“Stuck In A Car With You” will feature on Twin Atlantic’s upcoming 7th studio album, the name of which is yet to be released. The band’s frontman Sam McTrusty is producing and engineering their new album, and whilst they are in the middle of finishing the LP, the singer has teased fans on what’s to come by stating in an interview with NME that “there are a thousand guitars on the record.”

Sam McTrusty said on the subject of returning to the band’s original pop-punk sound “We’ve put our original fans through a bit of a whirlwind, because every record we’ve made almost sounds like a different band”

“With this record, we wanted to make something for the fans, and the kids who first started this band, ‘Stuck In A Car With You’ is a no-nonsense, fast-paced rock song that shines a spotlight on the emotion behind it.”

McTrusty continued, “Since we released [2011’s] ‘Free’ and [2009’s] ‘Vivarium’, fans have basically been asking us to make those albums again. We’ve never been that excited by revisiting the past, but enough time has passed that it felt interesting to do.”

“‘Stuck In A Car With You’ feels like a return but also, we know so much more about crafting songs now that it still feels fresh.”

Alongside the announcement of their brand new single, Twin Atlantic are hitting the road later this year on an intimate UK tour. McTrusty told NME “Maybe it’s a pre-midlife crisis where we want to go back to our teens, touring in a van to places we don’t normally go, but we’re really excited. The shows are going to be fucking amazing and we’re going to give fans an unforgettable night. We’ve been doing this for a minute now and we know how to put on a show. We’re just going to come in and absolutely smash it.”

We’re also very pleased to announce we’re back on the road for a special intimate tour in November. Tickets are on-sale tomorrow (Friday 15th) at 10am – https://t.co/LC4nmGHfL3 pic.twitter.com/bPQcfKNFCR

— Twin Atlantic (@twinatlantic) September 14, 2023

You can purchase tickets for the upcoming tour here.

Tour dates:

30/09/2023 – Misery Loves Company Festival – Bristol, UK

13/11 – The Crauford Arms – Milton Keynes, UK

13/11 – The Drill – Lincoln, UK

15/11 – Chinnerys – Southend-on-Sea, UK

17/11 – The Boileroom – Guildford, UK

18/11 – The Baths – Ipswich, UK

19/11 – The Forum – Tunbridge Wells, UK

21/11 – The Old Fire Station – Bournemouth, UK

22/11 – Hertford Corn Exchange – Hertford, UK

23/11 – The Welly – Hull, UK

25/11 – The Crescent – York, UK

26/11 – Bootleg Social – Blackpool, UK

27/11 – The Live Rooms – Chester, UK

Paul McCartney shared the project during a Radio 4 interview last month, revealing his plans to produce a final Beatles song with AI assistance. Speaking on using artificial intelligence to create new music, McCartney said, “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

The track has not entirely been created through AI means however, putting fans’ minds at rest as concerns arise around the increase in artificially produced art. McCartney shared more on the process of putting this new track together, saying Peter Jackson (who created the Get Back Beatles documentary) “was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.”

In his Radio 4 interview, McCartney shared, “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had that we worked on and we just finished it up to be released this year. We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. So there’s a good side to it and then a scary side.”

Ringo Starr has commented on the new song, also clarifying that it isn’t an entirely AI-driven project. Speaking to Variety, Starr shared that McCartney, himself and George Harrison had a demo of John Lennon singing that they had previously considered turning into a full song back in the 90s. The remaining band members are now taking advantage of the advanced technology on offer to them to allow them to use the original clips of Lennon’s singing.

Starr said, “It’s not down to AI. It’s not like we’re pretending anything. That is actually John’s voice, Paul’s voice and bass playing, George on rhythm guitar and me on drums. And the two things that are new are Paul’s bass and me on drums. … I really worked at it just months ago here. And it works. It’s a beautiful song. You know, for all the madness going on around it, it’s still a beautiful track. And our last track.”

