Equal Vision Records, Dine Alone Records and Canadian punk veterans The Flatliners release the official 8-Bit Version of the band’s single ‘Good, You?’, the lead single from the band’s acclaimed new album, ‘Cold World’. Featured in the band’s new 8-Bit Punktendo video game quest modeled after The Legend of Zelda titled Cold World: The Quest For Inner Peace, ‘Good, You?’ receives the full Chiptune treatment from artist/producer/mixer Desmo.
The band had the following to share about the song and new collaboration: “Over our 24 years together, we’ve been fortunate enough to feel the effects of the magic trick that songwriting always seems to be. Especially when we’re still chasing what hooked us when we were all teenagers just starting this band. But nothing can prepare you for the feeling you get when you first hear a song you wrote sound more like the soundtrack to your childhood than anything else. Our new friend Desmo. accomplished that very emotion when putting together the 8-bit version of ‘Good, You?’ We were immediately transported back to those early memories of partying in the basement, pulling all-nighters at sleep overs, and unknowingly starting the lifelong process of rotting our brains into absolute oblivion. Video game music was the soundtrack to our lives before we discovered playing music together, and that feeling is well represented in this new-yet-nostalgic version.”
Maybe the greatest resistance that any artist can offer today is the radical act of stability — the same four people, friends since they were kids, playing music together because they have been compelled to for nearly their entire lives, 24 years and counting.
‘Cold World’, the brand new studio album from Canadian punk veterans The Flatliners, is the sound of a band free to make what they want with the people they want to make it with, to try to carve out some space to demonstrate a different way of doing things — a space where bands share credit equally, where friends grow and work together over decades, a space where stability is the reward for sticking to your vision.
That vision has evolved into a consistent confidence that gives The Flatliners the freedom to experiment with the edges of their sound while grounded by each other, locking out the decay of the world outside. The band fought through the fire of their last record only to find a landscape of debasement and erasure, and an increasingly cold world for all of us to live in.
The textures of ‘Cold World’ itself are anything but comfortable and familiar. The band’s airtight foundation of bassist Jon Darbey and drummer Paul Ramirez continues to drive with a learned, casual urgency on rippers like ‘Inner Peace’ and ‘Burn’, while Chris Cresswell and Scott Brigham deploy the controlled chaos of their shredding two-guitar attack, enveloping the listener on songs like ‘Pulpit’ and ‘Whyte Light’. As the album ends, we may be drifting out into darkness. But if we’re lucky, we can choose who we drift with.
The Flatliners will be making the following appearances in 2026. Dates below with more to be announced soon.
Upcoming tour dates:
June 19th — Bahnhof Paulo — Hamburg, DE
June 20th — Hole 44 — Berlin, DE
June 21st — Farewell Youth Fest — Dresden, DE
June 23rd — Arena — Vienna, AT
June 24th — Strom — Munich, DE
June 25th — Gebaude 9 — Cologne, DE
June 26th — Jera On Air — Ysselsteyn, NL
June 27th — Vainstream — Munster, De
June 28th — Mighty Sounds Festival — Tabor, CZ
July 2nd — FestiVoix — Trois Rivières, QC
August 18th — Rescue Rooms — Nottingham, UK
August 19th — Slay Glasgow — Glasgow, UK
August 21st — The Bread Shed — Manchester, UK
August 22nd — The Garage — London, UK
August 23rd — The Fleece — Bristol, UK
August 28th — Louis’ Pub — Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
August 29th — Pawn Shop Live — South Edmonton Common, Alberta
August 30th — The Arrowhead — Calgary, Alberta
September 1st — The Northern Bar & Stage — Fernie, British Columbia
September 4th — Harbour Convention Centre — Vancouver, British Columbia
September 5th — Kelowna Event Centre — Kelowna, British Columbia
September 6th — Burton Cummings Theatre — Winnipeg, MB
September 22nd — Wheelies — Victoria, BC
October 23rd – 25th — The FEST 24 — Gainesville, FL
December 2nd — House of Blues — Cleveland, OH
December 3rd — Skullys Music Diner — Columbus, OH
December 5th — History (The Holiday Melee w/ The Bouncing Souls, The Suicide Machines, The Jack Knives) — Toronto, ON
December 6th — Bronson Centre — Ottawa, ON
December 9th — Higher Ground — South Burlington, VT
December 10th — Palladium — Worcester, PA
December 11th — Black Cat — Washington, DC