FYeah X Ambassadors

TOWNIE TOUR NORTH AMERICA 2024

with special guests Noah Gundersen, New West, and Rowan Drake.

X Ambassadors FAULT Magazine Cover and Interview

FRIDAY 5TH APRIL 2024

|IN MUSIC

X Ambassadors are back with a brand new album, “Townie,” and it’s a deeply personal exploration of their hometown roots. We caught up with the band to discuss their process, inspirations and their FAULTs.

What inspired the album’s title and how did the concept for Townie come about?

The album’s title, “Townie,” was inspired by my upbringing in a college town where the locals were often referred to as “townies” by the college students. The concept for “Townie” came about from my desire to explore and embrace my roots, to delve into the identity and experiences of those who grew up in such towns.

How did growing up in Ithaca shape your music and storytelling for this album?

Growing up in Ithaca greatly influenced the music and storytelling on this album. It provided a unique backdrop and perspective that infused my songs with elements of small-town life, personal experiences, and the struggles and triumphs of navigating adolescence in such an environment.

Can you give us a glimpse into the songwriting process for this album and how you decided which stories to share?

The songwriting process for this album often began with introspection and reflection on personal experiences and emotions. I chose stories that resonated deeply with me, ones that I felt encapsulated the essence of growing up in a college town and grappling with identity, loss, and relationships.

How did you navigate expressing raw emotion through your music and songwriting?

Expressing raw emotion through my music and songwriting was a journey of vulnerability and self-discovery. While initially daunting, I found solace and empowerment in embracing the authenticity of my emotions and experiences, allowing them to shape the heart and soul of the album.

“Rashad” touches on the theme of loss and grief. Can you elaborate on the inspiration behind this song?

“Rashad” was inspired by the tragic loss of a close friend at a young age. It delves into themes of grief, remembrance, and the fleeting nature of life. The song serves as a tribute to my friend and a reminder to cherish the moments we have.

Why did you choose “No Strings” as the lead single for this project?

We chose “No Strings” as the lead single because it encapsulated the carefree moments of youth intertwined with a sense of disillusionment and introspection. It set the tone for the album, bridging the gap between nostalgia and maturity.

As you embark on a UK tour and prepare for the album’s release, what are you most excited for fans to experience with “Townie”?

I’m most excited for fans to experience the authenticity and depth of “Townie.” I hope the album resonates with listeners, transporting them to the world of small-town life and evoking a range of emotions and reflections.

Is there a narrative thread that connects the whole album?

Yes, there is a narrative thread that weaves throughout the album, exploring themes of identity, belonging, loss, and growth. Each song contributes to a larger tapestry of personal experiences and reflections on life in a college town.

What is your FAULT? (Personal flaw).

Eric Fuller

Apr 5, 2024,03:01am EDT

TYLER JAY HANSON

It’s always fun to hear a good band’s newest release. Sure, the single might be streaming, but there is the rest of the music just waiting to be heard. When the band has been around for a while, like X Ambassadors have, then there is an expectation of the musical journey waiting to unspool.

Townie, releasing April 5, 2024, is unexpectedly nostalgic. The album is colored by lead singer Sam Nelson Harris’ experience growing up alongside his brother and bandmate Casey in Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is a college town, perhaps best known as the home of Cornell University.

College towns are transient. Students come for a few years, then typically move elsewhere as they begin the path to adulting. In Ithaca, the colleges were dominant in town. They were a window into another world for the locals and a stopping point in life for those enrolled. The students rarely ventured far beyond the campus. Many of the adults living in town worked at the schools.

I spoke with Sam Nelson Harris, the lead singer of X Ambassadors, and principal author of Townie. He wrote this album reflecting on what he experienced during his Ithaca years. He was not a college student there, he was a “townie.” Living alongside those who simply arrive in town and act as education tourists flags the differences in status and attitude of those who came as a step to furthering their career. Those who are lifers in town live an entirely different experience. They are always there, and often always in the background.

