Today, coming hot off the heels of their two biggest UK headline shows to date, The Twilight Sad announce their first live outing of 2020: a return to something of a spiritual home for them, Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom, on April 16th, with the show presented in immersive, quadraphonic sound.
Speaking of the show, Twilight Sad frontman James Alexander Graham offers: “The Barrowland is our favourite venue in the world. I’ve seen my favourite gigs there, we’ve played some of our favourite gigs there, we’ve seen our friends play career-defining gigs there. I have a special connection with the venue as my grandfather helped lay the famous spring-loaded dance floor. We could have played other venues to finish up touring the album in Scotland but it wouldn’t have felt right. We know how much The Barrowland means to people who like our band and we wanted to be in that room with everyone again to say thank you for everything they’ve done for us.”
The band’s Andy MacFarlane adds: “It seems fitting to do a quadraphonic gig to end the touring of this album, as it will be ten years since we played one, at the ABC in Glasgow, whilst touring Forget the Night Ahead’in April 2010. This involves placing a PA at the back of the venue, as well as the front, letting us send the sound around the room.”
Capping off a remarkable 2019 for them, the band recently released a new AA-side single featuring ‘Rats’ and ‘Public Housing’ – marking their first new material since the release of their much loved fifth album, IT WON’T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME, on Rock Action in January of this year. The 7″ of the tracks quickly sold out and has become a much sought-after release for the band, limited to 1000 copies with each hand stencilled in four different colours..
Written for the IWBLTATT sessions, both songs find them at the cathartic, unreserved peak of their powers and that hold a special place in the DNA of the album they were written for.
“‘Rats’ was in the first of demos – along with ‘Shooting Dennis Hopper Shooting’ and ‘The Arbor’ – that paved the way for developing the sound and direction we wanted to take the album in,” explains MacFarlane. “We were trying to capture more of the chaotic live sound of the band and condense it into three minutes.” It’s something the band achieve flawlessly: these are two tumultuous, towering songs that will easily find a place in the heart of anyone who’s witnessed their peerless live show.
IWBLTATT was released to both critical acclaim and commercial success, marking a new high in the beloved Scottish band’s trajectory to date. A first Top 20 album for the band, it peaked at number 17 in the Official Albums Chart while coming in at number 1 in the Vinyl Chart and the Scottish Album Chart. Press was just as exclamatory about the record with rave reviews coming in from the likes of The Guardian, NME, Q, The Independent I, Drowned in Sound, Clash, DIY, Loud and Quiet, and more. The record has gone on to be named as The Skinny’s #1 Scottish Album of the Year, as well as placing in albums of the year lists with Rough Trade and Norman Records. 2019 has seen the band tour far and wide, from East Asia to North America – as well as more dates with their friends The Cure, including their first ever Mexican show tonight in Mexico City – culminating in their biggest two UK headline shows ever: Nov 23rd at London’s Kentish Town Forum and Nov 30th at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall – both serving as a worthy celebration of a band who’ve always put their artistic identity and music first.
Buy tickets for the show here: http://bit.ly/ttsbarrowand
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