HOME FRONT – ‘Watch It Die’

HOME FRONT – ‘Watch It Die’

NEW ALBUM ‘WATCH IT DIE’ COMING 14TH NOVEMBER 2025 VIA LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOS

HOME FRONT holds on to a particular kind of passion. The sort of thing that guides you – like a climbing vine steadily blanketing your bests and worsts, cutting through changes and impasses; victory and loss. This passion, their drive, is what makes a record like Watch It Die, their latest full-length for La Vida Es Un Mus, feel just right. For decades the duo’s Graeme MacKinnon and Clint Frazier have embedded themselves in grass roots music making, community building, and the overpowering ebbs and flows of diy punk.  With Home Front, formed in 2020, they’ve given their lifetime of experience a chance to distil and then power into this musically omnipotent project which equally conjures textured Tangerine Dream sounds in a film montage, or the pummelling soundtrack to the first steps taken towards winning the fight of your life.

Its lead single “Light Sleeper” sends energy waves rattling through speakers with all the urgency and volume of post punk/new wave/street punk. The track is available alongside its video which features a cast of characters including Home Front touring members Brandi Strauss (bass), Ian Rowley (guitar), and Warren Oostlander (drums).

Home Front’s nod to influences and the themes of their lyrics are direct and detailed while maintaining enough creative distance to feel universal and unique. The production has again been bolstered by a team of long time confidants making a huge and unique record under the humble and hard working circumstances of remote pre-production and choosing to do their recording in home studios in their home town in Edmonton, Alberta.

The architecture of ‘Watch It Die’ is simple – 12 songs of danceable, hummable, rousing and honest music that only Home Front could make. The emotion of this LP is what solidifies these musical notions into meaningful art. “For us, ultimately, this is music that comes out of loss and heartbreak and failure, but I hope people have a good time listening to us. You can get rowdy, you can get emotional, you can do whatever you want, but maybe with all of that freedom, we all take a second to reflect on all our fallen brothers and sisters and friends who may have slipped away.”

On previous revered recordings Games of Power (2023) and Think of the Lie (2021), Frazier and MacKinnon gave us a snapshot of a cynical and alienating world. A place where hope was tempered by insignificance, exhaustion takes us, and where 2,000,000 voices screaming in unison can still go unheard. Watch It Die instead of asking us why and how we got here, struggling to cope with the sadness of a desperate world, brings us their “step forward” moment. A dose of optimism and ownership in the bleakest of times in which maybe it doesn’t have to feel so bad to be alone or desperate. Where the passage of time is not coloured by the nostalgia of a lost youth but more toward the celebration of wisdom earned. Watch it Die owns the ills it describes and catapults us alongside its creators who have the confidence and presence of mind to live beyond their limitations.

Watch It Die continues along the path of Games of Power, but it isn’t just a sequel. It is a road map of hope. MacKinnon and Frazier state, “For all of us in Home Front, ‘Watch It Die’ comes at a very transformative time. Geopolitically, musically and in our personal lives. With friends and close family members dying, to massive uncertainty around the world, this album encapsulates what it’s like for us to step into a ‘new world’ where all the old adages of ‘everything is gonna work out fine’ feel like a joke. We watch rich people get richer while the rest of us struggle just to get by. We watch colonisers kill without consequence, and in an age of information at our fingertips we watch people choosing to be ignorant to what’s going on around them. ‘Watch It Die’ speaks about our own humanity, a rebirth into a new world and how we can never go back to the way things were. We suffer for their dreams, but in saying that we must recognise the importance of our own community and look to energise them to build a better way of life. We have always been an anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-peace band. We are against crimes to human rights and all of those struggling through the horrors of imperialism. We stand with the people of Palestine and we stand with the Canadian Indigenous communities who struggle to uphold treaty rights as well as basic human rights like clean drinking water and generational trauma. One takeaway from our music is to make a safe space where our community can come together to air out grievances and find a better way to a new future.”

