RILEY! EP "To Live And Die In The American South" Out Now via Pure Noise Records – Single "73 Summers"

RILEY! have released their new EP "To Live And Die In The American South" out now, via Pure Noise Records. Buy here and stream here.

The band have released the emotive "73 Summers" - a tribute to the passing of a loved one.

"This is a tough one to talk about. I wrote this song around the 10-year mark of my grandfather’s passing." says Ryan Bluhm. "Being young and starting college and just generally being busy all the time with real life starting, I didn’t notice anything wrong, and I guess I'm not sure if anyone really did. Depression is a quiet killer. When he took his own life, I had no understanding of how to process going forward. He helped raise me after all. Growing up with a single mom, he almost felt like my father, too. Most of this song surrounds all the questions I wish I could ask now, even if they’re not anything that can realistically be answered at all. Without going into more of a trauma dump than this already has been, this song just felt right as a closer on a record. A lot of the music was meticulously decided for that purpose: the soft, lulling beginning that builds up into a massive wall of sound that fades out into nonexistence. The piano note that repeats over and over at the end of the song was meant to almost emulate a heartbeat that just abruptly quits, which also signifies the record coming to an end."

"To Live And Die In The American South" Tracklisting:

1. Roll For Initiative 

2. Another Round Of Radical ‘Ritas, Please (Ft Tades Sanville /Hot Mulligan) 

3. Two Bucks (Ft Eric Egan) 

4. Backseat Bartender (Ft Gabe Wood) 5. 73 Summers

As an openly queer, progressive band in a deeply red state, Riley! have always built their own version of belonging. That spirit runs throughout To Live and Die in the American South, from its very title to the song themselves – deeply personal stories of isolation, connection and the eternal fight to feel seen. Outside the walls of their hometown, though, they’ve built connections that have made survival possible, growing alongside a fanbase that has found itself reflected in every sweat-soaked note as they’ve carved out their own communities.

Riley! are the kind of band that only could have come from somewhere far off the map – making music shaped by isolation, boredom, anxiety, friendship, and dreaming about what lies beyond the limits of their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it hometown. Their details may belong to the Rio Grande Valley deep in South Texas, but the feelings amplified through their hyper-modern spin on Midwest emo have carried them around the world, from self-booked headlining tours and bills with genre heavyweights.

Having formed with the current lineup in 2020, what’s followed on albums like 2021’s "Already Fucked" and 2024’s "Keep Your Cool" has been a steady transformation from scrappy cult favourite to one of modern emo’s most compelling young bands on the strength of twinkly textures from high-capoed guitars, raucous rhythm section energy and Bluhm’s highly personal storytelling.

Now, Riley! has levelled up on their Pure Noise Records debut, To Live And Die In The American South. Recorded in Austin, TX, alongside producer Phil Odom (Militarie Gun, Say Anything and a protegee of Grammy-winning producer Will Yip), the five-song EP finds Riley! embracing a more finely harnessed sound without losing any of their edge. “We were going for something a little bit more polished,” Bluhm explains. “Not everyone is necessarily into screaming emo music, so we wanted to make things a bit more digestible.”

That range comes into focus from the opening swell of “Roll for Initiative,” bursting in with off-kilter, syncopated energy and a thread of existential dread, while “Another Round of Radical ‘Ritas, Please” (ft. Tades Sanville of Hot Mulligan) zeroes in on the quiet spiral of feeling left out and left behind. Elsewhere, “Two Bucks” finds the band leaning into melody, its high, soaring harmonies bolstered by Eric Egan of Heart Attack Man; “Backseat Bartender,” featuring Gabe Wood of Saturdays at Your Place, taps into classic emo influences, and closer “73 Summers” trades urgency for something more devastating and reflective as Bluhm wrestles with grief, loss and impermanence.

Riley! will be heading out on their headline run this summer before UK shows supporting label mates Ben Quad. See below for full itinerary.

NORTH AMERICA HEADLINE SUMMER TOUR

Support comes from Kerosene Heights and Bugsy 

17 July 2026 — Indianapolis, IN — Turntable 

18 July 2026 — Detroit, MI — Pike Room 

19 July 2026 — Cleveland, OH — Mahall’s 

20 July 2026 — Washington, DC — Pearl St 

22 July 2026 — Philadelphia, PA — Nikki Lopez 

23 July 2026 — Boston, MA — Warehouse XI 

24 July 2026 — Hartford, CT — Webster Underground 

25 July 2026 — New York, NY — Elsewhere – Zone One 

27 July 2026 — Chapel Hill, NC — Local 506 

28 July 2026 — Atlanta, GA — Masquerade (Altar) 

29 July 2026 — Orlando, FL — Will’s Pub 

31 July 2026 — Dallas, TX — TX Tea Room

2 August 2026 - McAllen, TX- The Gremlin (HOME TOWN HEADLINER- TIX)

SUPPORTING HOT MULLIGAN TOUR (NORTH AMERICA)

30 October 2026 – London, ON – London Music Hall 

31 October 2026 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS 

1 November 2026 – Ottawa, ON – History 

3 November 2026 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium 

4 November 2026 – Portland, ME – State Theatre 

6 November 2026 – Providence, RI – The Strand Ballroom & Theatre 

7 November 2026 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall 

9 November 2026 – Baltimore, MD – Nevermore Hall 

10 November 2026 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore 

11 November 2026 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Music Hall 

13 November 2026 – Miami, FL – MIami Beach Bandshell 

17 November 2026 – New Orleans, LA – Civic Theatre 

19 November 2026 – Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing Company 

20 November 2026 – Nashville, TN – The Truth

SUPPORTING BEN QUAD (UK DATES)

13 October 2026 – Manchester – YES (Pink Room) 

14 October 2026 – Newcastle – The Cluny 

15 October 2026 – Glasgow – Stereo 

16 October 2026 – Birmingham – O2 Institute3 

17 October 2026 – Leeds – The Key Club 

19 October 2026 – Kingston – The Fighting Cocks 

20 October 2026 – Brighton – DUST 

22 October 2026 – Bristol – Exchange 

23 October 2026 – Southampton – The Joiners 

24 October 2026 – London – Dingwalls