Brian Setzer Reveals New Song "The Devil Always Collects"
BRIAN SETZER
UNVEILS RED-HOT THIRD TRACK
“THE DEVIL ALWAYS COLLECTS”
FROM NEW SOLO ALBUM OF THE SAME NAME
OUT SEPTEMBER 15 ON SURFDOG RECORDS
WATCH THE ICONIC GUITARIST, SONGWRITER, VOCALIST
AND 3-TIME GRAMMY AWARD-WINNER TALK ABOUT THE SONG HERE
“I bought that ticket to heaven
That he had to sell
But I guess I missed the fine print
About the detour to hell
He ain't in no hurry
He's got a lifetime to burn
He'll step in from the shadows
When you've nowhere left to turn”
--“The Devil Always Collects,” written by Brian Setzer, Mike Himelstein, 2023
BRIAN SETZER hits hard with his new single, the red-hot “The Devil Always Collects,” released today (August 25). Written by SETZER and frequent collaborator Mike Himelstein, it marks the title track of his new album of the same name out September 15 on Surfdog Records digitally, on CD and vinyl. The iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, and three-time Grammy Award-winner burns up the frets of his instrument over an insistent, galloping rhythm and digs into his vocals with urgency and frankness while singing the lines: “You bargained for pleasure/Fame, fortune, and sex/Pay back! Knock, knock, knock/The devil always collects.” Listen to “The Devil Always Collects” and pre-order the album HERE and watch BRIAN talk about the song HERE.
“The Devil Always Collects” (“ain’t that the truth,” says BRIAN) comes on the heels of “Black Leather Jacket” and the album’s first single/video “Girl On The Billboard” which Guitar World praised as “pure roadside bar sleaze in the best way—with strutting Chuck Berry-by-way-of-the-gutter riffs, and even a Route 66 namecheck. You’ll want to put the pedal to the metal with this coming through your speakers (7/28/23).”
SETZER’s guitar work is virtuosic on the new album’s 11 tracks, and his vocals deliver the clever storylines of catchy songs like “The Devil Always Collects,” “Girl On The Billboard,” and “Rock Boys Rock.” Add in non-stop freight train rhythms, and you have an album—produced by BRIAN SETZER and Julian Raymond and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge—that stands with SETZER's best. It’s always been BRIAN’s special talent to inject the roots of rock with a contemporary freshness that unites fans of rock, Americana, rockabilly, and punk.
BRIAN will support the album, his first since 2021’s Gotta Have The Rumble, this fall on his U.S “ROCKABILLY RIOT” tour starting September 27 (the dates are below).
Marking his first live shows in over four years, the “ROCKABILLY RIOT” tour will kick off September 27 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ and includes stops in Nashville, TN (at the historic Ryman Auditorium), Foxwoods Casino, Cincinnati, Chicago (Waukegan) and others before wrapping in Minneapolis (his adopted hometown). For these dates, SETZER will be joined by, in his words, an “international rockabilly band, Chris D’Rozario from Melbourne, Australia and Juan Laurios from Mexico City, Mexico.” Although BRIAN has a 40-year career as a solo artist, leader of The Brian Setzer Orchestra and as a Stray Cat, he continues to play with a jaw-dropping level of vigor. Tickets are on sale at: www.briansetzer.com
His set lists will include “some of the favorite covers I’m doing now. I haven’t recorded it, but I really like playing my version of ‘Georgia On My Mind.’ And then with the band, I want to play a new song ‘Girl On The Billboard’ because it tells a fun story.”
ABOUT BRIAN SETZER:
Iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and 3-time Grammy award-winner BRIAN SETZER has achieved one career milestone after another. He’s sold millions of albums and is a "Musician's Musician" credited with continually taking chances with innovative and daring musical styles. Setzer is widely credited for taking two forgotten genres, rockabilly and swing, adding his own blend of gunpowder and rockin’ style, and completely reinventing and single-handedly resurrecting them in the process. Along the way, he has scored chart-topping hits, sold 13 million records and received the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award throughout his decorated career as founder/leader of the Stray Cats, his 19-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra, and as a solo artist. He is consistently cited as one of the world’s greatest living guitarists, and has a best-selling, extensive line of elite Gretsch signature model guitars bearing his name. SETZER is also, fittingly, in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. On the live front, Setzer has headlined venues and festivals worldwide, including a 1983 headlining slot on the iconic US Festival in California, The Playboy Jazz Festival, a three-night, sold-out headlining run at the Hollywood Bowl with the 98-piece Philharmonic Orchestra, Woodstock ’99, and performing in front of more than 150,000 people as headliner of the Montreal Jazz Festival. His reach also includes films and TV, where his roles include portraying rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran in the 1987 film, La Bamba, Fox’s “Beverly Hills 90210,” among many others, and he is one of the few musicians to be animated in an episode of “The Simpsons” in 2002. That same year, SETZER was personally requested to induct Chet Atkins into the 17th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. SETZER had the honor of being invited in 2006 to perform at the White House for the President of the United States. Also in 2006, he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame with the Stray Cats. In 2014, SETZER received the distinct honor of being asked by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. to donate a replica of his original 1959 Gretsch 6120 “Stray Cat” guitar, joining an elite collection of iconic treasures at the museum.
About Surfdog/DKM:
Surfdog/DKM is an entertainment company, founded in 1985 and located in Encinitas, CA, which includes DKM Management, Surfdog Records, Surfdog & Surfmutt Music Publishing, and Surfdog’s Java Hut Cafe. Surfdog/DKM has a diverse and acclaimed roster and, since its inception, has worked with a number of legendary and iconic artists, including Brian Setzer, Eric Clapton, UB40, Sublime, Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics), Glen Campbell, Joss Stone, Stray Cats, Butthole Surfers, Dan Hicks, Slightly Stoopid, and many others. Surfdog/DKM is involved with several environmental charities including Oceana, Surfrider Foundation, Sea Shepherd, among many others, and is proud that our Encinitas offices are GreenPoint Rated and operate as a certified California Green Business and remain a member in good standing with 1% For The Planet.
