Dr John Cooper Clarke, will perform as part of a major new UK tour, following the publication of his raucous new poetry collection, HAVE IT, on 1st October.

From the Poet Laureate of Punk, Clarke’s gaze has only become more piercing since his last collection WHAT.  At once icon and iconoclast, his new collection guides readers through the absurdities of modern life in his signature ‘high heel Chelseas’, their rapid-fire click- clack reverberating across the lines of his verse and off the walls of those institutions unlucky enough to find themselves deserving of an ode. Pre sales copies available 

In Have It, more than in any other collection, Clarke confronts his mortality head-on. The result, while quintessential John Cooper Clarke, is simultaneously more comic and more tragic than ever before.

2025 saw Dr John Cooper Clarke achieve historical feats as he became the first poet to headline a UK arena – the biggest indoor arena in Europe, Manchester’s Co-op Live. The celebrated poet also received the prestigious 2025 Northern Music Award in recognition of his phenomenal influence in the music world. In 2026, Dr John Cooper Clarke is bringing his latest and greatest work to the stage and the page with this major UK tour and book release.

John’s anarchic punk poetry has thrilled people for decades and his no-nonsense approach to his work has seen his career spanning cultures, audiences, art forms and continents. His critically acclaimed 2020 memoir ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ explored his extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities. 

The tour will see Clarke introducing this new body of work alongside his beloved, hilarious and classic fan-favourites.

2026 UK HEADLINE TOUR 

Tue 06 Oct    Tring Dembe Theatre 

Wed 07 Oct Southend Palace Theatre

Sat 10 Oct Poole Lighthouse

Sun 11 Oct Bristol Beacon

Wed 14 Oct Brighton Theatre Royal

Thu 15 Oct London Palladium

Sat 17 Oct Sheffield City Hall

Tue 20 Oct Glasgow Pavilion 

Wed 21 Oct Carlisle Old Fire Station

Fri 23 Oct Stoke-On-Trent Victoria Hall

Sat 24 Oct Birmingham Town Hall

Wed 28 Oct Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Fri 30 Oct Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

Sat 31 Oct Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

Wed 04 Nov Whitley Bay The Playhouse

Fri 06 Nov York Grand Opera House

Thu 12 Nov Dublin 3 Olympia

Sat 14 Nov Portrush Town Hall

Sun 15 Nov Belfast Mandela Hall

Wed 18 Nov Blackpool Opera House

Sat 21 Nov Manchester O2 Apollo

Wed 25 Nov Leicester De Montfort Hall

Fri 27 Nov Edinburgh Queens Hall

‘Have It’ and all of John Cooper Clarke’s books will be available at all of the shows.

Tickets On Sale – Friday 16 October 10am via MyTicket

Legendary musician, artist, record label executive, and philanthropist Herb Alpert has announced his return to the UK for his first tour with the Tijuana Brass Band in over 50 years. Kicking off at the beginning of May, the tour will take them through Gateshead, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, and Birmingham before closing with a show in London at the iconic Royal Albert Hall. Tickets go on sale this Friday 16 October at 10am, and will be available for purchase HERE.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights – UK Tour Dates 2027:

6 May   Gateshead, UK @ Sage 1/Glasshouse International

7 May  Glasgow, UK @ Royal Concert Hall

9 May  Liverpool, UK @ Philharmonic Hall

10 May  Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon

12 May Birmingham, UK @ Symphony Hall

13 May  London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall

2025 marked the 60th anniversary of the quintessential album, Whipped Cream & Other Delights. Herb and the band will be performing many of those great songs in addition to many other hit songs that we all know and love: “The Lonely Bull,” “Spanish Flea,” “Taste of Honey,” “Mexican Shuffle,” “Tijuana Taxi,” “This Guy’s In Love With You,” “What Now My Love,” “Zorba the Greek,” “Ladyfingers,” “Rise,” and “Route 101” among many other delights.

The Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass & Other Delights Tour has been rolling coast to coast since reforming in 2025 for the first time in over 40 years. The tour has included over 70 sell-out shows across the country, including performances at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center, Boston’s Wang Theatre, Toronto’s Massey Hall, Chicago’s Harris Theater, and Denver’s Paramount Theatre among many others. This summer, Alpert also made his triumphant return to The Hollywood Bowl for the first time in 59 years. Billboard raved “The well-paced and varied show was capped by multiple encores” while Variety proclaimed “This is the kind of show you walk out of feeling like it’s just added 10 years onto your life.” Ahead of the performance, Alpert sat down with Los Angeles Times for a retrospective about his career as well as his plans for new music on the horizon.

