Tour statement from Shinobu:

Hi friends, we're very happy to be doing a short run of shows with our good friends The Exquisites and Cesar Ruiz in December. We started planning these shows in early October, and all of us were excited to play our old favorite spots in Oakland, San Jose and Pomona, and venture out to perform in Tijuana for the first time as well. With the election of Donald Trump in the intervening weeks, and the intolerance fomented by him and his followers, we've grown extra determined to express our solidarity with our Mexican neighbors by performing there, and also to explicitly celebrate the ethnic, cultural and national diversity that we love.

Shinobu hasn't always been an overtly political band, but we've always been a band comprised of POC. We count many POC and foreigners among our dearest loved ones, including our families, partners, many bands with whom we've shared the stage over the years, the people who've released our records, our roadies and more!

We don't bring these things up to tokenize anybody or to pat ourselves on the back, but to emphasize that the world that we savor and thrive in has always been populated by a ton of folks of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It's hard not to take it for granted sometimes, and we recognize that the world isn't as idyllic as we'd like it to be, but just being and associating with other POC isn't enough for us right now. With this in mind, we wish to state in no uncertain terms that we are pro-diversity, pro-unity, anti-hate, and we categorically oppose Donald Trump's racist and xenophobic rhetoric. Diversity is vital to our cultural lifeblood and makes our lives better.

At each show on this tour we will be raising funds for the National Immigration Law Center. This is a great organization that advocates for immigrants' access to health care, workers' rights, and immigration enforcement reforms, and is also active in the courts defending our constitutional rights and combating racial profiling. Trump kicked off his campaign by attempting to demonize Mexicans like me (Bob), calling us rapists and drug-dealers, so it would personally mean a lot if you could help us stick it to that pendejo by donating. You can check them out at: https://www.nilc.org/

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and we'll hopefully see you at a show!