Pre-Order / Pre-Save Watch It Die

 The band will play two shows in LA later this year:

Sat Nov 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Paladium w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four and Castillo
Sun Nov 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Paladium w/ Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Four and Generacion Suicida



‘WATCH IT DIE’  WILL BE RELEASED 14TH NOVEMBER 2025 VIA LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOS

PUNCHDRUNK SAINTS -DEBUT SELF-TITLED ALBUM – OCTOBER 24TH VIA CADIZ MUSIC

PUNCHDRUNK SAINTS -DEBUT SELF-TITLED ALBUM – OCTOBER 24TH VIA CADIZ MUSIC

ORDER HERE:

FEATURING COCKNEY REJECTS GUITARIST MICKY GEGGUS

As 2023 drew to a close, The Cockney Rejects’ guitarist and founder, Micky Geggus, after much soul searching, decided to leave the band that he created in 1979.

Along with original Rejects’ bassist, Vinny Riordan, Mick decided to break free from the confines of punk rock and to embark upon a project that encompassed his first love: hard, heavy, and at the same time, melodic, Rock. Mick’s love of rock music will be of no surprise to any fans of the Rejects, as the band confirmed their passion for more traditional rock sounds as far back as their Pete Way (UFO) produced album ‘The Wild Ones’ in ’82. 

Having already written several songs, Mick began a series of trips to producer Kevin Poree’s Canterbury studio where he began to lay down the tracks that would become the basis of the Punchdrunk Saints’ debut album.

Along with bassist, Riordan, and drummer, Reg Downer, the songs began to take on a distinct personality and feel, ranging from hard ‘n’ heavy anthems to searing, soulful ballads. This was exactly the mix that Geggus had envisaged. Now the search for a singer who could do justice to the material began.

Acting on a tip from Mick’s East London guitarist friends, (former Iron Maiden and Lionheart guitarist) Dennis Stratton, and Dave Edwards (who played in Remus Down Boulevard with Dennis Stratton and in Ramrod with Rory Gallagher), Mick discovered inexperienced but brilliant vocalist, Marc Salmon. The pair soon took the trip down to Poree’s studio in Canterbury and the results were phenomenal. “He’d done his homework,” said Geggus. “I was blown away by the control and power he demonstrated in that first session. I thought ‘fuck me, we really got something here. This band is gonna be incredible!’”

Fast forward a year, and the debut Punchdrunk Saints album is here. From the opening stomp of “Holy Mother” to the anthemic first single “I Wanna Know What It’s Like” and the heartfelt, uplifting “Come Home”, the Punchdrunk Saints debut is a 10-track masterclass in anthemic hard rock with every song a crafted gem in its own right. This album is refreshing, vital and new and if there’s any justice in this world it deserves to be heard at maximum volume in stadia across the globe!

Sadly, neither Vinny nor Reg could commit to the band long term, but Mick and Marc were soon blessed with the arrival of powerhouse drummer, Chris Nedzynski, and brilliant bass player for Leader of the Down, Tim Atkinson. Tim is the co-founder of Leader of the Down, who up until his passing in 2011, featured the late, great Würzel from Motörhead, and he has worked in the past with legends such as Lemmy, Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe and Bruce Foxton from The Jam, to name just a few). Tim and Chris both constitute a mighty rhythm section in what is now a unique outfit.

Punchdrunk Saints recently played their debut show at London’s legendary 100 Club to an ecstatic audience in an incendiary performance that surpassed already lofty expectations and included a guest appearance on guitar from former Iron Maiden six-stringer, Dennis Stratton.  

Make no mistake, the Punchdrunk Saints are here to stay. And then some.

Monty Oxymoron – ‘The Piano Plays ‘Til Midnight’ (The Songs Of The Damned) (Damaged Goods)

Monty Oxymoron – ‘The Piano Plays ‘Til Midnight’ (The Songs Of The Damned) (Damaged Goods)

Monty has been a valued member of The Mighty Damned since 1996 and has contributed to the songwriting process, and has also written and played with the Captain, but did you know he is a trained Psychiatric nurse and Psychotherapist

Now its fair to say The Damned have been the pioneers of Punk since its inception and have easily weaved their magic through many of its subgenres as the pioneers never afraid to take a chance and always had diversity in th e records introducing keyboards and having songs with synths so it might only have been a matter of time before someone in the camp inspired Monty to get in a studio and lay down his parts or interpritations for many of the bands best loved songs adding another flavour to many classics and some not so classic. Join Monty on this magical mystery ride.