Alpert recently celebrated a historic milestone with the release of his 50th studio album titled 50, which also commemorates 50 years of marriage to his wife, collaborator, and touring partner, Lani Hall. 50 debuted at #4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart, #17 on the Billboard Jazz Chart, and #1 on the Current Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. It was met with critical acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, Billboard, Paste, and Stereogum who raved “The legendary trumpeter Herb Alpert has had one hell of a life in music…He’s still going now. Amazing.” Alpert also sat down with CBS Mornings’ Anthony Mason to chat about the landmark moment, his remarkable career, and more after celebrating his 90th birthday with back-to-back sold-out performances at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Credit: Xander Smith
Download High Res Press Shots HERE

ABOUT HERB ALPERT & THE HERB ALPERT FOUNDATION:

Alpert’s extraordinary musicianship has earned him 9 GRAMMY® Awards (the latest from his 2014 album Steppin’ Out), 15 Gold albums, 14 Platinum albums and has sold over 72 million records. Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass propelled his sound into the pop music limelight, at one point outselling the Beatles two to one. Alpert has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama in 2013. Alpert also has a second career as an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor with group and solo exhibitions around the United States and Europe.

As an industry leader, Alpert’s commitment to artists with personal vision guided A&M Records (with partner Jerry Moss) from a Hollywood garage operation into one of the most successful independent record labels in music history, with stars including Janet Jackson, Quincy Jones, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Carole King, Sheryl Crow, Peter Frampton, The Police and scores of others.

Through the Herb Alpert Foundation, Herb and Lani have dedicated their lives to philanthropy, funding programs that help bring creativity to young students and keep creativity alive for all the arts, for artists young and old, including jazz education and programs that teach compassion and well-being. May 2022 marked the 28th anniversary of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts celebrating 140 awardees over the past 28 years. 2021 also brought the opening of the newly remodeled Harlem School of the Arts at the Herb Alpert Center, funded entirely by Herb and Lani Alpert. During the pandemic, the foundation dramatically increased its emergency funding to artists in need through organizations such as Chrysalis, the Jazz Foundation, the Good People’s Fund and Artists Relief.

Herb Alpert:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram – TikTok

Brazilian duo DEAFKIDS commence their international tour tomorrow in support of their latest album, CICATRIZES DO FUTURO (SCARS OF THE FUTURE), released in May on Neurot Recordings.

The CICATRIZES DO FUTURO Tour 2026 sees the duo taking their unique auditory experience to audiences in eighteen countries across three continents from now through the end of the year. The tour begins with their European/UK run from 2nd October to 8th November, including several dates supporting Eyehategod and sets at Le Guess Who?

The band adds, “See you on the road. We want to play everywhere, and everyone is invited to come to our concerts. After 16 years, this is just the beginning, there’s much more to come. Much love from Brazil.”

DEAFKIDS Cicatrizes Do Futuro Tour 2026:

UK/EU tour
02/10/2026 OUT.FEST – Barreiro, PT
03/10//2026 Naam Barrosselas – Viana do Castelo, PT
08/10/2026 Stapeltor – Duisburg, DE
09/10/2026 Soulcrusher Festival – Nijmegen, NL
11/10/2026 The Holloway – Norwich, UK
12/10/2026 The Globe – Glossop, UK
13/10/2026 The Tin Music and Arts – Coventry, UK
15/10/2026 Coughlan’s Bar – Cork, IE
16/10/2026 Bello Bar – Dublin, IE
18/10/2026 Boom – Leeds, UK
19/10/2026 Strange Brew – Bristol, UK
20/10/2026 New Cross Inn – London, UK
21/10/2026 Klub 9030 – Ghent, UK
23/10/2026 MS Stubnitz – Hamburg, DE
24/10/2026 Inkost – Malmo, SE
25/10/2026 Monument – Goteborg, SE
27/10/2026 Råhuset – Copenhagen, DK
28/10/2026 Neue Zukunft – Berlin, DE
30/10/2026 Circolo Gagarin – Busto Arsizio, IT
31/10/2026 Rote Fabrik – Zurich, CH
01/11/2026 Cave12 – Geneva, CH
02/11/2026 La Poudriere – Belfort, FR w/ Eyehategod
03/11/2026 Schungfabrik – Tétange, LU w/ Eyehategod
04/11/2026 Glazart – Paris, FR w/ Eyehategod
05/11/2026 Magasin 4 – Brussels, BE
06/11/2026 Le Guess Who? – Utrecht, NL
07/11/2026 Le Guess Who? – Utrecht, NL
08/11/2026 Unlimited Music Festival – Wels, AT

Japan tour
13/11/2026 Helluva Lounge – Kobe, JP w/ Birushanah
14/11/2026 Ontama – Hiroshima, JP w/ Birushanah
15/11/2026 Crowbar – Tokushima, JP w/ Birushanah
17/11/2026 Urbangild – Kyoto, JP w/ Birushanah
18/11/2026 Hokage – Osaka, JP w/ Birushanah
19/11/2026 Brazil Coffee – Nagoya, JP w/ Birushanah
20/11/2026 Hisho – Shizuoka, KP w/ Birushanah
21/11/2026 El Puente – Yokohama, JP w/ Birushanah
22/11/2026 Earthdom – Tokyo, JP w/ Birushanah
23/11/2026 Rockers – Club Mie, JP w/ Birushanah

South American tour
04/12/2026 Necio Festival – Lima, PE
11/12/2026 La Mecanica – Bogotá, CO
12/12/2026 Matik Matik – Bogotá, CO
16/12/2026 TBA – Valparaíso, CL
17/12/2026 TBA – Santiago de Chile, CL
19/12/2026 Club Cultural Matienzo – Buenos Aires, AR
20/12/2026 Pura Vida – La Plata, AR

Tickets are available here via the Neurot website.

