Some said it would never happen, given lead singer Mr. Chi Pig’s much-storied struggles with mental illness, addiction, infection, homelessness, toothlessness, and general ill health, but SNFU’s Never Trouble Trouble Until Trouble Troubles You—the band’s first album since 2004’s In the Meantime and In Between Time, and the first to be recorded without founding guitarist Marc Belke—is slated for release in September, on Cruzar Media. The Straight caught up with label head Dan Lefrancois at Funky Winker Bean’s, prior to an acoustic “SNFU Lite” set on May 18, where he explained the plan to recoup the costs of recording.

“We kind of stole the idea from some crowd-funding models that we admire,” he said, citing inspirations from Eastern Canadian band Protest the Hero among others. “The label has already paid for everything, but that means that SNFU is just working off a $60,000 debt. So we had the idea, why don’t we make it available exclusively, early, for collectors? We’ll make a one-time printing only of vinyl with special artwork, and sign it, and we’ll mail it out before the official release. They’ve sold tons of records over the years, and at the moment they don’t have a lot to show for it. So we thought we can have the band be debt-free, the label be paid back, and the fans can get something special. A win-win-win situation.”

To debut the new album and sign people up for special-edition pre-orders, Cruzar Media is organizing a free listening party at the WISE Hall next Saturday (June 1), where, among other festivities, the new album will be played in its entirety. Drummer Jon Card—who first showed up on SNFU’s second album, 1986’s If You Swear You’ll Catch No Fish—said he is “very proud” of the record, and urges people to come out. “The band hit it out of the park, and Chi pulled some amazing lyrics out of his ass, big time,” he added. “It’s some of the best stuff I’ve heard Chi come up with.” Mr. Chi Pig, for his part, said,“I fuckin’ knew I had another album in me!”

A limited run of 50 skateboards, prepared by Skull Skates and bearing the singer’s likeness, will also be available.