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FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS share the video single ‘FOUND‘ as the fifth advance track taken from the American heavy duo‘s forthcoming album “BEAR” that is slated for release on October 10, 2025, via Magnetic Eye Records. The pre-order is available here: http://lnk.spkr.media/friendshipcommanders-bear 

‘FOUND‘ reflects on where one turns when feeling lost or left on the outside, carrying an anchoring message of hope. For profound, in-depth comments by the duo, please see below. 

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS have also announced more US live dates for Fall 2025. Please see below for an updated list of currently confirmed shows.

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS comment on the single: “The song’s title, ‘FOUND’, is quite appropriate, as it was written in a season of feeling so displaced, so locked out of my own gender, and then I had this profound experience at an art exhibit where I realized that what I truly belong to is the work itself“, Buick Audra writes. “The music, the art. The proclivity to explore, observe, witness, love hard, and grieve even harder. I stood in front of silver gelatin prints one artist made about their dead friend and collaborator – another genius creative person who was misunderstood in his lifetime, and I wept. Wept for them, for me, for my dead friends, and oddly, with gratitude for what we all share: the courage to go there. It’s a gift to be able to walk with death, to witness horror, and to admit your own human frailty – and then turn around and make work expressing it, to allow others to see it. ‘FOUND’ is a love letter to the work, and to the parts of us that generate it. I was never lost; I was and am just outside. They’re not the same. Either way, I belong to myself and the work. Today, that’s enough. When unsure, go within.“

Jerry Roe continues: “‘FOUND’ is maybe the most straightforward rock song, we’ve recorded to date, and the arrangement of it in particular is something that I’m extremely proud of“, the drummer and bass player elaborates. “Every part is taken as far as it can go, and we get both quiet and extremely loud. It all circles around to an incredible and emotional ending that feels like a grand conclusion to the thesis of the record. Also, to speak of it in more direct terms: The riffs are sick!“

Credits
Video directed & edited by Jerry Roe
Video shot by Jarad Clement & Jerry Roe
Additional footage shot by Buick Audra & Travis Nicholson
Gaffed by Jarad Clemen
PA work provided by Travis Nicholson & Dave Johnson
In Studio footage shot at NuMynd, Nashville, TN
Exterior footage shot at the Frist Museum, Exit/In, the End, & the Basement in Nashville, TN
Guest appearances by Travis Nicholson, Patrick Damphier, & Dave Johnson

For Lee, Ann, and Roger

Tracklist:

1. KEEPING SCORE
2. DRAIN
3. DRIPPING SILVER
4. MELT
5. NEW
6. X
7. MIDHEAVEN
8. IMPERFECT
9. FOUND
10. DEAD & DISCARDED GIRLS

Upcoming shows:
20 SEP 2025 Youngstown, OH (US) Westside Bowl
09 SEP 2025 Kansas City, MO (US) SK8bar
10 OCT 2025 Tulsa, OK (US) Whittier Bar
16 OCT 2025 Columbus, OH (US) Ace of Cups
17 OCT 2025 Lexington, KY (US) Al’s Bar
19 OCT 2025 Allston, MA (US) O’Brien’s
20 OCT 2025 Brooklyn, NY (US) The Wood Shop
22 OCT 2025 Richmond, VA (US) Bandito’s
23 OCT 2025 Raleigh, NC (US) Slim’s
24 OCT 2025 Nashville, TN (US) The Cobra
07 NOV 2025 Austin, TX (US) Raven Room at Crowbar
08 NOV 2025 Houston, TX (US) 1810 Ojeman
09 NOV 2025 Fort Worth, TX (US) The Cicada
11 NOV 2025 Albuquerque, NM (US) TBA
12 NOV 2025 Las Vegas, NV (US) The Griffin
13 NOV 2025 Los Angeles, CA (US) The Redwood Bar
16 NOV 2025 Palmdale, CA (US) Transplants Brewing Co.
19 NOV 2025 Bellingham, WA (US) Waterfront Tavern
20 NOV 2025 Portland, OR (US) High Water Mark
21 NOV 2025 Seattle, WA (US) Bad Bar
23 NOV 2025 Laramie, WY (US) Ruffed Up Duck

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS are not just any band within the wider musical cosmos of heavy rock and stoner metal. Artistic excellence, reflected in the two Grammy wins of singer, songwriter, and guitarist Buick Audra as well as the status of drummer and bass player Jerry Roe as one of the most sought after studio percussionists, paired with outstanding lyrical intelligence have once again flown together organically to shape their forthcoming album “BEAR”.