Download hi-res tour posters here

ABOUT CICATRIZES DO FUTURO

“Conceptually, the album is a visceral diagnosis of a world intoxicated by its own fictions of power, tracing the anatomy of a systemic grand deception and exploring its mechanics of psychological, social, and material domination, the indelible marks imprinted on bodies and minds and it’s catastrophic consequences. It is a journey from the poisoned and addicted collective psyche to the desperate search for an antidote, while the future seems to be already cursed by the very forces that pretend to build it. Yet, for all its thematic weight, CICATRIZES DO FUTURO is hypnotically danceable – physical and ritualistic music that demands body movement as a form of mental cleansing. The album doesn’t just reflect a fractured and violent world — it breathes desire to live and resist through new sonic paths.” – DEAFKIDS

PRAISE FOR CICATRIZES DO FUTURO:

“Sonically, it’s both battlefield and zone of ecstatic, cathartic release… They remind us that these rhythmic patterns have evaded colonial regimentation through generations of diaspora… fir[es] forwards and back through music history while sounding like they’re mastering technology as well as breaking it.”
THE QUIETUS, ALBUM OF THE WEEK

“Few bands have treated genre boundaries as casually as DEAFKIDS… push[es] further towards the outer limits of noise, hardcore, and industrial music while grounding its most chaotic impulses in the clave-led pulse of guaguancó, the Afro-Cuban rumba form whose interlocking rhythms prove surprisingly compatible with the album’s D-beat charge and seismic bass pressure.”
BANDCAMP

“on furious form as they blend glowering, glurping riffs and insanely danceable percussion”
METAL HAMMER

“utterly glorious”
ECHOES AND DUST

“tribalistic, guttural and utterly danceable”
NARC

FOR MORE ON DEAFKIDS:

BANDCAMP | INSTAGRAM

FAT FREDDY’S DROP will return to the UK in 2026 as part of their Based On A True Story 21st Anniversary Tour, marking the band’s first return to the stage following the sudden death of their chief, founding member, production maestro and selector Chris ‘MU’ Faiumu in 2025. 

The tour will travel across UK, Australia, Aotearoa, and Europe, bringing Fat Freddy’s Drop back to stages around the world to celebrate the record that transformed them from a Wellington underground collective into one of New Zealand’s most internationally recognised musical exports. With Bristol already sold out and London’s Alexanda Palace on low ticket warning, this tour continues to prove Fat Freddy’s Drop as one of the most influential names in modern reggae music.

Formed in Wellington in 1999, Fat Freddy’s Drop emerged from the city’s underground dance scene as a loose collective of musicians united by a love of reggae, dub, soul, jazz, funk and electronic music. Over the years, those influences have been stretched, twisted and reassembled into a sound that is unmistakably their own: spacious dub rhythms, deep bass, soulful vocals, live horns, jazz improvisation and electronic production, delivered with the spontaneity of a band that has always treated the stage as a place to experiment.

That spirit was captured on their 2005 debut studio album, Based On A True Story.

Released independently through the band’s own label, The Drop, the album was anything but a conventional mainstream proposition. Its ten tracks regularly stretch beyond seven minutes, with songs allowed to breathe, groove and develop rather than conform to radio-friendly structures. Its centrepiece, the near-ten-minute ‘Wandering Eye’, became an unlikely hit, while the album’s combination of reggae, dub, soul, funk, jazz and electronic music created a sound that was difficult to categorise and even harder to replicate. Yet Based On A True Story became a phenomenon.

The album entered the New Zealand charts at Number 1 and went Gold on its first day, becoming the first independently released album to reach Number 1 on the Aotearoa album chart. It would remain in the Top 40 for more than two years, with Recorded Music NZ now recognising it as Aotearoa’s longest-charting album. Twenty-one years after its release, it has been certified 12-times Platinum. Its impact extended well beyond sales. At the 2005 New Zealand Music Awards, Fat Freddy’s Drop took home major honours including Album of the Year, while the album was also voted Worldwide Album of the Year at Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Music Awards in the UK.