Harris didn’t want to be an afterthought. He and other locals wanted to stake their claim to the city. New kids would come into town for college then go on to their own adventures. Harris moved out of Ithaca as soon as he turned 18. He moved to New York City for 10 years, then spent the next ten in Los Angeles where he remains. Harris tried to run away from himself and not have his identity tied to Ithaca. Now, however, he is returning to the idea that Ithaca formed a significant part of who he became, and he reconciles those ideas through Townie.

Townie is a very personal record. Harris’ voice is vulnerable and honest. He reflects upon what Ithaca represents because outside the region it has a limited identity beyond being a college center. Harris wrote Townie as an album about upstate New York - where there are cold winters. and the colors are grey and brown. There are so many forgotten towns upstate like Ithaca. Harris wanted to make a record about that life.

He now finds he is deeply tied to Ithaca, even while he lives with his family in Los Angeles. Ithaca is the home for Cornell and Ithaca College. Sam felt isolated in that environment. Upstate New York doesn’t resonate with people who live outside the region. Upstate New York has its own specific identity, which is the core idea behind the album.

X Ambassadors recently finished a European tour, returning to start a 44 city North American tour. Their current tour began April 3 and runs through the end of June. On this tour there are four in the band plus their support team. They play in comfortably sized rooms.

Harris loves being surrounded by artists in Los Angeles. There is inspiration in a creation space. It’s a space where the quality of your art is your credibility. This ethos differs from other places which are scorekeeping by counting money. When art is your endeavor, then art is also the result. Harris both writes and performs, so he has the satisfaction along with his band to break out of the isolation which all writers face and celebrate with those who watch their performance in real time. This duality both inspires and reaffirms the public awareness and acceptance of their work.

Watch X Ambassadors at the Paste Magazine East Austin Block Party Presented by Ilegal Mezcal

By Adi Har-Shemesh  |  April 5, 2024 | 4:45pm

MUSIC FEATURES X AMBASSADORS

This year at Paste’s East Austin Block Party, we experimented with something new: instead of our live sessions, we turned the indoor stage of The Coral Snake into a recording studio; allowing artists a chance to drop in and chat with us as well as record some music, while giving the crowd an opportunity to see a recording up close and personal. “Personal” is the defining keyword of our session with X Ambassadors. They dropped by on Wednesday afternoon, playing us three songs off their upcoming album Townie, out today via Virgin Music.

First was “No Strings” featuring lead guitarist Russ Flynn’s hypnotic tremolo picking beautifully melded with Sam Nelson Harris’ warm vocals and guitar, while Adam Levin created a perfect balance to both with rhythm on drum pad. Harris’ voice has an element that is unique to great songwriters, that they can tell you any story like it’s your own, and X Ambassadors have done that and more.

“No Strings”

After “No Strings”, X Ambassadors moved on to their unreleased track “Sunoco”, the first track off Townie. It’s clear why the band chose that name. As Harris explained between songs, Sunoco is the name of a gas station chain that was common in the Northeast where he’s from. “And that’s where I spent most of my time growing up,” said Harris with a little smile, ”hanging out at those gas stations.” The songs evoke a feeling of being homesick for a life I never got to experience, but still find myself nostalgic for.

With a playful nod to their manager just offscreen, X Ambassadors launch into the unreleased “Sunoco.”

“Sunoco”

X Ambassadors’ magical talent for universality ironically lies with their specificity, with lyrics like “paint a picture of a little anarchist/ making movies on his dad’s camera”, and “doing donuts in the parking lot / me and my friends will never get caught / 6 AM and I feel like I’ll never leave this place alive.”

“Sunoco” taps into the feeling that you’re destined for “bigger” things than the town you were born in while still feeling tied to your roots, where you’re from, and the life you were given, but once felt too good for.