“BEAR” was written around the realisation that Buick Audra had essentially been kicked out of womanhood. This album is a documentation of her awareness also while cataloguing other areas of human connection: art, outsider culture, and dark rock venues – all places where empathy and creativity grow wild. Audra and Jerry Roe arranged and performed the fourth full-length of FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERSalbum to have two sides to it, musically: heavy and light, salt and sugar, fire and air, and lost and found. 

Although hailing from Nashville, Tennessee these denizens of the ‘Music City’ kindly beg to differ. FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS‘ sound draws from sludge, doom, heavy metal, and grunge with roots in punk and hardcore, among other guitar driven styles.

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS were originally conceived as a side project by the two industry veterans Buick Audra and Jerry Roe, whose accolades have already been mentioned above. When the duo found common ground, they were able to bring all their combined musical excellence, perspectives, precision, and power to their new band.

Their early works, the EPs “GARFIELD” (2015) and “JUNEBUG” (2017) as well as the debut full-length “AVE” (2016) were all self-recorded as well as self-produced in their own studio, Fort Knockout, and supported live with regional tours.

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS‘ sophomore album ‘BILL’ (2018) was co-produced by the band with Steve Albini and engineered at his Chicago studio, Electrical Audio. Working with Albini proved a pivotal experience for the duo, both personally and professionally. “BILL” reached a notably larger audience and allowed national touring. Following Albini’s passing in 2024, the band released his original analogue mixes of the project, “BILL- The Steve Albini Mixes”.

Although the duo’s members maintained other ventures, FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS had developed into a focal endeavour for them both. Their again self-produced 2020 EP, “HOLD ON TO YOURSELF”, was the beginning of their by now years-long collaboration with Kurt Ballou, who mixed the record. He also mixed their self-produced pandemic-era singles “STONECHILD/ YOUR REIGN IS OVER” (2020), “ALTAR / LAND OF MEN” (2021), and “AND IF MY BODY” (2022). These were later compiled on a limited vinyl release entitled “RELEASE OF THE REST” (2022). The singles also marked a departure from the duo’s previous punk and hardcore leanings while introducing a heavier, sludgier sensibility.

FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS recorded and co-produced their third album “MASS” again with Ballou at his GodCity Studio in Salem, MA. Audra recorded and produced her vocals at her Nashville studio, and Ballou then mixed the tracks. With “MASS” (2023), a concept album about memory, language, and the state of Massachusetts, the duo took the important next step of reaching a global audience.

“BEAR” was again co-produced by band members Buick Audra and Jerry Roe. The duo returned to Salem to work along once more with their longtime collaborator, Kurt Ballou, who also tracked the instrumental performances and mixed the record. As a result, the songs with a huge range of musical ideas and expressions are unified in sound as well as in theme, which runs throughout the record in various ways: the ever-elusive idea of belonging, where it occurs, and where it absolutely does not.  

With “BEAR”, FRIENDSHIP COMMANDERS present a rare sparkling gem of an album, heavy yet captivating, shiny yet dark, and songs that brim with important meaning. “BEAR” is easy to get into, but beware, this album will draw its listeners into fascinating and thought-provoking depths!

Line-up
Buick Audra – songs, guitar, vocals, co-producer
Jerry Roe – drums, percussion, bass, synths, co-producer

Produced by Friendship Commanders & Kurt Ballou
Recorded by Kurt Ballou at GodCity, Salem, MA (US)
Vocal recording by Buick Audra at Fort Knockout, Nashville, TN (US)
Additional engineering by Jerry Roe at Fort Knockout, Nashville, TN (US)
Assistant engineering by Zach Weeks at GodCity, Salem, MA (US)
Mixed by Kurt Ballou at GodCity, Salem, MA (US)
Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland, OR (US)

Cover artwork by Jerry Roe & Buick Audra
Layout by Buick Audra & Keith Brogdon

https://www.friendshipcommandersband.com
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