More importantly, the record became a cultural touchstone for a generation of Aotearoa music fans. It crystallised what became known as the Wellington sound, taking the improvisational spirit of the band’s live shows and the rhythms of reggae and dub and pushing them into a psychedelic, soulful and distinctly Pacific musical world. The band’s success was driven largely by word of mouth and their formidable reputation as a live act rather than conventional marketing, making the story of Based On A True Story as much about community as it is about an album.

Now, 21 years after its release, Fat Freddy’s Drop will return to the stage to revisit that music and the extraordinary journey that followed.

The anniversary tour carries particular significance following the passing of Chris ‘MU’ Faiumu, whose production, musicianship and vision were central to the band’s sound and evolution. As Joe Dukie explains, “It’s important for us to honour the intentions we had with MU and playing this album live is part of that.”

For a band whose music has always been built around collective energy, improvisation and the connection between musicians and audience, the return to the stage is more than an anniversary. It is a celebration of the music, the people who made it, the fans who carried it around the world and the remarkable legacy of an album that began as an independent release in Wellington and became part of Aotearoa’s musical history.

With their next chapter in full swing, Scott Towers aka Chopper Reeds says, “It’s humbling for the entire Freddy’s band and wider whānau to see the impact this music has had on so many people for such a long time.” He continues, “Freddy’s has always been about bringing the party…” Following their unmissable EU shows and Summer tour, this new page for Fat Freddy’s Drop is not one to be missed.

FAT FREDDY’S DROP – BASED ON A TRUE STORY 21ST ANNIVERSARY TOUR 2026

UK Tour Dates

Bristol: The Prospect Building – October 16, 2026 SOLD OUT

Manchester: O2 Apollo Manchester – October 17, 2026 LOW TICKET WARNING

Nottingham: Rock City – October 19, 2026

Leeds: O2 Academy Leeds – October 20, 2026

Birmingham: O2 Academy Birmingham – October 22, 2026

London: Alexandra Palace – October 23, 2026 LOW TICKET WARNING

Glasgow: O2 Academy Glasgow – October 25, 2026

sundots, the Connecticut indie rock band, share the third single and video for “Someone Else’s Song”, off their upcoming album, ‘On The Quay’, due 6 November.

Marking the band’s first full-length written and recorded as a true five-piece, ‘On The Quay’ is a confident step forward as the first true full-band sundots record, and as a result, it’s a full-bodied and forceful level-up representation of the group’s sound, a record that feels timeless and in-the-moment all at once.

On the track, Drew Collins says, “Someone Else’s Song actually came about after we had thought we had finished the record. It was something I had started jamming on and felt pretty excited about. It definitely had a different energy from the other songs on the record. It was short and had super high energy right off the bat. It’s sort of a relentless song that doesn’t give much time to breathe, but I think that works in its favor.

He adds:

“Lyrically, I was very inspired by ‘The Dead’ by James Joyce. I had recently finished Dubliners and had a ton of imagery from that floating around in my head, and naturally, I explored that headspace when approaching the lyrics for this track. It was about this same time that the album artwork idea had fully come to me, and it just made sense for us to go back to Kevin [S. McMahon] to record this last track for the record.”

Beginning next month, sundots will set out on their extensive fall tour with a run of East Coast dates supporting rehash, followed by a co-headline tour in the UK and Europe with Lots of Hands, including performances at Pitchfork Music Festival London and Paris. Tickets on sale now. All dates below. 

Much of ‘On The Quay’ came together during a marathon weekend of creative kismet in a secluded Vermont Airbnb at the end of 2025, where the band retreated with one goal: to write and demo as much music as possible. Removed from distractions and immersed in the mountains, the five-piece emerged with the foundation for the record before enlisting Kevin S. McMahon (Real Estate, Widowspeak, Swans) to produce, engineer, and mix all twelve songs. Working closely with the band, McMahon helped translate the immediacy and chemistry of sundots’ live performances into a record that feels both spacious and deeply lived-in, preserving the spontaneity that has become central to the band’s identity.

sundots is vocalist and guitarist Drew Collins, guitarist Jake Fucci, bassist Austin Traver, guitar and synth player Teo Hernandez, and drummer Nick Restivo.

European Tour Dates

03/11 – EKKO, Utrecht

5/11 – PITCHFORK FESTIVAL, Paris

06/11 – DUST, Brighton

07/11 – PITCHFORK FESTIVAL, London

09/11 – TRADES CLUB, Hebden Bridge

10/11 – BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, Leeds

11/11 – MONO, Glasgow

12/11 – THE GROVE, Newcastle

13/11 – YES (PINK ROOM), Manchester

14/11 – GRAND SOCIAL (SUNDOTS ONLY), Dublin

16/11 – DISTRICT, Liverpool

17/11 – HARE AND HOUNDS, Birmingham

18/11 – ROUGH TRADE, Bristol

*Co-headline w/ Lots of Hands

This January, these two titans of the shoegaze and post-punk genres will go head-to-head at eight venues across the UK. Tickets are on sale this Friday at 10AM. Further details below.