Now I’m not sure if his tongue is firmly in his cheek or this is a deadly serious project, either way I was intrigued to investigate all nineteen tracks. Sure, we would all agree there are some quite beautiful songs that either already have significant piano parts or involve keys in some fashion, so beginning with ‘Beauty Of The Beast’ is safe territory, but having no vocals and just piano and no synths is very interesting. ‘Blackout’ had me upright and not sure whether to laugh out loud or to appreciate the majesty of the melody or scratch my head at the blasphemy of hearing it like this. Sure, the breakdown sounds wonderful, but whatever gets you through, I guess.

Monty often has me scratching my head as he dances on the side of the stage or leaps up and down, but when the band do the huge songs like ‘Absinth’ I see his worth and like what I hear. There are some safe tunes like ‘History Of The World’ where it works, and others like ‘Smash It Up’ that sound like it belongs on Blackpool sea front, amusing old punks in their kiss me quick hats.

‘Life Goes On’ sounds fantastic, and is it rude of me to prefer Captain’s performance of ‘Just Can’t Be Happy’? ‘Shadow Of Love’ works as does ‘Limit Club’, a song the band should get back in the set and leave it there in place of ‘Eloise’ if anyone’s asking. ‘The Dog’, ‘Disco Man’, ‘Generals’, ‘Natures Dark Passion’ and the beautiful ‘Under The Floor’ make this all worthwhile.

Saying that the tribute pieces to end this album, dedicated to Cap, Dave, Paul, Stu, and Pinch, are lovely, but not something I will be returning to, (Jazz just goes over my head or on this case right through it) even if the one for Paul sounds like the same amount of notes Paul hits every song hes ever played on. For Damned completists, no doubt a lovely piece of curio from a maverick figure in the most glorious and wonderful punk rock band that ever made a note of music. Long live The Damned and everything they do, even the bat shit crazy piano lounge albums with no words just piano. Respect to Monty and whoever commissioned this crazy album. I await the tour dates as Monty heads out on a solo tour with this bad boy.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

Poison Heart – ‘Love Lies And Hard Times’ (Heavy Medication Records)

Poison Heart – ‘Love Lies And Hard Times’ (Heavy Medication Records)

Warsaw’s own punk’n’roll powerhouse Poison Heart are back and louder than ever with their new album, ‘Love, Lies and Hard Times’, Now I have to admit I’m not up to speed with the punk’n’roll scene in Poland, but if this is the quality on offe,r then maybe I should remedy that asap.

In 2018, Poison Heart released their Scandi-styled, high-energy punk & roll, maybe polski styled should be the way forward. It’s taken them a while to follow it up, but on the evidence I have before me it was time well spent.

Equal parts punk and hard rock they were obviously paying attention to the likes of Turbonegro, The Hellacopters, Gluecifer, and MC5, delivered with a twin-guitar, street punk vocals,

‘Love, Lies and Hard Times’, the band’s 4th long-player, features 10 brand-new tracks that balance fierce melodies with unflinching honesty. The themes might be well well-trodden paths of broken relationships, sleepless nights, and inner battles. The album has universal appeal for sure, but I admire the bravery of featuring three songs sung in Polish, which sound really good to be fair, and doesn’t take anything away from the flow of the record, even though I haven’t got a clue what they are about. All power to them for doing it.

I’d imagine what you hear is exactly what you get live from the band: a ton of energy and a passion for the style they deliver. Fans of The Almighty and The Cult and such like will find a lot to enjoy here from the opening brooding ‘Precedens’ and the Thin Lizzy delivery of the twin guitars a theme they lean on for sure.

‘Warsaw Blues’ is convincing and has a great driving rhythm, especially when the volume is up. The songs are kept lean with nothing overstaying its welcome, and some great tub thumping on ‘Saturday Night’ before ‘Mirror’ offers a change of pace as its brooding intro builds into an 80s feel of alt rock. Check ’em out if greasy rock n roll is your thing, you might just love some ‘Love Lies And Hard Times’.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

The Good The Bad And The Zugly – ‘November Boys’ (Indie Recordings)

The Good The Bad And The Zugly – ‘November Boys’ (Indie Recordings)

Holy fuck, I have to start by saying that my first spin was on ear-bleeding volumes, and as the title track burst through the ether, I felt quite emotional. The melody is exquisite and those gang vocals haven’t been heard since Turbonegro hit their zenith. Throughout the album trilogy ’Misanthropical House’, ’Algorithm and Blues’, and ’Research and Destroy’, were well above average, in fact, over ti.m,e I’d go so far as to say at times exceptional but his ‘November Boys’ is shaping up to be something else that blasts off into the red hot sun. The Good The Bad and The Zugly have limped their way through midlife crises and pubescent antics to release one mother fucker of a record from the opening pop sensible melodic bastards that ore the first two to ‘Norweigans Abroad’ which is a thrashing mother fucker of a track that is tight and raging and turning into everythinng you want it to sound like – turn it up please.

