Aberdeen hardcore metal band Bitterwood have confirmed a tour of Southeast Asia as their Spotify download streams smash the THREE MILLION mark.
The four-piece will jet out on an 18-hour flight to Bali, Indonesia for their first show on April 14.
Bitterwood will then play gigs in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam before ending the tour in China.
The band’s sound has gone global having racked up hundreds of thousands of further streams and views on other platforms such as Apple Music and YouTube.
Guitarist Liam Noble admits it is surreal the Granite City band have a fanbase as far afield as China.
Liam said: “We have a following in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.
“I’ve seen on online forums that we have fans in China so it will be nice to play two city’s there.
“It’s pretty surreal that people in China are listening to our music, it almost doesn’t feel real sometimes.
“Knowing there are people at the other side of the world who listen to us and want to see us come and play is so exciting.
“We are more than three million streams now.
“We still can’t believe it.
“Every time we hit a new milestone it feels just as big as the first one.
“Touring Southeast Asia will be completely different to anything we’ve experienced before.
“None of us have been to Asia before so soaking in the culture will be a big thing.
“If we manage to smash this tour out of the park with no problems then we would definitely look to go back again.”
‘We thought it was out of our reach’
Single Paradigm, released in 2020, has more than one million streams on Spotify.
Track Withdrawal has 380,000 streams.
Recent EP The Truth, Episode 2 was released in October last year and is already making waves overseas.
Bitterwood kick-off their tour in Bali on April 14 .
They then jet to Malaysia where they will play Jahor Bahru on April 17 and Kuala Lumpur on April 17.
Next stop is flight to Vietnam for a show in Saigon on April 20.
Then they fly to China where Bitterwood play Guangzhou on April 21 and Shenzhen the following day.
Liam said: “There is a promoter from Singapore who we have worked with on music before.
“He approached us to ask if we wanted to come over to play a few countries in Southeast Asia.
“We were very keen to get involved with that.
“Collectively we thought this was out of our reach and that it might never happen.
“However the more we talked about it with the promoter the more we realised it was definitely achievable.
“Then once we got some of the logistics sorted out it came about fairy easily once we put some effort into planning it.
“The flight from the UK to Bali is 18 hours.
“Once we get there the flights are shorter and just a few hours.
“It’s just getting to Bali and home from China that will be a bit crazy.”
first show of the year was fun pic.twitter.com/IHAKh7DKtd
— 🅱️itterwood 🏴 (@BitterwoodHC) January 14, 2024
Thriving scene in Southeast Asia
Formed in 2016 Bitterwood combine influences from hardcore punk, nu-metal, grunge and metalcore.
It is a ferocious combination that is building a following worldwide.
Liam said: “The metal music scene in Southeast Asia is really kicking off and all the shows are super busy.
“It will be great to be part of that.
“We’re expecting it to be really hot so we will have to pack lots of shorts and T-shirts.”
Triumphant Euro tour despite early setback
The shows in Southeast Asia will be Bitterwood‘s second major overseas jaunt having already toured Europe last year.
Liam is hoping for a smoother tour this time after their van broke down before they had even left Britain!
He said: “We did our first tour outside the UK early last year.
“There were a few issues as the van broke down but there is no van for Southeast Asia so we’ll be okay.
“The van broke down before we even got to the Euro tunnel at Folkestone.
“We had to sit at the side of the road and wait for a recovery vehicle for about three hours.
“We missed our Eurotunnel slot and ended up having to jump start the van every time we wanted to start it up as there was an issue with the battery.
“So we had to get a separate battery to jump start the van every single time we turned it off.
“But we still managed to do more than 2,000 miles in it.
“That was Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic.”
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