Masterminded by Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid in 1983, The Jesus and Mary Chain, transformed alternative music with their noisy, feedback-heavy yet melodic sound. Their influential 1985 debut ‘Psychocandy’, featured eternal tracks like “Just Like Honey” and established their reputation as a new force in rock’n’roll. From their chaotic performances to their distinctive style, they inspired the shoegaze genre that remains as regarded today as it ever did. Reuniting in 2007, the band have continued to tour and record, releasing their highly acclaimed and Top 10 charting eighth record ‘Glasgow Eyes’ in 2024.

Formed in 1977, The Psychedelic Furs redefined the very meaning of punk and art rock. With Richard Butler’s raspy vocals a definitive signature of their enrapturing sound, their landmark 1981 album ‘Talk Talk Talk’ brought major recognition, while the classic single “Pretty in Pink” also featured in John Hughes’ 1986 film. Refining their sound throughout the ’80s, the band reunited after a ’90s hiatus, and have continued touring and recording, releasing the acclaimed ‘Made Of Rain’ in 2020 and touring worldwide.

With dates across England and Scotland, the tour follows a series of co-headline dates between the two bands across the US in 2024.

The full list of upcoming UK shows in 2027 is as follows: 

CO-HEADLINE SHOWS – JANUARY 2027

Tue 19- Leeds o2 Academy

Wed 20- Edinburgh Usher Hall 

Fri 22- Glasgow o2 Academy

Sat 23- Manchester Academy 

Mon 25- Bristol Beacon

Tue 26- Birmingham o2 Academy 

Thu 28- Brighton Dome

Fri 29- London British Airways ARC. 

Tickets on sale: Friday 25th Sept 2026 @ 10am: 
https://www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/the-jesus-and-mary-chain-the-psychedelic-furs/

******

FOR MORE INFORMATION

w/ https://themarychain.com/

w/ https://thepsychedelicfurs.com/

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PIONEERING POP CULTURAL DESIGN STUDIO HITS THE ROAD FOR 40^TH ANNIVERSARY CONVERSATIONS IN PUBS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

• Ian Anderson, founder of The Designers Republic™, brings tales of four decades of creating with musicians, labels, architects, gamers, fashionistas and global brands
• From the visual identity of dance music, to the bottles of Coca-Cola, via Aphex Twin, Adidas, Issey Miyake, Pulp, The Orb, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sony, Warp and WipEout
• Collectable Tour Special: Bespoke Verdant pale ale with can design featuring ten new pieces of TDR work
• To book tickets please visit https://tdr.brewingfolk.co

This autumn, forty years of inspirational design and the trailblazing times of one of the UK’s most transformative designers will be celebrated across eleven nights of conversation. 40 Years of TDR is a new collaboration between Cornish brewer Verdant and The Designers Republic™ (TDR), whose founder Ian Anderson, will bring tales of a life spent influencing pop cultural design to pubs across the country, in conversation with musician and writer Matthew Shaw. Verdant has brewed a new pale ale specially for the tour; DR:ink will carry bespoke labels, featuring ten new and collectable pieces of TDR work.

To book tickets please visit https://tdr.brewingfolk.co

40 Years of TDR Tour

23 September – Falmouth, The Seaview Inn; 24 September – Bristol, Small Bar;

14 October – Brighton, The Prince Albert; 15 October – London, The Mary Wollstonecraft;

2 November – Glasgow, The Old Toll Bar; 4 November – Todmorden, The Golden Lion;

9 November – Manchester, Port Street; 10 November – Birmingham, Dark Horse;

11 November – Sheffield, Shakespeare’s; 19 November – Newcastle, Mosaic Tap

25 November – Leeds, Cardigan Arms.

The Designers Republic™ began in 1986 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire (dubbed SoYo, North of Nowhere by Ian Anderson). Forty years – and thousands of record sleeves – later, TDR has redesigned Coca-Cola bottles, shaped the aesthetic of computer games and become synonymous with some of the UK’s most exciting music and musicians. Its hand-in-glove work with Warp Records, video game visuals, cartoon characters, slogans, attitude, humour and use of eye-widening colours are instantly recognisable as TDR and are also extremely collectable. The 40 Years of TDR conversations will roam over all of these and more, including notable collaborations with the likes of Coca-Cola, Adidas, Comme des Garçons, Pringles, E4 and MTV.

Musician, writer and 40 Years of TDR host, Matthew Shaw, said, “Forty years after it began, TDR’s signature aesthetic and provocative slogans feel no less urgent and arresting. Its work for Warp Records, Pop Will Eat Itself and the WipEout video game series defined the look of a generation and its dizzying array of logos, icons and geometries challenged the norms of branding and commercialism. If you love music, design and pop culture, our pub evenings with Ian Anderson will be right up your street, whether you were there while it was all happening or didn’t realise that TDR’s designs were all over your favourite things.”