They might well be mediocre underachievers on the unglamorous Scandirock path to valhalla but fair play this eclipses everything they’ve done until here and maybe now people will take these slackers seriously and they will be championed for saving gumbo punk rock n roll single-handedly.

‘Dig A Ditch’ sounds like a heavy diet of UFO records and bad drugs for the length of the intro alone but man this record is making bad life choices seem like good ideas that have brought us to this point in life otherwise we’d have passed these nut jobs by and given them a wide birth, thankfully I’m not that sensible.

The bands press release is like it was lifted from a twin peaks script after some bad acid and too much vodka but the tunes will always be their saving grace when they’re this good. ‘Dig A Ditch’ could and should be a crossover radio hit anywhere and everywhere.

A snippet from the press kit reads as follows: “The fact remains: we have always been left behind ever since kindergarten (for those of us lucky enough to experience such a well-regulated institution). In sports, we were always picked last. Our finest effort was put into keeping the bench warm for all the tough and slick January boys whenever they got tired of scoring goals—and chicks. Our academic performances measured at impressively low standards. Lacking any ability to concentrate, our educational path was a fast track to the headmaster’s office and, eventually, special ed classes. Today, they would have stuffed us full of pills in no time.” Confused? Don’t be, join us and rejoice that we’ve got the best tunes just take the melody on ‘A Blazer In The Northern Sky’ and dance like nobody is watching and sing like nobody can hear you. It’s blissful, trust me.

‘Scandinavian CRISPR Brat’ is like their irresponsible hate anthem, but with a sweet melody and a riff to die for GBZ are on FIRE! The fact that there are only ten songs here fills me with sadness. I wish it were a double album with twenty tracks, such is the quality on offer, but he,y ten is fine and dandy. ‘FOMO’ is bone-crushing riff-a-rama as we’re almost at the finish line, it’s a burst on as we dash for the finish through a thrashingly good ‘Hadeland Hardcore’. The Stooges one-finger piano tonk on ‘All My Friends Are Dead Inside’ rings around my head before we sign off with the wonderful ‘New Kids on the Blockchain’ and we’re done. I’m going back in for more and might just play it on my headphones and see if I can just run as fast as I can for as long as I can to see if this album makes me go mental. What a fuckin monster of a record. Congrats GBZ, you have achieved a goal of writing and recording one hell of a record that is as good from the opening track to the closing track, and everything in between is pure fuckin fire (as the kids would say). Melodies to die for, riffs that are on point and life-affirming. The November Boys are here, and the summer isn’t even done yet. Buy this album; it might just be the best thing you hear all year.

Buy Here / Plastic Head in the UK: Here

Author: Dom Daley

No Tears – ‘Heart Shaped Eyes’ (Beluga Records)

No Tears – ‘Heart Shaped Eyes’ (Beluga Records)

We all have styles and bands that keep returning to our turntables, tablets, digital streaming or however we consume these days, and you can add to that labels that just get it and churn out reliably above-average music and new finds to add to our playlists and favourite new albums of the year list. One such label is the Scandi power poppin’ legends at Beluga who’ve done it again. If you are ever in doubt about your choices of music and bands to play, then I suggest you jump on board because the latest record off the quality-assured conveyor belt is the quirky named No Tears.

Now stay with me, it might have been originally released back in 2023 on  Luftslott Records. No Tears peddle pure Costello-infused Power Pop with added snot guitar pop. The whole shooting match is performed by the clever so-and-so called Christoffer Karlsson. The astute and top power poppers will know his day job is performing with the horror punkin power poppers The Dahmers as their lead vocalist, so the guy has pedigree.

