RODRIGO Y GABRIELA Announces New Album 'OurHome' Featuring Guest Appearance By MARTY FRIEDMAN

Grammy-winning guitar duo RODRIGO Y GABRIELA have announced their new album "OurHome", due September 18 via ATO Records. The album is available for pre-order and pre-save now. A limited-edition D2C pressing of 500 units on custom red, clear, and blue chaotic splatter vinyl is also available exclusively through the band's official store. The announcement arrives alongside news of an extensive North American headline tour this fall, followed by dates across Europe in spring 2027.

Recorded in Japan and independently produced by Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero at NK Sound Tokyo, "OurHome" marks a new chapter for the Mexico City-bred duo, whose singular blend of instrumental guitar music and fearless musical exploration has earned them a global audience over the past two decades.

Alongside the announcement, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA have shared the album's first single, "Monster", accompanied by a new music video created by legendary manga artist Naoki Urasawa.

One of Japan's most celebrated creators, Urasawa is the acclaimed author of "Monster", "20th Century Boys", "Pluto" and "Master Keaton", with more than 140 million copies of his work sold worldwide. Inspired by Urasawa's seminal psychological thriller "Monster", RODRIGO Y GABRIELA's new single explores the tangled contradictions of the human psyche through one of the album's darkest and most cinematic compositions. The accompanying video brings the connection full circle, with Urasawa creating original artwork inspired by the song and its themes.

"'Monster' is such a deep, philosophical story — it's about a psychopathic killer, but it's so uplifting and leaves you with a real sense of hope," says Quintero. "We'd written that track without knowing that Urasawa was a fan of ours, and now he's making the video for us."

The admiration was mutual. Urasawa, who discovered RODRIGO Y GABRIELA through their live performances years before the collaboration came together, says he was stunned when he learned the duo had written a song inspired by "Monster".

"I still find it incredible that encounters like this can really happen," says Urasawa. "Originally, I watched videos of their live performances and thought they were amazing, so I started collecting their vinyl records and CDs."

After learning that RODRIGO Y GABRIELA's new song had been inspired by "Monster", Urasawa reached out through the band's Japanese promoter and soon found himself sitting down with the duo in Tokyo.

"When artists I admire that much bring you an offer like that, there's no way you can say no!" he says. "The completed track, 'Monster', not only perfectly captures the mood of my work 'Monster', but the duo's guitar playing also transports us to an entirely different and elevated dimension."

"I knew I had to create visuals worthy of this music," Urasawa adds. "And so, I took on the challenge of drawing the video you are watching now. I hope you enjoy it!"

The collaboration serves as the opening chapter of "OurHome", an album deeply shaped by RODRIGO Y GABRIELA's long-standing connection to Japan. After a period of creative frustration and uncertainty, the duo found renewed inspiration in a country that has long served as a source of artistic and personal renewal.

"We've always felt drawn to Japan because of the art and aesthetics and attention to beauty," says Quintero. "There's also something about being there that invites you to look inward, to reconnect with who you really are and what gives you meaning."

The origins of "OurHome" trace back to a deeply personal turning point. After months spent searching for direction, the duo returned to their studio in Ixtapa feeling creatively stuck. That changed following the passing of their beloved studio cat, Pelusa.

"Before her passing, we were searching for ideas in a way that felt very pressured and forced," says Quintero. "Then the day after she died, Rod wrote a song for Pelusa and suddenly everything started to flow. It was like she was telling us, 'Stop fucking around and just do what you do best' — which meant playing from our hearts with no agenda."

The album's title emerged during a walk through Melbourne following a Japan and Australia tour, when the duo passed a public housing tower bearing a sign that read "OUR HOME." A photo of the building taken by Sanchez at the moment adorns the album cover.

"At the end of the tour we were walking around Melbourne and talking about the idea of home," says Quintero. "It's easy to get caught up in trying to please others so that you'll feel like you belong, but to us home means finding peace within yourself instead of seeking external approval. As we were walking we passed by a public housing tower, and there was a huge sign out front saying 'OUR HOME.' It felt like a message from the universe, telling us we were on the right path."

That idea runs throughout the album, which serves as both a love letter to Japan and a meditation on the possibility of finding peace wherever you are. Returning to the textural fluidity of acoustic instrumentation after the electric-guitar-heavy sound of 2023's "In Between Thoughts…A New World", "OurHome" features collaborators including former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman, Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi, cellist Hiyori Okuda, and guitarist/composer Yukihiro Atsumi. Mixed by five-time Grammy winner Dave Sardy (THE WHO, OASIS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) and mastered by Stephen Marcussen (NIRVANA, R.E.M., THE ROLLING STONES),the album draws from manga, mythology, migration, philosophy, nature, and personal transformation while remaining rooted in the expressive acoustic interplay that has defined RODRIGO Y GABRIELA's career.

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA will celebrate the release of "OurHome" with an extensive North American headline tour beginning September 30 in Dallas, including appearances at Austin City Limits, Washington, D.C.'s The Anthem, New York's Bowery Ballroom, San Francisco's Castro Theatre, and major theater dates across the U.S. and Canada. The duo will then continue the tour across Europe in spring 2027.

As they prepare to bring the album to audiences around the world, RODRIGO Y GABRIELA see "OurHome" as an invitation to reconnect with what grounds us amid an increasingly chaotic world.