EVENT INFORMATION

To book tickets and if you have a question for the night, please visit https://tdr.brewingfolk.co

About Verdant: BEER, COMMUNITY & GOOD TIMES It’s as simple as that. Make beer we love, for everyone to enjoy. Good times for all. It all started in Autumn 2014 with “Let’s try making some beer”, on the sidelines of a five-a-side football match. Over ten years later, with all the successes and failures along the way, we couldn’t have imagined what Verdant has become. The love, support, and community we share is what drives us, with everything stemming from that first batch, brewed in a shed on the Cornish coast. www.verdantbrewing.co https://verdantbrewing.co/blogs/brewing-folk/the-designers-republic

About The Designers Republic™

Founded by Ian Anderson in 1986, The Designers Republic⁠™ is an internationally renowned pop-cultural hyper-creative design studio focussing on graphic design and brand communication across all media, fuelled by strategic thinking, problem solving (thinking and doing) and strong narrative. www.thedesignersrepublic.com

About Ian Anderson: Born before England won the World Cup, in Croydon, London’s erstwhile orbital city of the future. He went to school in Bracknell New Town. He studied Philosophy at The University of Sheffield 1979 – 1982. As a designer he is self taught. He declared The Designers Republic™ on Bastille Day 1986 in Sheffield, the city he dubbed SoYo™ North of Nowhere™. TDR™’s work is credited with defining the visual language of late 20th century dance music, techno and the post Playstation WipEout gaming generation. Ian has collaborated with architects (publishing a book with Sadar + Vuga), branded locations with environment developers Urban Splash and RREEF, worked with fashion designers such as Issey Miyake and Commes des Garçons, and has developed global branding campaigns, identities and Special Projects for the likes of Coca-Cola, Sony (including Aibo), Nokia, Telia, MTV, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, The University of Sheffield and Manchester School of Art.

After a year of international growth, packed rooms and major festival appearances, Edinburgh rock-funk trio High Fade are heading home for the biggest UK and Ireland headline run of their career to date, with new single ‘T.M.I.’ arriving on Wednesday 16 September.

Following the release of their second album, Twice As Nice, via their own RPN Records, the band have spent the campaign building momentum across the UK, Europe and North America. Now, with their time in the States behind them and the summer festival season wrapped, High Fade return to home turf for a run of dates spanning October and November.

The story of the Twice As Nice so far has been one of significant growth. Spotify monthly listeners have increased by 30% across the campaign, while the band’s French tour leg sold out and a full run across the US and Canada has further established High Fade as an international live force. Their return to the UK and Ireland marks the next stage of that journey, with their biggest headline tour in the region to date.

LISTEN TO ‘T.M.I.’ HERE

‘T.M.I.’ arrives as a post-album statement from a band refusing to stand still. Following the release of Twice As Nice, the new track continues High Fade’s instinct for blending funk, rock and relentless live energy, pushing the sound forward while retaining the raw, irreverent character that has defined their rise.

Comprised of founder Harry Valentino (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sentence (bass, moustache) and Heath Campbell (drums), the band have built their career entirely on their own terms. Despite interest from major labels, High Fade remain independent, releasing their music through their own imprint, RPN Records (“Rippin’ Records”).

Released earlier this year, Twice As Nice marked a significant expansion of that independent sound. Recorded between East Iris Studios in Nashville, Tennessee and RAK Studios in St John’s Wood, London, the album pushed High Fade beyond their established funk-rock foundations, moving between swampy grooves, riff-driven rock, disco, punk, soul and heavier textures.

The album followed their debut, Life’s Too Fast (2024), which charted across the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and Australia, and further cemented the band’s growing international audience. With more than 1.3 million followers globally, High Fade have moved firmly beyond the idea of being a viral busking success story. Their international touring schedule has taken them across the US, Canada and Europe, while festival appearances at Boomtown, Suwannee Hulaween and Glastonbury have placed the band in front of increasingly large and diverse audiences. Their Glastonbury history includes a remarkable triple performance in a single day in 2024, an achievement that neatly captures the band’s relentless approach to live music.

Now, the focus turns back to the UK and Ireland.

With ‘T.M.I.’ landing on 16 September and the tour beginning in London on 3 October, High Fade are bringing everything they’ve built overseas back to the places where the story began.

