We are hugely disappointed to have to announce that our US tour will not be going ahead as planned this April. We have been unable to obtain the right visas in time and are working to re-arrange something for September, which we can confirm will include Near Dark Festival in Oakland, CA and San La Muerte Festival in Austin, TX.

USCIS received the petition for our visas in December, and contacted us in February to request a lot of information that we'd already provided. Any advice we've had is that they play for time to try to force you into premium processing (at a cost of $1500). Since time was running out by this point, our agent requested to expedite the decision but was denied (after another delay) and asked to pay the premium rate.

The thing is, not only have there been a number of bands denied recently even after this stage, but they had already fucked us about so much that even the 15-day premium turnaround would not allow enough time to complete the final stages of the visa process by this point anyway.

From the other bands and promoters we've talked to, this is a result of the recent shutdown coupled with harsh immigration reforms.

We are a fully DIY operation and can’t even begin to express how much time, effort, and money, has been squandered by bureaucracy after more than 6 months of hard work. We as a band, and especially Sam who took the lead on this, have personally completed over a hundred pages of supporting documentation and official forms which took dozens of hours in labour. Tyler and George, the promoters at St. Vitus in Brooklyn who also acted as our agents in this process, did the same and footed hundreds of dollars in fees.

Every promoter has arranged non-refundable flights, booked hotels, printed posters and flyers, hired equipment, booked time off work, and worked tirelessly with us to make our first US tour possible. Indeed, for the hundreds of fans who bought tickets to our shows, we can only apologise sincerely and ask that you consider waiting for the rescheduled dates before asking for refunds. If we all share our losses together, your wonderful promoters will be able to avoid a massive financial hole and keep up the amazing work they do. We’re so grateful to all of them for their dedication, and especially those in Oakland and LA were instrumental in making this (nearly) possible.

We did everything by the book and have been punished for it.

That said, we can confirm that we WILL be honouring the show in Mexico City on April 6. Even though we may now make a loss, we set out to do everything within our power to bring our music to America and we are keeping to our pledge. Just because the federal government doesn’t want to support its regional economies, we see no reason why US immigration policy should impact Mexico any more than it has to. Especially when we can do something about it. So that show is ON. If you can, join us for what will be a special night.

Furthermore, thanks to the efforts of Last Dusk and the good people at Awake festival, we can also announce that we will be playing in San Jose, Costa Rica, on April 14. So again, if you fancy some post-punk fun in the southern sun, you still have 2 options available to you. We will be working to bring the show north later in the year. Our new album, Futurecide, is out April 12 on Cleopatra Records and we hope to have stock at both of these shows.

Fuck nationalism, fuck borders, viva America.

Always yours, 1919 x