Now you can check them another day because today it’s all about reengaging with No Tears and passing on the love and hopefully expanding the ownership of this fantastic record. The album kicks off with the rampant horn honkin’ blast that is ‘Dreamin’, and that’s it I’m all in. Energy, excellent playing and those honkin’ saxophone breaks laid over a wicked riff and thumping beat, it’s a freakin winner every day of the week. From the drum fills, the bass solo and then the rasping guitar break, this is kitchen sink rock n roll and some. Oh and handclaps

Once upon a time, this record would have been huge and hits galore all over the globe. There is a familiarity with the melodies in some of the songs, and the riffs are all borrowed from the good and great of history. Had Chris Stein penned some of the licks and arrangements around the time of ‘Eat To The Beat’, like ‘Get Away’. The sugar-sweet melodies are wrapped in raw guitars but smoothed over with some well-placed keys.

‘Same Old Story’ is banging and giving The Hives a good run for their money, and they’re playing arenas. The variety is excellent, pitching ‘Broken Mirror’ with its backbeat and dreamy breakdown alongside a good boogie ‘On 45’, then a curveball in the spaced out dreamy of the ‘Silence Is Speaking’ before signing off with the acoustic slide marching beat of ‘Without Your Love’ that features vocals from Beatrice Rosdahl adding some ye haw! to proceedings. What a fantastic breath of fresh air this record is, featuring eleven diverse songs making up a complete album that you should be checking out.

Get over to Beluga and tell em RPM sent you or else…

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

Redd Kross – The Crescent, York – 21st August 2025

Redd Kross – The Crescent, York – 21st August 2025

Coming on like The Monkees for the 90’s, Californian Power Pop legends Redd Kross brought colour, quirkiness and most of all, FUN to a Grunge-filled music world. There was a period when all I listened to was ‘Third Eye’, ‘Phaseshifter’ and the two Jellyfish albums.

Their performance of ‘Visionary’ on The Word could be the best live performance of any band in a TV studio, and it was then I realised I had to see them live…yet it never happened. For one reason or another, the stars never aligned for me and Redd Kross…until now.

Following the release of last year’s excellent self-titled double album, the band are over here with The Melvins and they have a few shows of their own. One happens to be a 25-minute walk from my house; there is no way I am missing this!

Dressed in matching paint-splattered white outfits, like a walking & talking (well, singing) art piece on their way to an Indian wedding, Redd Kross walk on and fire straight into ‘Huge Wonder’. I never realised how tall Jeff McDonald is; the singer towers over guitarist Jason Shapiro. To his left, bassist and brother Steven gyrates his body like he’s being electrocuted. The man with the straightest hair in rock knows how to work a crowd, and his between-song Paul Stanley-esque raps are comedy gold that keeps the crowd up for a rock n’ roll party.

‘Stay Away From Downtown’ is up next, a killer garage rock riff from Jeff’s guitar and a sublime hook makes it an early highlight, damn I forgot how good that tune is. ‘Stunt Queen’ is the first of 5 tracks from the latest album. What a tune live, it has the attitude and the punk energy of classic Redd Kross, and I love it.

Just watching the brothers trade vocals, constantly smiling and moving, giving their all in the moment, it’s just magical to me. ‘Lady In The Front Row’ is the first sublime moment that gets the crowd singing every word. How could you not? It’s ridiculously catchy. A red album double dose follows: the singles ‘Candy Coloured Catastrophe’ and the Steven-led ‘I’ll Take Your Word For It’ fit the bill nicely. There’s only one track from the ‘Third Eye’ album on this tour, which might seem criminal to a die hard, but if you play one song from arguably your best album, then it must be ‘Annie’s Gone’, right? I’m mesmerised as the frontman ditches his guitar, covers his face with a scarf and sings through it for the entire song. An ethereal, bizarre and truly emotive 3 and a half minutes of Power Pop perfection.

Elsewhere, we get a high-energy one-two of ‘Switchblade Sister’ and Jimmy’s Fantasy’, with catchy riffs and hooks aplenty, plus a killer cover of The Beatles ‘It Won’t Be Long’ with Jeff shakin’ that tambourine like it’s the last thing he’s ever going to do. A song they truly make their own.

They return to jam out some oldies before bringing the whole room to a rock n’ roll party climax with a killer ‘Deuce’, complete with Paul & Gene classic 70’s stage moves thrown in for good measure.

Ok, so it’s been a long time coming, and I may be biased here, but Redd Kross truly blew me away tonight. I’ve seen a lot of great gigs already this year but tonight was truly special. Redd Kross are a band who are at the top of their game both live and creatively.