HIGH FADE — UK/IRELAND TOUR DATES

October/November 2026

Sat 3 Oct — Unlocked — London

Sun 4 Oct — Papillon — Southampton

Thu 8 Oct — Sneaky Pete’s (Secret Show) — Edinburgh

Fri 9 Oct — Stramash — Edinburgh

Sat 10 Oct — Whistlebinkies — Edinburgh

Thu 15 Oct — Pilgrim (Secret Show) — Newcastle

Fri 16 Oct — Digital — Newcastle

Sat 17 Oct — Arts Club — Liverpool

Fri 23 Oct — Belgrave Music Hall — Leeds

Sat 24 Oct — The Welly — Hull

Thu 29 Oct — Hare & Hounds v2 (Second Show) — Birmingham

Fri 30 Oct — Castle & Falcon — Birmingham

Sat 31 Oct — Sidney & Matilda (Night 1) — Sheffield

Sun 1 Nov — Sidney & Matilda (Night 2) — Sheffield

Thu 5 Nov — Jam Jar (Second Show) — Bristol

Fri 6 Nov — Trinity Centre — Bristol

Sat 7 Nov — Clwb — Cardiff

Sun 8 Nov — Hot Box (Show 1) — Chelmsford

Mon 9 Nov — Hot Box (Show 2) — Chelmsford

From Edinburgh street corners to international stages, High Fade’s trajectory has always been defined by movement. The Twice As Nice campaign has taken that momentum further than ever, and with ‘T.M.I.’ opening the next chapter, the band are ready to bring it all back home.

High Fade are no longer simply building an audience. They are building a movement around one of the most distinctive and exhilarating live bands to emerge from the UK.

‘T.M.I.’ is out Wednesday 16 September 2026.

High Fade’s UK & Ireland headline tour begins 3 October 2026

Connecticut indie rock band, sundots, are back with the hypnotic new single: “Distraction”. The track is taken from their eagerly awaited new album, ‘On The Quay’ due for release on the Nettwerk label on 6 November. STREAM “DISTRACTION” HERE

New single “Distraction” marks a striking step forward for sundots. Built around a post-rock structure that grows and grows before bursting into full bloom, it finds the band actively experimenting with expansive space and emotive textures within their sound.

Drawing thematic inspiration from David Foster Wallace’s debut novel ‘The Broom of the System’, this song of unrequited love captures the agonising frustration of a partner’s divided attention. Speaking about the track Drew Collins of sundots says:

“Distraction felt like a turning point in the band’s songwriting. I think this track informed a new approach for us to songwriting together as a band. I brought the skeleton of this track to the band maybe a week before our first tour with Panchiko. We were all so excited about it that we finished writing it and drilled it enough to have it ready for the tour. It definitely felt like a departure in sound from some of our other tracks, but people on tour seemed super receptive to it. We felt confident in it, and chased a similar work flow for the rest of the record.”

“Distraction” was one of the first songs written collaboratively by sundots as quintet, steering the band toward a more “jammy direction” and laying the creative groundwork for their forthcoming album, ‘On the Quay’.

“I let go of a lot of control and tried to have everyone meld together, and that ended up being how we approached the album in general” adds Collins. 

This spontaneous, live-in-the-room magic was captured perfectly in the studio by producer Kevin S. McMahon (Real Estate, Widowspeak, Swans). Notably, McMahon has also produced, engineered, and mixed all twelve of the tracks on the band’s upcoming album.

Much of new album ‘On The Quay’ came together during a marathon weekend of creative kismet in a secluded Vermont Airbnb at the end of 2025, where the band retreated with one goal: to write and demo as much music as possible. Removed from distractions and immersed in the mountains, the five-piece emerged with the foundation for the record before enlisting Kevin S. McMahon. Working closely with the band, McMahon helped translate the immediacy and chemistry of sundots’ live performances into a record that feels both spacious and deeply lived-in, preserving the spontaneity that has become central to the band’s identity.

sundots is vocalist and guitarist Drew Collins, guitarist Jake Fucci, bassist Austin Traver, guitar and synth player Teo Hernandez, and drummer Nick Restivo. Releasing ‘On The Quay’ on 6 November (via Nettwerk), the record arrives as the first true full-band sundots record. A full-bodied and forceful level-up representation that brims with confidence and camaraderie, the resultant album is one that feels at once in-the-moment and timeless. 

Alongside the news, sundots have announced an extensive Autumn tour beginning this October with a run of East Coast dates supporting rehash, followed by a co-headline tour in the UK and Europe with Lots of Hands, including performances at Pitchfork Music Festival London and Paris. Tickets on sale now. All dates below. 

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES

(Co-headline Shows w/ Lots of Hands)

03/11 – EKKO, Utrecht

5/11 – PITCHFORK FESTIVAL, Paris

06/11 – DUST, Brighton

07/11 – PITCHFORK FESTIVAL, London

09/11 – TRADES CLUB, Hebden Bridge

10/11 – BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, Leeds

11/11 – MONO, Glasgow

12/11 – THE GROVE, Newcastle

13/11 – YES (PINK ROOM), Manchester

14/11 – GRAND SOCIAL (SUNDOTS ONLY), Dublin

16/11 – DISTRICT, Liverpool

17/11 – HARE AND HOUNDS, Birmingham

18/11 – ROUGH TRADE, Bristol

*****

On the Quay Tracklisting

1. Birthday Song

2. Grassy Lawn

3. Moon, Moon

4. Getting Away

5. Idols

6. Distraction

7. Hazard

8. Someone Else’s Song

9. By The Water

10. Unfolded

11. This Life

12. Kgkgkg

Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning Ezra Collective today share euphoric new single “Jubilee Feeling”, the third track to be unveiled from their forthcoming fourth studio album ‘Here Because of Hope’, now set for release on September 11 via Partisan Records. Arriving alongside the single is its accompanying video, directed by Ebenezer Blanche and shot in London.

