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Priestgate – Eyes Closed For The Winter EP

Driffield’s finest Priestgate have today released their incredible debut EP Eyes Closed For The Winter, and this week shared an enthralling live video for “By The Door”, which you can watch below:

Priestgate - By The Door (Live at The Nave)

Commenting on “By The Door” and its live video, vocalist Rob Schofield explains: “‘By The Door’ is about questioning things that don’t necessarily have or need answers, and how we often want to know why we feel a certain way, whether that be happiness or sadness… we always seem to ask why. We recorded the live video at The Nave with Matt Peel, he engineered our EP so we figured it’s only right we make his life hell again.

The EP itself has been subject to glowing praise from Gigwise, DIY and Dork (“Nothing is more exciting than starry-eyed potential, and Priestgate have that in spades”) who all awarded it 4-stars. Previous singles “Bedtime Story” and “Eyes Closed For The Winter” have also been met with widespread acclaim from the likes of NME, with an inclusion in the NME 100 in January this year, Dork and Clash. The singles were further lauded at radio by Jack Saunders, Sian Eleri and Gemma Bradley at BBC Radio 1, as well as Steve Lamacq and Emily Pilbeam on BBC Radio 6 Music.

Priestgate will celebrate the release of the EP with a special headline show at the Polar Bear Club in Hull tonight, before embarking on a support tour with Walt Disco.

Sunflower Bean – Roll The Dice

Sunflower Bean recently announced their long-awaited new album, Headful of Sugar. The band previewed the record with “Baby Don’t Cry” and lead single “Who Put You Up to This?”

Today the band shared next single, “Roll The Dice”,  premiered by BBC Radio 1’s Clara Amfo as the ‘Hottest Record In The World’.  An indictment of the so-called American Dream, “Roll The Dice” was written about how many young adults now need side-hustles to secure their futures. The band explains, “Almost everyone we know struggles with money. The traditional routes towards success and stability in America have severely narrowed. The only way to get ahead is to take big risks and roll the dice.”  The video for “Roll The Dice” sees Sunflower Bean continue on the cinematic journey that began with “Who Put You Up To This?” Listen to the single and watch part II of the story below.

Sunflower Bean - Roll The Dice (Official Music Video)

Momma – Rockstar

Momma, the Brooklyn-based band led by singers/guitarists Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, today announce their debut UK shows and release their anthemic new single “Rockstar”, another slice of infectiously poppy grunge that again marks the band out as one of this year’s most undoubtedly exciting prospects.

Its accompanying must-watch video – directed by LA-based duo Batshit! (filmmakers Ben Joyner & Henry Drayton) – is pure fun, brimming with unbridled energy as it pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Friedman and Weingarten’s rock music comedy favourites like Josie and the Pussycats, School of Rock and Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Momma - Rockstar (Music Video)

Etta and I wanted to write a song about making it big, and becoming rockstars. We didn’t want to take anything too seriously, lyrically, or musically. We just wanted the song to sound big,” says Weingarten. “We thought it would be cool to have our own little rockumentary condensed in a 3-minute music video. It’s also kind of like a manifestation – I think we shamelessly want all of these things to happen in our careers.

Momma have also announced their much-anticipated first UK dates, the band will be headlining London’s Brixton Windmill on Tuesday 10th May and Manchester’s Yes on Saturday 14th May and open for Illuminati Hotties in Leeds on Friday 6th May. The band will also be supporting both Wet Leg and Snail Mail on a series of US dates and will be announcing additional UK shows alongside further news on their upcoming album, soon. All dates and tickets HERE.

Sunflower Bean – New Album + Single

New York trio Sunflower Bean – vocalist and bassist Julia Cumming (she/her), guitarist and vocalist Nick Kivlen (he/him), and drummer Olive Faber (she/they) – today announce that their long-awaited third album Headful of Sugar will be released May 6th.

Fuelled by the agony and ecstasy of contemporary American life, Headful of Sugar is a psychedelic headrush designed to be played loud, windows down. It is about outsiders disillusioned with the modern world who, despite their alienation, refuse to be subdued; buoyed by the relief found in interpersonal relationships that counteract the daily barrage of cheap entertainment and convenience.

If their acclaimed second album Twentytwo in Blue, released in 2018, was a self-described “ode to the fleeting innocence of youth,” then Headful of Sugar shoves the listener into a new, dangerous world, one that is less safe but also less suffocating. “Tomorrow is not promised, no tour is promised, no popularity is promised, no health or money is promised,” bassist/vocalist Julia Cumming says. “Why not make what you want to make on your own terms? Why not make a record that makes you want to dance? Why not make a record that makes you want to scream?

Sunflower Bean also share Headful of Sugar’s opening track, the taut groove “Who Put You Up To This?” The band says of the track, “Are you satisfied? Who put you up to do things that you do? Was it your own choice? Questioning your life is the first step to taking the agency to change it. Sometimes you have to let go of who you have been so that you can become who you want to be.”

Sunflower Bean - Who Put You Up To This? (Official Music Video)

Walt Disco – Unlearning & How Cool Are You?

Glasgow’s Walt Disco today announce their upcoming debut album Unlearning, to be released on April 1st. The breathtaking debut is steeped in metamorphoses, a stage show in two acts. It covers flings and romances, identities and bodies and change, profound familial love, and – of course – Hollywood glamour. The album plays out like a musical, with an emotional arc and even an instrumental interlude, winkingly titled ‘The Costume Change’. Pre-order/pre-save HERE.

Brand-new single ‘How Cool Are You?’, also released today, shines with ease; a stomping live anthem and fan favourite after the band’s run of sold-out UK dates last autumn – the track prances and parades its way through three minutes of glaring pop pomposity. For the video, the band joined up once again with Eric J Liddle and Kasparas Vidunas of Humble Film Productions. The band shares, “This time we wanted to slip into our skates and paint the rink all the colours of the rainbow, flying in the face of the pouting ‘cool crew’ and showing that coolness shouldn’t come at the cost of having fun and accepting yourself!”

Walt Disco - How Cool Are You?

The new track is the fourth to be taken from the upcoming debut album, following the thundering and highly emotive singles Macilent, ‘Weightless’ and ‘Selfish Lover’ released in 2021. While the themes of the album are universally relatable, Walt Disco’s gift is in the unique experience of discovery and heartbreak between queer people – something that frontperson James explores in depth on songs such as ‘Weightless’, ‘Be An Actor’ and ‘Hold Yourself As High As Her’. In Walt Disco’s eyes, it’s never too late to become what you might have been and there are plenty of possibilities to explore on Unlearning.

Following a flurry of hyped gigs across the UK this year the band have also just announced their biggest UK and European tour to date for next spring, including London’s Scala, Paradiso in Amsterdam and ending at Point Ephemere in Paris – tickets are on sale now.