Someone was shouting for then to play ‘Zira (Call Out My Name)’ tonight, and after a few bars that ended in Jeff laughing and saying he doesn’t remember it, Steven says they’ll come back next year and play the whole gaddamn album! Now that would be truly something.

Author: Ben Hughes

Joe And The Shitboys – ‘Greatest Shits’ (Alcopop Records)

Joe And The Shitboys – ‘Greatest Shits’ (Alcopop Records)

From the windswept, sheep-dotted cliffs of the Faroe Islands comes a band that are anything but pastoral. Joe & The Shitboys, self-described “queer vegan shitpunks”, have been raising hell, ruffling feathers, and flipping the script since their chaotic inception, and now they’re ready to unleash their debut LP, Greatest Shits, via Alcopop! Records.

A compilation of the band’s first three releases—each originally pressed on 7” vinyl due to their rapid-fire 10-minute lengths— ‘Greatest Shits’ also features a bunch of brand new tracks recorded straight to analogue tape. It’s a vital, venomous, and vibrantly unfiltered collection from one of punk’s most exhilarating and unique new voices, giving anything from down under a run for their bad hair cut money and (probably shit fashion sense).

Once you get balls deep into this a mix of ragged punk mixed with the more artsy side like PAvement or DKs mixed in with early Lemonheads and a vibrant wreckless abandonment like ‘Wonderwall’ which sounds like the instruments tied to the back of a tractor and dragged around a field would sound like before the excellent tribute to wrestling legend ‘Macho Man Randy Savage’ kicks in.

So there might be thirty seven tracks here but you don’t need to dig deep to hear the three second blast of ‘Fuck’ or the eleven seconds of ‘Eat Ass You Fucking Coward’ you know the drill it might be nothing new but its a lot of fun and highly addictive.

With Joe taking the mic and a rotating cast of Shitboys behind him (currently Ziggy Shit, Johnny Shit, and Ollie Shit), the band became a lightning rod for resistance against the backwards, macho values that persist in their homeland’s music scene. Their goal? Skewer toxic culture with speed, wit, and the occasional ass joke. Job done and an album to be proud of, no matter what.

The band might not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but Iggy had them on board for Alley Pally recently, so the right people are getting involved, and on this evidence, it’s not hard to see why. Potty-mouthed and kicking out the jams, Beastie Boys meet a whole goofball bag full of original punks. Joe has the world at his feet, and songs like Mr Nobody sound effortless as well as timeless. Then to follow it up with a groovy ‘Fuck Everybody’ is a band dancing to their own beat, and that only like it or lump it I doubt they give a single shiney shit.

Who knows what Jooe and the gang will do next, but I’m all ears, but let’s live with this bad boy for a while yet.

Joe & The Shitboys are just getting started, they declare, so jump in and join us. Joe and the shitboys are de bomb as the cool kids say.

Buy Here

Author: Dom Daley

Ash – INSTORES & OUTSTORES

Ash – INSTORES & OUTSTORES

New LP AD ASTRA LP // 3 OCTOBER [featuring Graham Coxon]

UK & IRELAND TOUR DATES // ON SALE NOW

To coincide with the release of their forthcoming ninth studio album Ad Astra via Fierce Panda Records on 3 October, ASH have unveiled details of seven intimate Instore and Outstore shows. Tickets available here: https://ash-official.com/pages/shows

Containing eleven brand new tracks, including their raucous take on surprise single and Beetlejuice staple Jump In The Line and the most recent single Give Me Back My World, the Ad Astra album sees Graham Coxon appear on two particularly sassy songs and catches the perennial power pop kings in typically rocket-fueled form.

INSTORES & OUTSTORES // OCTOBER

Fri 03 BRIGHTON Resident Records (Instore)

Sat 04 LONDON Rough Trade East Records (Instore)

Sun 05 LEICESTER 2 Funky Café (Truck Records Outstore)

Tue 07 NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade Records (Instore)

Wed 08 KINGSTON Circuit (Banquet Records Outstore)

Thu 09 LIVERPOOL Baltic Jacaranda Records (Instore)

Fri 10 EDINBURGH Liquid Rooms (Assai Records Outstore)

Ad Astra follows hot on the heels of Race The Night – the band’s highest charting album for 20 years – and is being released two years and one month later, which is no coincidence. Always a band that lives for live music, Ash vowed that the fierce pandemic-induced five-year chasm between 2018’s Islands and 2023’s Race The Night would never happen again.