For their last song, “Your Town”, Levin left the stage, leaving only Harris and Flynn. “Your Town” is the most recent release from X Ambassadors. Introducing the song, Harris took the time to speak personally to the audience. He mentioned a major inspiration for the album is his hometown of Ithaca, a college town, “hence the title of the album, Townie, I’m a townie,” Harris joked. Speaking of “Your Town”, he said, “this song specifically, I wrote for my teacher Todd Peterson, who passed away in 2021. Todd taught me everything that I know about being on stage,” Harris continued, “I think it took him passing away for me to really realize how special it is to be from where I’m from,” he added, “to have been raised by people like him, by my family, by my friends. This song is for him, it’s for my town, but it’s also for you and wherever you’re from.”

“Your Town”

“Your Town” leads us to a strong finish. It is an emotional gut punch of a song. It’s a love letter to Peterson, but also to youthful arrogance, to learning to appreciate the things you used to resent, to becoming whole with who you have become and who you used to be. Townie sounds like love, and X Ambassadors managed to convey that love in their three-song session, if the screaming applause from the audience that followed wasn’t indication enough.

Look out for “Townie”, out April 5th on Virgin Records.

X Ambassadors - Full Session | Paste

Watch X Ambassadors play three songs (“No Strings” | “Sunoco” | "Your Town") from their new album 'Townie. Recorded live at The Coral Snake in Austin, TX on March 13, 2024 

Sam Nelson Harris - Lead vocals and guitar 

Adam Levin - Drum pad 

TOWNIE is a home-coming album. Casey and I are from a small college-town in central New York called Ithaca. Ithaca is home to three universities; an Ivy Leaguer, a liberal arts conservatory, and a state community college. The students make up more than 50% of the population, and the town largely exists for and because of them. Every year we'd watch as the students would arrive, bodies buzzing with their newfound independence and every year we'd watch them go off into the big-bad world, their rolled up college degrees tucked in their pants pockets like swords in hilts. The students would come and go, and we'd be left behind. They'd call us "townies”— the people on the periphery who existed mostly as just background actors in the movies of their college experiences. We were the ones working behind the counter at the coffee shop and bars, or bagging your groceries at Wegmans; who'd sell you cheap zips of shitty weed or coke from their houses out in the middle of the woods. The ones who'd show up at frat parties, reeking of we-don't-belong-here and who'd eventually get kicked out for doing something dumb like starting a fight or spray-painting a dick on the wall.

We grew up restless. Both Casey and I, fighting for our own versions of independence from our surroundings. Both fighting to be seen and heard when we felt invisible. Ithaca almost felt like it wanted you to disappear—with its endlessly grey skies, leafless trees, freezing temperatures, and its geographical (and from my teenage perspective, cultural) isolation. Compared to the glimpses I'd get from the students passing through, and from the annual trips we'd take to visit our dad at work (whose job as a film publicist took him all over the world to so many strange, exotic places); our little life just the three of us -mom, Casey and I— seemed so small. Teenage logic had me convinced that becoming a rock star was the best cure for this restlessness, so Casey and I made music together in our basement and in our friend's garages or sheds, banking on that being our ticket out. Somehow we did it, and yet somewhere along the way I found myself being drawn back to this place that I so desperately sought to free myself from.

Like pretty much everybody in the world, there's always been a part of me that thought if I checked all the boxes I made when I was a frustrated teenager living in Ithaca, that someday I'd wake up— having shaken off the dust of my hometown— and feel like I had ARRIVED. Now here I am, 35 years old; working my dream-job, financially stable, married, living in one of the biggest cities in the world. And yet I still feel like that insecure, 16-year old kid with a prematurely-receding hairline and the weight of the world on his shoulders who's still scared of being left behind. Writing this album was me asking myself "why?" Here's what I came up with:

I am a Townie. I will always be a Townie. To deny that, is to deny everything that I am. And yes my town was small, but the people I grew up with never let me think that the world wasn't big and exciting and out there for the taking. In my town I was loved, I was encouraged, I was accepted, I was challenged, I was knocked down and picked back up again a million times. It might not have been the cultural Mecca I dreamed about, but we had a pretty sick independent movie theater and more than one good coffee shop. The Red Hot Chili Peppers never came to play our State Theater, but that meant less competition for the all-ages shows we'd put on at the Wownet Internet Cafe (RIP Internet Cafe's everywhere). The guys at the music store knew my mom, so they let me spend hours in there "testing out” guitars and pedals and recording equipment like I was actually ever going to have the money to buy anything. No one ever made me feel like an idiot for having dreams, or that those dreams couldn't come true, just that they'd still be there for me, that MY TOWN would be there for me, in case they didn't.