Speaking on the video, bandleader Femi Koleoso says “Something we love deeply in the EZ is the feeling of raving and partying like you’re listening to classic British electronic music, but hearing Bebop and Jazz language. That juxtaposition is so EZ, so UK Jazz, so precious. The video is meant to demonstrate that juxtaposition – the dress code and vibes being so early ‘00s, but the music being so new and fresh; how nights out can spiral into so many different things but end up being this feeling of unmatched joy, a Jubilee Feeling”.

The first instrumental to be released from the record, “Jubilee Feeling” represents the London movement of an album tracing the journey of Black music from West Africa, through the Caribbean and ultimately into Britain. Bringing together the musical traditions of UK jazz with the euphoric energy of 2010s Funky House, the track is a joyous celebration of the city and sounds that shaped Ezra Collective, built around an infectious, ever-expanding groove and a breathtaking piano performance from Joe Armon-Jones.

LISTEN TO “JUBILEE FEELING” HERE

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

The release arrives amid another landmark moment for the band, who have now sold out all four of their forthcoming headline shows at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. The four-night run follows previous sold-out headline performances at Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, and forms the climax of their biggest global headline tour to date, spanning Australia, Asia, North America, Europe and the UK.

Across “Here Because of Hope”, each single represents another stage in that musical journey. “Only Love” featuring Pa Salieu, which recently reached the BBC Radio 1 A-List, drew its inspiration from West Africa; “Well Organised” featuring Lila Iké travelled into the Caribbean; and now “Jubilee Feeling” brings the story home to London. Together, they celebrate the movement of people, culture and sound across generations, and the ways those histories have shaped contemporary British music.

For bandleader Femi Koleoso, the idea of “Jubilee” carries an even deeper meaning:

“The word Jubilee is very precious to me. Not just because it’s the name of the church I grew up at, and the name of the youth group I work at, but its actual meaning — ‘the year of Jubilee, a year when everyone’s debts are settled, all prisoners set free’ — is almost like an equalisation day, a celebration to say we can start all over again.

I often think about what that feeling of Jubilee must be like; being someone who maybe doesn’t even deserve to be set free, to have your debts wiped, but it happens anyway. I think that is such a picture of euphoric joy.

Something that brought me serious, euphoric joy is the Funky House movement of the early 2010s. Ezra Collective, we as a band, love this music — it makes us dance, it makes us feel great. So, Jubilee Feeling is a song that marries UK Jazz and Funky House to embody this feeling that we’ve called the Jubilee Feeling: a joy that you almost don’t deserve.”

That spirit of joy, freedom and possibility sits at the heart of “Here Because of Hope”, the latest chapter in an extraordinary decade for Ezra Collective. After becoming the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize and subsequently winning the BRIT Award for Group of the Year, the band have emerged as one of the defining British groups of their generation. Their rise has taken them from London’s grassroots jazz community to major stages around the world, with performances at Glastonbury, Central Park SummerStage and Sydney Opera House, alongside headline shows at Wembley Arena, the Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club.

Across media, the band have graced the covers of ES Magazine, Mixmag, Music Week and The Observer New Review, alongside features in Vogue, Billboard, Rolling Stone and NME, while standout television appearances have included The Graham Norton Show and The Jonathan Ross Show.

With “Jubilee Feeling”, the journey at the centre of “Here Because of Hope” reaches London — bringing the sounds and histories explored across the record together in a celebration of the city, community and collective joy that made Ezra Collective who they are.

EZRA COLLECTIVE LIVE DATES

30 AUG 2026 / Lincoln, UK / Lost Village

26 FEB / Bristol, UK / The Prospect Building – SOLD OUT

27 FEB / Bristol, UK / The Prospect Building – SOLD OUT

28 FEB / Bristol, UK / The Prospect Building

03 MAR / Nottingham, UK / Rock City – SOLD OUT

08 MAR / Glasgow, UK / O2 Academy

10 MAR / Edinburgh, UK / Usher Hall

12 MAR / Manchester, UK / Warehouse, Aviva Studios – SOLD OUT

13 MAR / Manchester, UK / Warehouse, Aviva Studios

14 MAR / Birmingham, UK / O2 Academy

18 MAR / London, UK / O2 Academy Brixton — SOLD OUT

19 MAR / London, UK / O2 Academy Brixton — SOLD OUT

20 MAR / London, UK / O2 Academy Brixton – SOLD OUT

21 MAR / London, UK / O2 Academy Brixton – SOLD OUT

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 ezracollective.com