World/Inferno Friendship Society Announce New Album

The World/Inferno Friendship Society has returned. The cabaret punk band is back with a long-awaited album All Borders are Porous to Cats (Alternative Tentacles) dropping January 17th 2020. The group dares you to try and decipher its multi-layered, encrypted message while dragging you kicking and screaming through a succession of flashbacks, alternate realities, and drug and alcohol-induced delusions. While World/Inferno is known for its utter disregard for boundaries of genre, All Borders are Porous to Cats deliberately pushes the limits of what could possibly be perceived as punk rock. It scores tales of fugitives, arson, larceny, perjury, drug addiction and freedom with elements of soul, funk, Latin, polka, and classical music, as well as World /Inferno’s signature punk cabaret sound. 3 years in the making, 4 missed release dates, 5 lost band members, many a bridge burned, and a defamation lawsuit waiting to happen, The World /Inferno Friendship Society invites you to enjoy the fruits of their perpetual torment. 

Take it as a promise, and a patent fact: All Borders Are Porous to Cats. The World/Inferno Friendship Society’s 7th full-length LP finds the collective reset and reinvigorated, behind the lyrics of Jack Terricloth, apparent possessor of the punk rock fountain of everlasting style and rage. The album follows Cat in the Hat (no relation), an undocumented refugee who is framed for a crime and requires the assistance of a ragtag gang of miscreants, academics, orchestra-caliber musicians, and radical insurgents—sometimes art does, in fact, imitate life!

The first single “Freedom is a Wilderness” was fitting first available on a compilation benefitting Chelsea Manning upon her initial release. The band is uncertain if New Romantic 2 Tone ska is an available generic distinction, but they damn well gave it a shot, and the haunting echo of “who woulda thought?” reminds the listener that for political prisoners like Manning, freedom is a relative concept at best. Upcoming single “Nightmares” improbably adds to the list of genres the band attempts, offering a horn and gang vocal-driven shuffle somewhere between Fela Kuti and Elvis Costello. The remainder of the album sees the band at its most expansive musically—covering everything from Bowie-esque ballads to Balkan punk stomps—and inflammatory lyrically, with tales of romance, righteous indignation, and resistance.

The album’s release comes in tandem with the release of accompanying book “One Smashed Window for Every Divided Soul,” an illustrated combination tour journal and narrative exploration of Cat and his travails. The book acts as a companion piece to the album’s story, sifting through archival documents and fabulist accounts of the band’s East Coast tour of 2017.

Tour Dates
Nov 18 – Anaheim, CA – Chain Reaction
Nov 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Moroccan Lounge
Nov 20 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
Nov 22 – Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone (Alternative Tentacles fest)
Nov 23 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial
Dec 7 – Stanhope, NJ – Stanhope House
Dec 8 – Long Island, NY – Amityville Music Hall
Dec 31 – Brooklyn, NY – Kingsland