News: Ben Harper Announces New Innocent Criminals Album ‘Call It What It Is’
2 min read
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals have reunited for Call It What It Is, their first record together in nine years, due out April 8th, 2016. The beloved, soulful rock band premiered the album’s lead single, “Pink Balloon” recently on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the song is streaming today via Billboard. Harper and The Innocent Criminals have also shared the cover art and track list for Call It What It Is.
It had been seven years since Ben Harper last played a show with the Innocent Criminals, so when the time came to reunite for a live tour in 2015, the band—percussionist Leon Mobley, bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Oliver Charles, keyboardist Jason Yates, and guitarist Michael Ward—quickly discovered that Harper had more in mind than simply revisiting the group’s prodigious song catalog. In fact, Harper had been quietly amassing material for a new record and the first recording sessions were scheduled to begin even before the rehearsals for their triumphant four-night sold-out reunion run at the Fillmore in San Francisco last March.
Tracing their roots back to 1993, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals were at the heart of most of Harper’s projects until the band went on hiatus in 2008. The band toured internationally and released a string of groundbreaking albums, including Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live, Burn to Shine and the GRAMMY-nominated Lifeline in 2007. The Innocent Criminals also backed Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama on the double-GRAMMY-winning There Will Be a Light in 2005.
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