Work Drugs is an American

synth pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, founded by Thomas Crystal and Benjamin Louisiana. It currently consists of Crystal (vocals and guitar), alongside Louisiana (vocals and keys), Jonas Ohh (drums), Mr. Kansas City (bass), and Katie Nicks (vocals and percussion). It band has had LPs released via boutique label Bobby Cahn Records and toured on the festival circuit in the United States, including

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

and

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

, as well as national support slots for the likes of

Two Door Cinema Club Two Door Cinema Club are a British rock band formed in Bangor, County Down, Bangor, Northern Ireland in 2007. The band is composed of three members: Alex Trimble (vocals, rhythm guitar, beats, synths), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, backing vocals), ...

Umphrey's McGee Umphrey's McGee, sometimes stylized as UM, is an American rock band originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, bluegrass, country, and ...

Maps and Atlases Maps & Atlases is an American indie rock group from Chicago, Illinois, United States, influenced by alternative rock, folk and experimental music. They have been labeled as a math rock band. The band has released three official EPs and three ...

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

, Peter, Bjorn & John, Sun Airway, Memoryhouse, Parts and Labor, J.Viewz, and more.

History

Work Drugs is a

based recording project started by Thomas Crystal and Benjamin Louisiana on the banks of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. Self-described as a band that "makes music specifically for boating, sexting, dancing, yachting, and living" or "Philadelphia's premier Bat Mitzvah and Quinceanera party band", Work Drugs' name was given by their friend Eduardo S. as they were sailing the Baja of Mexico. Band members Tom and Ben bonded together in sailing school over music, which is when they started composing songs for their first album. Their music has been compared with that of

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Originally having a traditional band lineup, Becker and Fagen cho ...

by the ''Guardian'' website. Their earliest efforts arrived sporadically in the form of singles ("Third Wave", "Dog Daze" and "Rad Racer"). On June 27, 2011 the duo released their first album ''Summer Blood'', which consisted of their first few singles and three acoustic recordings. Later that year they released their sophomore album ''Aurora Lies''. The album, released on November 7, 2011, was the band's first release to bring a collection of entirely previously unreleased tracks. On July 10, 2012, Work Drugs resurfaced with their third album, ''Absolute Bearing''. In August 2011, the song "Rad Racer" was featured in the

Urban Outfitters Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Em ...

commercial for "Favorite Fall Jeans of 2011". In his 2011 album, ''Still Sound'',

Xxyyxx Marcel Everett (born October 31, 1995), better known as XXYYXX, is an electronic musician and record producer from Orlando, Florida, formerly signed to the label Relief in Abstract. His style is likened to Clams Casino, Zomby, Burial, James B ...

included a remixed version of "Rad Racer". Work Drugs have played live shows across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in cities such as

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. In April 2011, the group supported

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

-based

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

and Chicago indie rock band

Maps & Atlases Maps & Atlases is an American indie rock group from Chicago, Illinois, United States, influenced by alternative rock, folk and experimental music. They have been labeled as a math rock band. The band has released three official EPs and three ...

on a tour of the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

. In late 2011, Work Drugs supported Peter, Bjorn & John and Memoryhouse on their east coast tour through Philadelphia. In February 2012, Work Drugs supported

on their east coast run through

and

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Remixes

Little Scream Little Scream is the stage name of American-born, Montreal-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumental musician and artist Laurel Sprengelmeyer. Her debut album '' The Golden Record'' was released on Outside Music in Canada and Secretly Canadia ...

– "The Heron and the Fox" (Work Drugs Remix) (2011

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, part of the Secretly Group. The Secretly Group includes record labels Dead Oceans and Jagjaguwar as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publis ...

) *

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon (vocals, guit ...

- " Beth/Rest" (Work Drugs Remix) (2012

Jagjaguwar Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana. History In 1996, in Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public resear ...

)

Singles

As a celebration of their first anniversary, Work Drugs released a collaborative single with Philly artist Dylan Sieh ak
Tours
called ''Dirty Dreams'' on 7 December 2011. The track can be streame
here

Track List: Summer Blood