Pre-order Ad Astra HERE

By focusing on the endless horizon of galaxies far, far away and staring into an endless black hole Ash have somehow ended up creating a cohesive whole. There is classic Ash power-pop rocking action with the blistering purity of Hallion, the crunchy chuggings of Keep Dreaming and the furious sonic lunges of Dehumanised. But equally you can’t fail to succumb to the glorious swooping jangles on Which One Do You Want? – a whirl from Marr’s canon for sure; My Favourite Ghost and its acoustic elegance, floating on strings of desire; and Fun People (feat Graham Coxon) is quite simply one of the maddest, punchiest songs they have ever recorded.

As if creating this lovingly optimistic opus wasn’t enough to be getting on with, they’ve kept themselves busy elsewhere. Since Race The Night came out, they’ve run riot at SXSW in Austin, played Belfast for Steve Lamacq during Independent Venue Week, headlined the 100 Club in London for BRITS week and toured Australia. Already this year, they’ve amassed the masses at Glastonbury for the eighth time – equaling the multi performance record of Van Morrison – and toured the UK with The Darkness.

In short, three decades into a career peppered with timeless indie-punk nuggets and wildly inventive gigging and releasing concepts, the trio shows no sign of slowing down. To infinity and beyond indeed. Or as Rick McMurray gently muses …

“The title Ad Astra, the worst kept secret of the last month, points to ideas that became a big identifier back in 1995, but they’re updated with 30 years life experience. I’ll leave you to compare the differences, and with the thought that while the optimistic innocence of 1995 might have been tempered by those 30 years, if you look to the stars, you might still feel a glimmer. Of hope.”

And for those of you wondering, Ad Astra is Latin for “to the stars”, the words that came out of a teenaged Tim Wheeler’s mouth in the summer of 1995, setting up the classic chorus to the band’s first Top 20 hit Girl From Mars.

To celebrate the album release of Ad Astra, Ash embark on a huge touring schedule from this autumn into the early part of next year as follows:

SEPTEMBER

Tue 09 LONDON Scala

Wed 10 LONDON Scala

Fri 26 VALENCIA, SPAIN Visor Festival

OCTOBER

Tue 14 FUKUOKA, JAPAN Zepp

Thu 16 OSAKA, JAPAN Zepp

Fri 17 NAGOYA, JAPAN Zepp

Mon 20 SENDAI, JAPAN Gigs

Tue 21 YOKOHAMA. JAPAN KT Zepp

NOVEMBER

Fri 14 MINEHEAD Shiiine On Weekender Festival

Sun 16 SWANSEA Sin City

Tue 18 NEWCASTLE Boiler Shop

Wed 19 MANCHESTER New Century Hall

Thu 20 GLASGOW SWG3 Galvanizers

Sat 22 BLACKPOOL Bootleg Social

Sun 23 SHEFFIELD The Foundry

Tue 25 OXFORD O2 Academy

DECEMBER

Fri 05 LISTOWELL Mike The Pies

Sat 06 DUNDALK Spirit Store

Sun 07 GALWAY Roisin Dubh

Tue 09 CORK Cyprus Avenue

Wed 10 LIMERICK Dolans Warehouse

Thu 11 DUBLIN The Academy

Sat 13 BELFAST Ulster Hall

FEBRUARY

Fri 06 TUNBRIDGE WELLS Forum

Sat 07 CAMBRIDGE Junction

Sun 08 MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms

Tue 10 EXETER Phoenix

Wed 11 BRISTOL The Trinity Centre

Fri 13 LIVERPOOL Grand Central Dome

Sat 14 STOKE ON TRENT Sugarmill

Sun 15 HULL The Welly

Tue 17 NORWICH Epic Studios

Thu 19 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy

Tickets: https://ash-official.com/pages/shows

WEBSITE:               https://ash-official.com

FACEBOOK:           https://www.facebook.com/ash

INSTAGRAM:        https://www.instagram.com/ash_1977/    

TIKTOK:                  https://www.tiktok.com/@AshOfficial1977

X:                            https://x.com/ashofficial

YOU TUBE:            https://www.youtube.com/@AshOfficial