Wage War Strip Down “Circle the Drain”

WAGE WAR — Briton Bond [lead vocals], Cody Quistad [rhythm guitar, clean vocals], Seth Blake [lead guitar], Chris Gaylord [bass], and Stephen Kluesener [drums] — have shared the stripped down version of “Circle the Drain” from their new album Manic, out now on Fearless Records.

Watch and listen to the stunning and intimate version of the song here, which highlights another side of the band’s sonic personality and showcases their songwriting skill.

“We’ve always loved taking our songs back to the basics, and ‘Circle the Drain’ (Stripped) is one of our favorites yet,” the band shares. “We feel like the song really gets to breathe when you strip it down.”

This reimagined version of the song arrives a day ahead of the band’s headline hometown show at the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, December 18.

In other Wage War news, the band has been selected by SiriusXM’s Octane as one of the brand’s “Future Five” of 2022 bands. The original version of “Circle the Drain” is currently No. 1 on the station’s listener-voted Big Uns Countdown.

The “Future Five” for 2022 consists of five new artists that SiriusXM has supported and predicts will break through in 2022 across the Pop, R&B Country, Hip-Hop and Rock genres. Year after year, SiriusXM’s “Future Five” picks have proven to be on point and spotlights artists that SiriusXM is first to champion. Past “Future Five” selections include Doja Cat, Gabby Barrett, Roddy Ricch, Lil Uzi Vert, Carly Pearce, and more.

The “Future Five” for 2022 is as follows, in alphabetical order.
42 Dugg (Hip-Hop)
Mae Muller (Pop)
MARZZ (R&B)
Morgan Wade (Country)
Wage War (Rock)

PREVIOUS WAGE WAR x MANIC DROPS:
“Teeth”
“Manic”
“High Horse”
“Circle the Drain”

On Manic, the band masterfully strikes a delicate and well-crafted balance of grooves, riffs, melodies, and electronic flourishes. After amassing nearly 300 million streams and receiving widespread acclaim from Billboard, Loudwire, Modern Drummer, American Songwriter, Alternative Press, and more, the group delivered 11 anthems meant to connect through turbulence. Ultimately, Manic is a triumph and a definitive artistic statement for Wage War. It represents the apex of an intense creative journey. They built a diehard audience with Blueprints [2015] and Deadweight [2017] and through incessant touring. 2019’s Pressure exploded right out of the gate. “Low” piled on 24.9 million Spotify streams with “Who I Am” at 10.7 million Spotify streams and “Me Against Myself” at 8.4 million Spotify streams. Beyond bringing their total stream tally past ­a-quarter-of-a-billion, it landed on Loudwire’s “50 Best Metal Albums of 2019,” while Billboard praised the album’s levity. American Songwriter called attention to the evolution of the band’s songwriting and sound, while New Noise Magazine awarded it 4-out-of-5 stars. Elsewhere, Alternative Press raved, “Wage War are unapologetically changing the game on all fronts on Pressure.”

Wage War will return to the road this winter with Falling In Reverse and Hawthorne Heights. All dates are below.

WAGE WAR ON TOUR:
WITH FALLING IN REVERSE + HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS:
1/13 ­­— Atlanta, GA — The Tabernacle
1/14 — Nashville, TN — Marathon Music Works
1/15 — Cincinnati, OH  — ICON
1/17 — Pittsburgh, PA — Stage AE
1/18 — Silver Spring, MD — The Fillmore
1/19 — Philadelphia, PA — The Fillmore
1/21 — Boston, MA  — Tsongas Arena
1/22 — New York, NY — Hammerstein
1/24 — Detroit, MI  — The Fillmore
1/25 — Chicago, IL  — Aragon Ballroom
1/28 — Kansas City, MO — The Uptown Theatre
1/29 — Oklahoma City, OK  — Diamond Ballroom
1/30 — Dallas, TX — Southside Ballroom
2/1 — Phoenix, AZ — The Van Buren
2/4 — Los Angeles, CA  — The Palladium