High On Fire have posted a teaser for their new “Bat Salad“ 7 inch, which is set to be released on April 13 as part of Record Store Day. The effort will come with three songs, including the new title track and covers of Celtic Frost‘s “Into The Crypts Of Rays” and Bad Brains‘ “Don’t Bother Me.“
High On Fire have been forced to cancel their January North American tour due to medical reasons. The band previously cancelled their fall 2018 tour after Matt Pike underwent a partial toe amputation and now the frontman could possibly face even more amputation.
Pike commented:
“Dear Friends and fans,
To my brothers, my crew, and anyone else this affects. I do apologize for the inconvenience of this cancelation. I feel as though I’m explaining lightning striking twice. I wanted nothing more in the world to play these songs live, nor ever cancel something I say I’m gonna do.
I am a warrior for our art, and have endured some painful things to what we do. The timing and repeating nature of this is my nightmare and almost impossible. Nevertheless, to save yet another toe, my big one, I have been grounded by circumstances out of my control. I will have more of a medical report to come but right now I’m at great risk of losing it, and/or a bigger portion of my foot due to Diabetes. Which I have been managing very well.
It just shows how this disease can affect our lives. Please forgive me, and if you know anything about me, you know this is not like me. We will be back!”
After previously dropping off their fall tour with Municipal Waste due to Matt Pike’s partial toe amputation, High On Fire will be returning to the road early next year, You can find the dates for their newly announced North American tour below.
Tour Dates:
01/10 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
01/11 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
01/12 Richmond, VA – Broadberry
01/13 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
01/15 Philadelphia, PA – TLA
01/16 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw
01/18 Boston, MA – The Sinclair
01/19 Montreal, QC – Fairmount
01/20 Toronto, ON – Opera House
01/22 Chicago, IL – Metro
01/23 Minneapolis, MN – Skyway
01/25 Denver, CO – Oriental
01/26 Omaha, NE – Slowdown
01/27 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
01/29 Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar and Grill
01/30 Austin, TX-Barracuda
01/31 Houston, TX – White Oak
02/01 New Orleans, LA – House Of Blues
It looks like High On Fire have been in the studio working on music for a Record Store Day (April 20) release. The group posted the following:
High On Fire recently dropped off their co-headlining tour with Municipal Waste due to Matt Pike having to undergo a “partial amputation of one of his toes.” Now, he has shared a post surgery photo on the band’s official page:
High On Fire have dropped off their co-headlining tour with Municipal Waste due to a medical emergency involving Matt Pike. The guitarist/vocalist will be undergoing a “partial amputation of one of his toes.”
High On Fire commented:
“Matt has a medical emergency culminating in the partial amputation of one of his toes. The scheduling of this procedure is immediate and the recovery time will overlap our intended tour with MW. We will unfortunately be unable to participate in this tour but will be back stronger than ever in 2019!”
Municipal Waste added:
“First and foremost we wish our friend Matt the best of luck with his recovery. We need him, the metal world in general needs him. We would much rather have him miss a tour to heal up rather than not having any more Matt Pike music in the future. High On Fire‘s new album is amazing and we love him and his band mates so much. That being said after much discussion us Toxic [Holocaust] and Haunt are still going to do the tour. It just makes sense, why make something negative worse? Get better Matt we love you.”
High On Fire are streaming a new song titled “Spewn From The Earth.” The track is from the band’s new album “Electric Messiah” (out October 5) and it will also be available as part of the Adult Swim Singles Series. Matt Pike commented:
“Cryogenically frozen giant kings of old, awake and smash through the bowels of Earth to free themselves in a campaign to usurp their throne from man, and impregnate the populace once again.”
