New Single “I Could Do Much Worse” Got Dropped

And the UK Tour begins tomorrow 🚌 🎸

TEAM. It’s true, a new song has arrived 🥳. Here’s what you need to know:

• “I Could Do Much Worse.”

• It sounds great: guitars, drums, a guy singing, and a cello evoking heavy pathos.

• We’ve been playing it at shows over the last few weeks, and people like it, even without their favorite headphones to ease the ingestion.

• Probably just go listen to it.

Let’s talk more about that cello. This is the first time the mighty moan machine has appeared on a W.A.S. song, and we’re wondering why we waited so long. Hearing a big stringed casket bellow along with the guitars is spine-tingling. We might go back and put cello on our entire catalog — “Taylor’s Version.”

That’s Zeno Pittarelli, the finest bowman in America (fifty times better than Yo Yo Ma, whose cello is made of plastic). Some of you will recognize Zeno as the magician who stood stage-left during the Brain Thrust Mastery shows in October, immaculately reproducing guitar parts from the album. He’s able to do that because not only is he an angelic musician, but also a devilishly clever producer. For “I Could Do Much Worse,” his task was simple: make the song twice as good. “Mission accomplished!” as Tom Cruise yells at the end of each Mission Impossible film.

When we were selecting tracks for the new record, we initially had trouble finding a spot for “I Could Do Much Worse.” We couldn’t bring ourselves to cut it, though, so we pushed and pulled and twisted and mashed until the album opened its doors to this fine song. (That’s a very technical description of how albums are assembled.) Later, our radio plugger Olli told us he thought “ICDMW” should be a single, and we blanched at the thought that it had almost been banished to a digital EP or deluxe edition b-side.

Churchill said that there are turning points in history which can only be seen in hindsight, though at the time of their occurrence the entire world lumbers off its present course, and proceeds in a new direction. Our inclusion of “ICDMW” on Qualifying Miles seems likely to be one such moment. (Maybe it’s Malcolm Gladwell who said that. Or Herodotus?)

U.K. Touring Starts Tomorrow — Rejoice

If you’ve got a ticket to a W.A.S. show in the U.K., your moment has arrived. Tomorrow night we return to Edinburgh for the first time in several years, and thus begins the British leg of the Spring 2025 Tour Pile. (Tickets are still available for most of the shows, though only a handful for Edinburgh and Sheffield — failing to plan ahead may not bite you in the ass this time.)

We wrapped the Euro-phase of tour last week, and it was a true delight. People seemed happy to listen to a few new songs off of Qualifying Miles, three of which they had never heard before. We consider this openness the mark of a sophisticated, generous audience, and many bands aren’t as lucky as we are in this regard. When Coldplay tried to play a new song at Rock In Rio last year, a vast amoeba of fans tipped over the stage, then burrowed a trench into the field 40 feet deep and a thousand feet long. Chris Martin and his gang had to be evacuated by the Brazilian military, and will probably not be able to play South America again during their lifetimes.

Along with receptivity to alien tunes, European fans also gobbled up the new merch. We weren’t really surprised — this shit looks awesome — but you never know for sure what’s going to work until you get it in front of people. Big kudos to Zac Lux for these beautiful designs. Zac’s an old friend of Zeno’s and Sean McVerry’s whom we met last year, and boy oh boy is he a talent. He can also drink like a viking, which is a skill we’re ashamed to really respect.

The “Supercat” poster has been especially praised, and that’s due not just to Zac’s fine depiction of a cat who has mastered each of the cardinal vices, but also to the remarkable silkscreen job London printer Sam Baldwin did for us. (Sam sent us a fascinating video that documents the printing process — we posted it to IG last week.) We’ve had a few people ask about buying a print from our web store — as of now that’s not possible, but we’re looking into it. Store personnel (Ed) have told us that shipping posters is a big pain in the ass, which sounds true, though still well within the constraints of Physics, so there’s a chance we’ll be able to make it happen.

One merch item has really eaten shit so far: the laminate. Probably our fault for explaining it poorly. Yes, it’s a AAA laminate that doesn’t actually get you backstage. But it DOES give you access to a secret website we made, and that website is — we think — a garden of wonders. First of all, it has an acoustic version of the entire new album. Yes, Qualifying Miles isn’t out for two more months, but you can listen to the whole dang thing (in acoustic form) right now. The miracle website also has a bunch of tour diaries that we’ve been making semi-daily, and will continue updating for the rest of the year.

Anyway we’re kind of revamping the way the laminate is packaged for the upcoming U.K. dates — it will now be attached to album pre-orders made at the merch booth. But we also want to extend Backstage Website access to paid Substack subscribers, which we will do at the bottom of this post. (If you can’t see the bottom of this post but want to, go grab yourself a paid subscription! Besides Backstage Website access, you get several other collections of music not available elsewhere.)

NB: If you’ve already pre-ordered Qualifying Miles, you’ll get an email in the next day or two with Backstage Website access info. (Future pre-orders through our web store will also gain access.)

That’s it for now — hope you dig “I Could Do Much Worse” as much as we do, and if you come out to a show, wave your arms around above your head all night so we know you’re an S.D.I.R. reader.

Love,

Some Scientists