The War on Drugs Announce Live Album Ahead of Tour with The National – Entertainment

LOS ANGELES (AP) — For many musicians, a live album is a secondary pursuit — a way to quickly please voracious fans or make some easy money.

But when Adam Granduciel, frontman for the rock band The War on Drugs, set out to record their latest live album, announced Wednesday, it was a labor of love that was anything but quick or easy.

For Live Drugs Again, which drops on September 13, Granduciel wanted to do justice to the ways the band has grown, both literally (they’ve added a member since their first live album in 2020) and figuratively as musicians who’ve refined their sound, so he combed through about 100 hours of their performance footage and even combined different parts of the same songs.

The album comes to coincide with the start of their co-headlining tour with The National, which kicks off in New Hampshire on September 12. Granduciel spoke with The Associated Press about how performing a song live changes it, whether the band has new music in the works and how he came to play guitar on Beyoncé’s “II Most Wanted.”

The interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.