than a brief clip back in February to tide fans over, but that’s not their prerogative nor their responsibility. It’s entirely possible that the social media manager for Rise was instructed by management to engage with fans with this demeanor, too – they may think that keeping the band’s name in tweets for all this time will create excitement when the time finally comes to release something more than this teaser:
Eidola’s album wasn’t the only one to get a delay due to COVID – several major releases were sat on for many months across the industry, with everything from Lady Gaga to Lamb of God getting pushed back. The Architect is different in that it’s now been four years since fans have tasted something new from the group, and they’re aching for even a tidbit of news by now without being belittled by the record label that has had the record to themselves for a long time now.
It’s impossible to tell just when we’ll get a taste of that new Eidola – even an announcement without a single would be recompense at this point, but the only current upcoming announcement that Rise has planned is for June 29th, and has already joked about it not being about the band:
We welcome discussion on this topic as it continues. It’s stressful for all parties – a label with tainted comment threads, fans dying for new music, a band waiting ages for their listeners to get a hold of it. If there’s solace to be had, Rise Records has done a bang-up job with their recent Pale Chord Records partnership, as Spiritbox has metamorphized from metal’s best-kept secret to the band in every fan’s mouth. Eidola is a shoe-in to be touted as the next big breakout on Rise Records, and The Architect will be heard by the end of 2021. Patience is a virtue.
