[Cover photo credit to Brandynn Leigh]

Canadian Pop-Punk band Chief State have released their new single and video, “April Showers,” the latest preview of their forthcoming full-length album, Keep Your Friends Closer, due out April 17, 2025, via Mutant League Records.

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Tim Creviston (Spiritbox, Youth Fountain) and mastered by Stu McKillop at Rain City Recorders, Keep Your Friends Closer pushes Chief State’s sound forward. The album “documents a period of major transition for the band.”

The band explains:

The album that very nearly didn’t happen. In 2023/24 we found ourselves in a game of musical chairs with members moving on to new paths. When Joe and I were the last two standing, we had to decide whether to continue or call it a day — so we wrote a song. That was all it took to reignite everything. This record is ten years of grit and determination. It’s about getting back up when you’re knocked down, about friendship, hardship, betrayal, love, anger, isolation — life. Recording again with our longtime producer Tim Creviston felt like watching the full potential of Chief State come together. It’s our most authentic, most collaborative, and best work to date.

The band will celebrate the album’s arrival with a hometown appearance supporting Wheatus on April 13 at The Pearl in Vancouver, where Wheatus will perform their self-titled debut in full.