The Drones Announce 'Wait Long By The River' 10th Anniversary Australian Tour

Fresh from a performance at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid LIVE, Melbourne stalwarts The Drones have announced a national tour to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the LP that started it all, 2005’s Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Float By.

Gareth Liddiard and crew will venture forth to play seven shows across mainland Australia this August and September to toast their breakthrough disc. Tassie already got a visit for the frontman earlier this month for the annual Dark Mofo festival.

To further mark the occasion, the blues rockers have also reissued their seminal album (and their entire back catalogue, mind you) on vinyl for the first time via their own label, TFS Records, which will also be releasing their highly anticipated seventh LP and follow-up to I See Seaweed, later this year.

“Our record Wait Long By The River has turned 10 and we’ve finally gotten around to putting it out on LP so we thought we’d do a victory lap of the country and bring our instruments with us,” the band proclaimed in an official statement on their website. “We’ll be using them to generate everybody’s favourite Wait Long noises and new stuff too.”

As Rip It Up reports, the anniversary tour will also poetically mark the return of The Drones’ former drummer Christian Strybosch, whose sticks can be heard on the original 2005 sessions.

“Batpiss will be coming with us. Just because they can and Steve Miller Band will be playing Melbourne and Castlemaine,” the band continued.

2005’s Wait Long By The River launched The Drones into the national and international spotlight, spawning classics such as Shark Fin Blues and Best You Can Believe In and scooping up the inaugural Australian Music Prize to boot.

Tickets to The Drones’ Wait Long By The River 10th anniversary tour go on sale from this Friday, 26th June. Check out full venue and ticketing details below.

UPDATE 21/07/15: The Drones have added a Sydney date to their Wait Long By The River 10th Anniversary Tour. The show will take place at The Factory Theatre on Thursday, 27th August. Catch updated tour details, below.

Gallery: The Drones @ Sydney Opera House, 24/05/15 / Pics by Prudence Upton

Watch: The Drones – Shark Fin Blues