The Bad Penny (beta)

Excitement is building as the release date for the sixth studio album by red-hot Boston rock band Slothrust nears. But there’s some additional news that, while not as seismic as the unveiling of What They Grow in the Garden will be on September 18, band leader Leah Wellbaum (vocals, guitar) exclusively told The Bad Penny that Slothrust is now a foursome.

“We’re both multi-instrumentalists,” Wellbaum said during a video interview on Monday, referring to herself and drummer Will Gorin writing and recording music together in the studio. “He played bass on this last record [2021’s Parallel Timeline]. And it’s been really fun seeing him step into other instrumental roles.

“He’s obviously an incredible drummer and also a really great guitarist,” Wellbaum continued. “It was really fun to see what he would do, what he did on the bass to play with himself and to interact with the music that he was so involved in crafting. And because we both play all the band instruments, it’s fun to be able to explore as a two-piece in that way. That being said, it’s really nice to be able to perform with more people.”

In 2022, Slothrust added a bass player, Annie Hoffman of Weakened Friends, to their touring lineup. Now the band is about to grow even bigger.

“I suppose you’ll be the first press person we tell, but for our tour this fall, we actually hired a second guitarist,” Wellbaum revealed, saying the new addition is the band’s friend Lilah Larson, who previously played with Alex Cameron and is currently a [touring] member of Brooklyn rock band Bambara.

Larson joined the latter band as part of its live lineup last year, contributing vocals and guitars. Prior to that, she played lead guitar and contributed backing vocals to Cameron’s band from 2019 to 2023.

Slothrust have performed live every year after forming in 2010, even during COVID, according to Setlist.fm. The band, which has released 14 singles to date – including “Pony,” “Electric Funeral” and “Happy Together” – played 84 gigs in 2019, 78 in 2022, 57 in 2024 and 18 last year.

“We’re really looking forward to [being a quartet] because what we’re going to be able to do in addition to bringing these new songs to life is resurrecting some old material that really [needed] a second guitarist, but we never had that option,” Wellbaum elaborated. “We’ll be able to bring back some classics with the second guitar part present for the first time ever.”

After putting out their last three studio albums on Dangerbird Records, their new effort will come courtesy of Equal Vision Records. To reiterate, What They Grow in the Garden will solely feature Wellbaum and Gorin performing.

Slothrust will tour extensively behind their new record, starting three days before its release. The band is dubbing it “The Dystopian Theatre Tour.”

Here are the dates:

SEPTEMBER
15 — Omaha, NE — Reverb Lounge *
16 — St. Paul, MN — Amsterdam Bar & Hall *
18 — Chicago, IL — Riot Fest #
19 — Ann Arbor, MI — The Blind Pig *
20 — Columbus, OH — A&R Music Bar *
23 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Bowl *
24 — Boston, MA — Royale *
25 — Philadelphia, PA — Underground Arts *
26 — Towson, MD — The Recher *
28 — Durham, NC — Motorco Music Hall *
29 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Hell) *

OCTOBER 
01 — Nashville, TN — The Blue Room at Third Man Records *
02 — Chattanooga, TN — The Boneyard *
03 — Cleveland, OH — Beachland Ballroom *
27 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
28 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom Of The Hill ^
30 — Sacramento, CA — Harlow’s ^

NOVEMBER
01 — Seattle, WA — Showbox Market ^
02 — Portland, OR — Revolution Hall ^
04 — Boise, ID — The Shredder ^
06 — Salt Lake City, UT — Urban Lounge ^
07 — Colorado Springs, CO — Black Sheep ^
08 — Denver, CO — Gothic Theatre ^
10 — Denton, TX — Rubber Gloves Patio ^
11 — Austin, TX — Scoot Inn ^
13 — Santa Fe, NM — Meow Wolf ^
14 — Phoenix, AZ — The Rebel Lounge ^
15 — San Diego, CA — Quartyard ^
17 — Pioneertown, CA — Pappy & Harriet’s ^
18 — Los Angeles, CA — The Bellwether ^

* — headline show, The Velveteers supporting
^ — headline show, Um, Jennifer? supporting
# — festival appearance

Go to Slothrust’s Bandcamp page for more on the group.

This entry was posted on 08/26/2026 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Exclusives, Interviews, News with tags Annie Hoffman, Leah Wellbaum, Slothrust, Weakened Friends, Will Gorin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.