I'm so lucky to have grown up where and how I did. Full stop. From the moment I gleefully left town at 18, I think that idea took root in me somewhere; and so it feels like a very appropriate that, 18 years later, we'd be putting out an album that's a love letter to Ithaca and to Upstate New York.

This is TOWNIE. For my town and Caseys, for Adam's and Russ', and for you and yours. For the Townies in all of us.

X Ambassadors: No Strings

Late Night with Seth Meyers

April 3rd 2024

X Ambassadors - Smoke On the Highway (Official Visualizer)

4 Apr 2024 

Lyrics: 

Make yourself at home

03 April 2024, 15:00

Words by Jen Long

(X AMBASSADORS)

X Ambassadors tell Jen Long how they learnt to embrace their Ithaca roots on new album Townie.

After leaving Upstate New York for the big city’s bright lights, X Ambassadors frontman Sam Nelson Harris refused to look back for a long time. On new record Townie, he confronts and embraces his formative years, creating a collection of songs that are full of rich reflection and a cohesive catharsis.

“I have not always been capable of writing like this. I’m growing and evolving as a songwriter and I’m very proud of this record specifically. I wanted to show people what we’re capable of,” smiles X Ambassadors frontman Sam Nelson Harris from the backstage room of Camden’s Electric Ballroom ahead of a sold out show.

On tour in the lead up to the release of their fourth album Townie, out this week, Harris is joined by longtime band member Adam Levin, as well as Russ Flynn who juggles guitar and bass duties. Co-founding member Casey Harris, Sam’s brother, is absent from the run due to a family emergency.

Known for their theatrical flair, embracing pop refrains and genre-fluid collaborations, Townie has the potential to take fans by surprise. An atmospheric, diaristic record, the songs take a raw approach, often driven by acoustic guitar with sombre, imagery-heavy delivery. “I was trying to figure out why I was so fascinated about making a record that felt like Upstate New York and why I had for so many years fought against this part of myself that was from there,” says Harris. “When we moved to New York, I was like, ‘We’re a Brooklyn band now.’ Even when I lived in Ithaca, I didn’t want to be from Upstate New York, I just wanted to be from somewhere else.”

X Ambassadors unveil new song 'Follow The Sound Of My Voice' from anticipated album 'Townie' out April 5

Newsdesk

March 28 2024

Today, X Ambassadors—Sam Nelson Harris and Casey Harris along with Adam Levin—unveil new song, “Follow The Sound of My Voice,” a powerful and loving tribute written by Sam for his brother and bandmate, Casey.

The track is the latest shared from the band’s highly anticipated new album, Townie, which will be released next Friday, April 5 via Virgin Music (pre-order/pre-save here). The album marks a compelling new chapter for the band as they return to their upstate New York roots and paint an intricate portrait of their hometown’s most mundane aspects and the community that molded them. Ahead of the release, the band has shared three additional tracks: “Your Town,” “No Strings” and “Half-Life.”

Of “Follow The Sound of My Voice,” Sam shares: “I was terrified to write this song. When I first started thinking about Townie, I had an idea to write a song about every member of the band. Then I realized that I would have to write a song about my brother, Casey. My stomach instantly went into knots. It scared me so much -- not only because distilling our entire relationship into a single song seemed so daunting, but also because I knew that I’d have to talk very candidly about a pretty big elephant in the room.

Casey is blind. He was born blind due to a genetic disorder called Senior-Løken syndrome. I’ve helped my brother navigate through the world my whole life. He uses a cane, but I’m often also guiding him by the shoulder. And when he doesn’t have his cane and my hands are full, he has to rely solely on the sound of my voice. Just a voice in the dark, reaching out.