"Every day we face so many challenges, whether it's economic crisis or ecological crisis or political crisis, so we need to protect what makes us feel safe and connected to our true essence," says Quintero. "We made this album to celebrate what helps us to find that home within ourselves, and we hope it inspires everyone to figure out what home means to them. It's a very powerful thing, because nobody can ever take it away from you."

"OurHome" track listing:

01. OurHome
02. Somos Como Tú
03. Akatsuki (feat. Hiromi)
04. Flying Underground
05. Quicksand
06. Monster
07. Astrum In Corpore
08. Is In Your Pocket
09. MADitation
10. Hinomaru Twins
11. Simurgh (feat. Marty Friedman)

Fall 2026 North American tour dates:

October 3 - Austin City Limits (ACL) - Austin, TX
October 6 - Poliforum Siqueiros - Ciudad de México, MEX
October 7 - Poliforum Siqueiros - Ciudad de México, MEX
October 10 - Austin City Limits (ACL) - Austin, TX
October 13 - The Eastern - Atlanta, GA
October 14 - Bilheimer Capitol Theatre - Clearwater, FL
October 16 - Greenfield Lake Amphitheater - Wilmington, NC
October 17 - The Underground - Charlotte, NC
October 18 - The Caverns - Pelham, TN
October 20 - The Anthem - Washington, DC
October 21 - Count Basie Center for the Arts - Red Bank, NJ
October 22 - Sherman Theater - Stroudsburg, PA
October 24 - Lynn Auditorium - Lynn, MA
October 25 - College Street Music Hall - New Haven, CT
October 26 - Academy of Music Theatre - Northampton, MA
October 27 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
October 29 - The Fillmore - Detroit, MI
October 30 - Rivers Casino - Des Plaines, IL
November 1 - The Sylvee - Madison, WI
November 3 - The Fitzgerald Theater - St. Paul, MN
November 6 - Boulder Theater - Boulder, CO
November 7 - The Lensic - Santa Fe, NM
November 8 - Rialto Theatre - Tucson, AZ
November 10 - Humphreys Concerts by the Bay - San Diego, CA
November 11 - Pappy & Harriet's - Pioneertown, CA
November 12 - Libbey Bowl - Ojai, CA
November 14 - San Jose Civic - San Jose, CA
November 15 - The Castro - San Francisco, CA
November 17 - Crystal Ballroom - Portland, OR
November 19 - The Moore Theatre - Seattle, WA
November 20 - Vogue Theatre - Vancouver, BC, Canada

Spring 2027 European tour dates:

March 15 - Vicar Street - Dublin, IE
March 16 - Mandela Hall - Belfast, UK
March 17 - O2 Academy - Glasgow, UK
March 19 - Albert Hall - Manchester, UK
March 20 - Town Hall - Birmingham, UK
March 21 - O2 Shepherds Bush Empire - London, UK
March 23 - Salle Pleyel - Paris, FR
March 25 - Aéronef - Lille, FR
March 26 - 106 - Rouen, FR
March 27 - Stereolux - Nantes, FR
March 29 - MEM2 - Rennes, FR
March 31 - Le Bikini - Toulouse, FR
April 1 - Silo - Marseille, FR
April 3 - Paloma - Nimes, FR
April 4 - Belle Electrique - Grenoble, FR
April 5 - Le Radiant - Lyon, FR
April 7 - La Vapeur - Dijon, FR
April 8 - L'Autre Canal - Nancy, FR
April 9 - La Cartonnerie - Reims, FR
April 11 - La Laiterie - Strasbourg, FR
April 13 - Ancienne Belgique - Brussels, BE
April 14 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, NL
April 16 - Die Kantine - Cologne, DE
April 17 - Mojo - Hamburg, DE
April 18 - Columbia Theater - Berlin, DE
April 20 - Progresja - Warsaw, PL
April 21 - Zaklęte Rewiry - Wroclaw, PL
April 23 - Globe - Vienna, AT
April 24 - Palac Akropolis - Prague, CZ
April 25 - Technikum - Munich, DE
April 27 - Auditorium Parco della Musica - Rome, IT
April 28 - Circolo Magnolia - Milan, IT
April 29 - Docks - Lausanne, CH
May 1 - Cheltenham Jazz Fest - Cheltenham, UK
May 3 - Cosmopolite - Oslo, NO
May 4 - Pumpehuset - Copenhagen, DK
May 5 - Nalen - Stockholm, SE
May 7 - La (2) d'Apolo - Barcelona, ES
May 8 - Sala Copérnico - Madrid, ES
May 11 - Cineteatro Capitólio - Lisbon, PT
May 12 - Casa da Música - Porto, PT

Natives of Mexico City, Sánchez and Quintero began their careers as members of TIERRA ACIDA, a heavy metal band which played on the city's underground gig circuit for seven years.

"Like a lot of Mexican youth, we were heavily influenced by American metal bands — METALLICA, MEGADETH, PANTERA, and also SEPULTURA," Gabriela explained. "It was a full band, very loud, and for vocals, Rodrigo would just scream. We played this way for seven years."

Asked in a 2010 interview if RODRIGO Y GABRIELA's metal connections were fading, Rodrigo said: "No, it's growing, actually. You go to our shows and you see a lot of metalheads. It was great to have the recognition from the kings, from METALLICA themselves, to be in touch with them and having the opportunity to jam with Robert [Trujillo] pretty often. It's great, because that opened the door for a lot of metalheads to understand that we come from there. It's clear for the people that we love metal."

Photo credit: Enrique Levya