The tour announcement comes after Pixies released their eighth full studio album, Doggerel, in September.  The album came out on the Infectious Music label, to largely positive critical response.  The release was preceded by the singles “There’s a Moon On”, “Vault of Heaven” and “Dregs of the Wine”.  The recording process for the new album was also filmed, becoming a short documentary on the band that was released in June 2022.

In a recent press release discussing the new album, guitarist Joey Santiago said, “This time around we have grown.  We no longer have under two-minute songs.  We have little breaks, more conventional arrangements but still our twists in there.”

Vocalist/ guitarist Black Francis went on to add, “We’re trying to do things that are very big and bold and orchestrated.  The punky stuff, I really like playing it but you just cannot artificially create that shit.  There’s another way to do this, there’s other things we can be doing with this extra special energy we’re encountering.”

The new album also marks the first songwriting credits for Joey Santiago on two of its tracks, “Dregs of the Wine” and “Pagan Man”.  Vocalist/ guitarist Black Francis said of “Pagan Man“, the album’s final song, “I was not in the mood to compose a lyric because I was already spent, if you will. So Joey wrote the lyric.”  He went on to explain that the song was, “an unfinished bit of music that the producer kept insisting that we try again”.  Doggerel was recorded in Vermont’s Guildford Sound, an eco-friendly recording studio, with the basis for many songs being the pre-recorded demos Black Francis had created in the time following the band’s seventh album release, 2019’s Beneath the Eyrie.

Check out footage of the band performing their new single, “There’s a Moon On”, live from Manchester’s Band on the Wall earlier this year.

Tickets for the 2023 UK and European tour are now on sale here.

You can also find full dates and locations for the tour below:

21/02/2023 – Cirkus – Stockholm, SE
22/02 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, NO
25/02 – DR Koncerthuset – Kobenhavn S, DE
26/02 – Columbiahalle – Berlin, DE
27/02 – Grosse Freiheit 36 – Hamburg, DE
28/02 – Tonhalle – Munich, DE
03/03 – Oosterpoort – Groningen, NE
04/03 – AMARE – Den Haag, NE
05/03 – Tivoli Vredenburg – Utrecht, NE
07/03 – Forest National – Bruxelles, BE
09/03 – Sant Jordi Club – Barcelona, ES
10/03 – WiZink Centre – Madrid, ES
11/03 – Coliseum – A Coruna, ES
13/03 – Campo Pequeno – Lisbon, PT
15/03  -L’Olympia – Paris, FR
16/03 – L’Olympia – Paris, FR
17/03 – Forum Birmingham – Birmingham, UK
18/03 – Cardiff International Arena – Cardiff, UK
20/03 – Roundhouse – London, UK
21/03 – Roundhouse – London, UK

Given Black Francis’ prolific songwriting, Joey’s contributions would usually be to build his distinctive style into his bandmate’s songs. But this time around it was the reverse approach, with Joey’s instrumental – a mix of explosive power chords that recall Pete Townshend and a pummelling punk attack – completed by Black’s decadent, surrealist lyrics, which reference Van Halen and Black Foxx while drinking under the iconic Hollywood sign.

In a press release, Black explained the song is about, “Living in Los Angeles in the ‘90s with my then-wife, hanging out with Joey and his ex-wife, lots of trips to Las Vegas, a lot of drinking, little bit drug taking, some genuine good times.” 

Flashforward to the present day. Joey was jamming at home on his guitar and the initial idea behind the song may well have been lost to the moment. He recalls, “I guess I was in kind of a zombie state, just playing. After I stopped playing I put it down and went, ‘Well, that was a fucking waste of time, what a piece of shit I am.’ I beat myself up a lot, but my girlfriend, unbeknownst to me, was recording me. She played it back to me and I go, ‘Fuck! Hold on a second here! This stuff is good!’” 

‘Dregs of the Wine’ emerges after Pixies have spent the summer headlining large outdoor shows in the UK and Europe, hitting Hyde Park as special guests to Pearl Jam, and playing a tiny Manchester show at Band On the Wall. Their legendary status has been heightened by the recent Doggerel singles ‘There’s A Moon On’ and ‘Vault of Heaven’, leading to an A-list and a Steve Lamacq premiere at 6 Music, as well as coverage stretching from NME to The Guardian to Spin.

Having just headlined the End of the Road Festival, Pixies’ remaining 2022 live shows include shows in North America, South America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Please see their website for a full list of all international dates.

Falling somewhere between industrial rock, new wave pop and alternative electronica, it’s a complete mush of genres that has produced one of, if not the, brightest debut from an artist this year. Standing head and shoulders above the mainstream music that poisons the airwaves so commonly, as soon as you hear the first track of No Ceremony you will realise this is the band the music scene has been searching for, a band to make you realise that all hope is not lost within the ever expanding music industry.

No Ceremony /// also have a fair few celebrity fans to call upon for assistance should they be needing it. Joey Santiago, lead guitarist for legendary rockers Pixies, lends a hand on Heartbreaker and Irish folk-singer James Vincent McMorrow adds his swooning voice to AwayFromHere, which has an end result of one of the most beautiful songs you are likely to hear all year. Truth is though, any of the tracks could be your song of the year. Each tune encompasses something different about the threesome and they are all so majestic and soothing that there is no weak point on the record. It is the type of album that you can have on in the background, go on a road trip to, wake up to, fall asleep to; there is no situation in life where this record will not make it better.

Tracklisting for No Ceremony is below.

1. HURTLOVE

2. FEELSOLOW

3. HEARTBREAKER (Featuring Joey Santiago)

4. WARSONGS

5. AWAYFROMHERE (Featuring James Vincent McMorrow)

6. HOLDONME

7. PARTOFME

8. DELIVERUS

9. HEAVYHOUR

No Ceremony/// go on tour this September. If you want to catch them while they’re hot, get a ticket and we’ll see you down the front.

Friday 13th – East Village Arts Club, Liverpool

Saturday 14th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Sunday 15h – Hare and Hounds, Birmingham

Monday 16th – Mole, Bath

Tuesday 17th – The Hope, Brighton

Wednesday 25th – The Roundhouse, London (iTunes Festival, supporting Pixies)

You can check out their latest video for PartOfMe below.