Toronto duo, Cleopatrick, have just released their new single, “Bad Guy,” along with an animated music video created by Jake Haj, reminiscent of low poly, VHS-inspired, indie horror games. The track is taken from their upcoming sophomore album, Fake Moon, due out on the 14th of March via their own label, Nowhere Special Recordings. Check out the new video and more below.
Stream “Bad Guy” here: https://orcd.co/c-bg
Pre-order Fake Moon here: https://orcd.co/c-fm
Speaking on the single, the band’s Luke Gruntz says: “Bad Guy” is supposed to feel like it was recorded, produced, and mixed on a nintendo gamecube. It’s got bit-crushed guitars, glitched vocals, and low-res samples all spinning and cycling in endless loops that mirror the song’s themes of guilt, repetition, and inescapable patterns.”
Talking about the video, Luke explains: “Naturally, the “Bad Guy” video meets the song where it’s at: far away in someone’s low-poly 2003 fever dream. The video follows Ian and I as we run away from the sinister “fake moon” — a looming, monolithic surveillance craft tracking our every move with the CCTV camera that protrudes from its shell. It’s supposed to be a nod to the Simpsons hit and run / Tony Hawk pro skater thing. Only much more anxious, surreal, and evidently doomed.”
As Fake Moon weaves narratives that feel simultaneously intimate and universal, radiating a tension between fragility and defiance, conspiracy and truth, the cinematic “Bad Guy” wrestles with the motions of guilt, carried by gritty synth waves and haunting electric guitar lines. Luke Gruntz’s vocals sparkle as the electrifying red thread making its way through the track and entire longplayer.
Returning refreshed from a creative breather, after the rigorous post-pandemic touring of debut LP Bummer, the newest record on their own Nowhere Special Recordings is a captivating collision of lo-fi grit, quiet introspection, and overt existentialism. Anchored in refusal of conformity, and captured with what can only be described as the audio equivalent to Playstation 1 graphics – Fake Moon navigates power, vulnerability, and the complexities of individual identity with both rawness and precision.
Fake Moon is Cleopatrick at their most adventurous. Look overhead and perhaps you’ll spot the orbiting influences of Radiohead’s experimental brilliance, the grounded surrealism of Dijon’s Absolutely, or the raw intimacy of favourites since highschool, Califone. “We’re just trusting our creative compass,” they say. “I actually tried to write BUMMER 2 at first – but it immediately felt as if I was putting on the costume of a 23 year old me. It wasn’t coming out honest.”
Fake Moon tracklisting:
01 Heat Death
02 Bad Guy
03 Hammer
04 Please
05 Softdrive
06 Chew
07 Big Machine
08 Sarah
09 Fake Moon
10 Love You
The band will head out on a UK & IE headline tour in March, including their biggest UK show to date at London’s Electric Brixton, which has already sold out alongside their dates in Birmingham and Manchester. Newly energised, Cleopatrick are ready to head back out, not only sharing what they have been up to in the studio, but also re-interpreting the music fans have come to love over the past few years.
Live Dates:
18-Mar-2025 Brighton, UK Chalk
19-Mar-2025 Bristol, UK SWX
21-Mar-2025 Nottingham, UK Rock City
22-Mar-2025 Manchester, UK Academy 2 *SOLD OUT*
23-Mar-2025 Dublin, IE Academy
25-Mar-2025 Glasgow, UK SWG3
26-Mar-2025 Leeds, UK Stylus
28-Mar-2025 Birmingham, UK O2 Institute 2 *SOLD OUT*
29-Mar-2025 London, UK Electric Brixton *SOLD OUT*
Since their inception, Cleopatrick have proven themselves to be one of the most in-demand rising rock bands on the planet. They were the only band picked for Amazon Music UK’s Ones To Watch 2021, and have amassed over 100 million streams alongside multiple sell-out tours in the UK, EU and US, performed at festivals ranging from Lollapalooza and Reading & Leeds, and served as direct support to Royal Blood and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes.
Cleopatrick’s gargantuan debut album Bummer received critical acclaim across the board. The band were also chosen as BBC Radio 1’s first ever Future Artist, with regular plays on air from tastemakers Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Daniel P. Carter. The album also earned the duo their very first JUNO nomination for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2022 JUNO Awards.
Follow Cleopatrick:
https://cleopatrick.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cleopatrickband
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VTvaLJ9arNmKi8e1ekOwW
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cleopatrick/1079055121
https://music.amazon.com/artists/B076D8S1GS/cleopatrick
https://youtube.com/@cleopatrick