Welcome Back to the Outdoor Stage at Standard Deluxe !

AMERICAN AQUARIUM - Saturday, July 25

Gates / Bar Open / Supper: 5:00 pm
Showtime : 7:30 pm

Admission: $25.00 / Day of Show: $30.00
Kids 12 and under Free
All Tickets are General Admission
Seating in the Big Yard, Bring Your Chairs and Blankets
Water Bottles Allowed / No Glass
* No Coolers
* No Smoking Inside the Fenced Yard
* No Dogs
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For nearly two decades, American Aquarium have pushed toward that rare formof rock-and-roll that’s revelatory in every sense. “For us the sweet spot is whenyou’ve got a rock band that makes you scream along to every word, and it’s notuntil you’re comingdown at three a.m. that you realize those words are sayingsomething real about your life,” says frontman BJ Barham. “That’s what made usfall in love with music in the first place, and that’s the goal in everything we do.”On their new albumThe Fear ofStanding Still, the North Carolina-bred bandembody that dynamic with more intensity than ever before, endlessly matchingtheir gritty breed of country-rock with Barham’s bravest and most incisivesongwriting to date. As he reflects on matters both personal and sociocultural—e.g., the complexity of Southern identity, the intersection of generational traumaand the dismantling of reproductive rights—American Aquarium instill everymoment ofThe Fear of Standing Stillwith equal parts unbridled spirit andilluminating empathy.
Recorded live at the legendary Sunset Sound in Los Angeles,The Fear of StandingStillmarks American Aquarium’s second outing with producer Shooter Jennings—a three-time Grammy winner who also helmed production on 2020’s criticallylaudedLamentations, as well as albums from the likes of Brandi Carlile and TanyaTucker. In a departure from the stripped-down subtlety of 2022’sChicamacomico(a largely acoustic rumination on grief), the band’s tenth studio LP piles on plentyof explosive riffs and hard-charging rhythms, bringing a visceral energy to themost nuanced and poetic of lyrics. “In our live show the band’s like a freight trainthat never lets up, and for this record I really wanted to showcase how big andanthemic we can be,” notes Barham, whose bandmates include guitarist ShaneBoeker, pedal-steel guitarist Neil Jones, keyboardist Rhett Huffman, drummerRyan Van Fleet, and bassist Alden Hedges.Mixed by four-time Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age,Emmylou Harris),The Fear of Standing Stillshares its title with one of the firstsongs Barham wrote for the album—a soul-baring look at how raising a family hasradically altered his priorities and perspective. In the process of creating what herefers to as “a record about growing up and growing older,” Barham also found hissongwriting closely informed by his ten years of sobriety, as well as his ever-deepening connection with American Aquarium’s community of fans. “Wheneversomeone tells me that one of our songshelped them in some way, it encouragesme to be more and more open—almost like peeling a layer off an onion,” he says.“This album is a writer 18 years into his career, peeling away the next layer andseeing just how human we can make this thing.”