US Rock Duo '68 Unveil Midyear Australian Tour Dates

US rock duo '68 — the current project of one-time Norma Jean and The Chariot vocalist Josh Scogin, with drummer Michael McClellan — will return Down Under this year to support their third studio album, Two Parts Viper.

The record is set for release on Friday 2 June via Cooking Vinyl, with the duo touching down in late July for a six-date sojourn that takes them through Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane.

The 10-track Two Parts Viper follows the band's 2014 second full-length effort, In Humor & Sadness, with the first tastes coming from recent single This Life Is Old, New, Borrowed & Blue and the freshly released The Workers Are Few, one of the last songs Scogin wrote for the record.

"Although the lyrics are very negative, this song makes me smile because it is unlike anything I have ever written before," Scogin said in a statement. "That's always a good feeling. It is very therapeutic."

Meanwhile, as the first song penned for Two Parts Viper, This Life Is Old... "definitely 'connects' more with my past than any of the other songs," he said, "so much so that it almost didn't make it into the album".

"It is one of my favourite jams but I had decided that, if the other nine songs didn't balance it out a bit, [I] was going to leave it behind," he explained. "I'm really glad I didn't have to."

Album preorders are available now, and include both singles as immediate downloads.

Tickets for all shows will go on sale this Friday, 5 May, from 9am AEST.

See theGuide for all the details.