Casey— being your brother has been the greatest gift I could’ve ever asked for. And for all the times I’ve used you to skip to the front of the line at the airport, I’ll love you forever.”

Adding to an already notable year, X Ambassadors recently wrapped their hugely successful U.K./European tour, with sold out nights in Paris, Amsterdam, Glasgow, Munich, Zurich, Cologne and their largest show to date in London. They’ll continue to tour in support of the new music through this summer with extensive North American dates beginning next Friday, April 5 and including stops in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Austin and more. Complete list of dates below. The shows will see support from New West and Rowan Drake in the U.S., and Noah Gundersen in Canada.

Townie follows a move from the band’s hometown of Ithaca, New York to Brooklyn, an explosive debut album, extensive global touring, as well as recent work with massive artists such as Lizzo, Rihanna, The Weeknd and SZA, and multiple songs penned for major motion pictures.

Reflecting on the project, Sam shares, “A gas station glows in the night, two miles from the Tompkins County line. It cuts through the bleak, winter night like a grotesque, twenty-first century lighthouse. To the east— the college town of Ithaca, NY. To the west, everything else. The air is cold and unforgiving. The landscape every shade of grey and brown on the color-wheel. A couple of teenagers loiter in the parking lot, plotting their escape. Most of them know they won’t ever leave this town, so tonight their escape is a temporary one. Rollies and half-drank liters of Mountain Dew. Grapefruit blunts and chapped lips. Their baggy clothes full of restlessness and longing. This is Townie.”

Townie adds to a renowned career for X Ambassadors, who exploded onto the scene in 2015 with the success of their Platinum-certified debut album, VHS. The record featured singles “Unsteady” and “Renegades,” which have since garnered more than 1.3 billion streams on Spotify and led the band to a three-year long world tour. VHS was followed by ORION (2019), the Belong EP (2020), The Beautiful Liar (2021) and (Eg) (2023), a series of collaborative singles featuring artists such as BRELAND, Teddy Swims & Jac Ross, Medium Build and PAMÉ.

Recently, the band released “Deep End,” which was written for and featured in the new movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The track is just the latest contribution the band has made to major films, with other works including “Torches” (Transformers), “Great Unknown” (The Call of the Wild) and “Sucker for Pain” (Suicide Squad) among others.

TOWNIE TRACK LIST

1. Sunoco

2. Smoke on the Highway

3. Your Town

4. I’m Not Really Here

5. Rashad

6. (first dam)

7. Fallout

8. Women’s Jeans

9. Half-Life

10. Follow the Sound of My Voice

11. Start A Band

12. No Strings

ON TOUR - BUY X AMBASSADORS TICKETS NOW!

05-May-2024-US - San Diego, The Observatory North Park

06-May-2024-US - Los Angeles, Los Angeles State Historic Park

08-May-2024-US - San Luis Obispo, Fremont Theater

09-May-2024-US - San Francisco, August Hall

11-May-2024-US - Portland, Hawthorne Theatre

14-May-2024-US - Salt Lake City, The Depot

16-May-2024-US - Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Center

18-May-2024-US - Omaha, Slowdown

19-May-2024-US - Minneapolis, Varsity Theater

20-May-2024-US - Des Moines, Wooly's

21-May-2024-US - Chicago, House of Blues Chicago presented by Cricket Wireless

22-May-2024-US - Grand Rapids, The Intersection

22-May-2024-US - San Francisco, August Hall

24-May-2024-US - Detroit, Saint Andrews Hall

26-May-2024-US - Milwaukee, The Rave-Eagles Club

26-May-2024-US - Cleveland, House of Blues Cleveland presented by Cricket Wireless

28-May-2024-US - Millvale, Mr Smalls Theatre

29-May-2024-US - Philadelphia, Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia

31-May-2024-US - New York, Irving Plaza presented by Cricket Wireless