When asked why they had chosen to work on the track again now, Starr said, “I don’t know. Paul must’ve had a slow day. He says, ‘You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?‘” McCartney sent Starr the files, with Starr sharing, “I drummed on it and I sang on it” before McCartney added strings to the track with Giles Martin. Starr shared his feelings on the final Beatles track, saying, “It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won’t be ever again.”

Starr also shared in a separate interview, “It moves me because, you know, I miss those two. But Paul and I are great friends so life goes on.”

There is currently no release date for the final Beatles track, but McCartney shared, “We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course.”

Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year.

We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much…

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 22, 2023

Despite having a new memoir out next month (called A Likely Lad), Doherty seems to have given audiences a bit of an early teaser into his personal life with this new interview, discussing topics such as watching The Simpsons in prison as well as his new drug-free lifestyle.

According to him, a big open secret to sobriety is lots of love and support, crediting his marriage to Katia de Vidas back in 2021 as being a big help, saying “Marriage is the bolster; I have the love and support of someone I love. I’m blessed to be alive, not sat in a hedge in Old Street, injecting into my groin.” He’s also in recent times credited his collaboration with French composer Frédéric Lo (more of which you can read about here), as well as spending lockdown in Normandy, as helping separate him from his former lifestyle.

On the whole, Doherty’s big problems are hopefully a thing of the past, with him seeming to have put it all behind him now. “I’ve managed to get out of the addictive cycle – which I maintained all along I was quite happy in – but I was pretty fucked, and I’ve never really admitted to that.” He describes his current state as “a phase of rejuvenation”.

Even in his darkest moments though, he had some sources of comfort, namely a popular American sitcom. Aside from smoking, the occasional airing of The Simpsons was one of the best pastimes on offer apparently, with Doherty getting “excited when they showed The Simpsons at 6 pm. My cellmate would say: “What are you watching this for? It’s shit,” and I’d say: “No, it’s subversive and interesting.”

There are also some details on his childhood when he would often move around Europe and England, as well as fights with paparazzi and an interesting detox method in Thailand; “my two security guards took me from Heathrow … to projectile vomit with the Thai monks at Tham Krabok …. You’re supposed to do it three times and vow to the gods that you will never take drugs again upon pain of death”.

As for tour dates, The Libertines are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut album (Up the Bracket) with a special performance in London’s Wembley Arena. If you fancy seeing them live then you can look here. As for Doherty, his UK dates can be seen below, with a performance tonight in Liverpool’s Arts Club. Tickets can be found here.

Pete Doherty UK Tour Dates
16/05/2022 – Arts Club – Liverpool
18/05 – The Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
19/05 – Tower Ballroom – Hull
20/05 – Cambridge Junction – Cambridge

A racial slur is used in the song, inspired by something McManus’ own grandfather was apparently called when serving in the British Army. He asked radio stations not to play the track in future, saying “people hear that word… and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend“. For more on this, you can look here.

On the bright side, McManus has released a new record with his touring band – The Imposters. It came out last Friday and is titled The Boy Named If.

However, as if distancing himself from the rest of contemporary music being released, the songwriter made his opinions known on the state of rock music today, speaking to Rolling Stone in a recent interview.

In a rather frank statement on the genre today, McManus said that “I don’t like much rock music. I like rock & roll. I think if you lose the roll part, a lot of the fun goes out of it.” He argued that most electric-guitar records from the past thirty years suffered because “the beat is so square. I like things that float a bit or swing a bit, whether it’s rock & roll or actual jazz that swings, or even the way Hank Williams records lope.”

He took special aim at the music coming out of Nashville, describing it as unable to “float if you filled them full of water. They just don’t; they’re square and they sound like bad rock records from the Nineties.”

On the bright side, it turns out he doesn’t hate all music. He took a moment to praise 90’s rock icon Jeff Buckley, who died aged 30 whilst swimming in the Mississippi River. In particular, he envied Buckley’s ability to sing a wide variety of genres, from Led Zeppelin and Morrissey to classical greats such as Mahler and Purcell. Having curated the festival that would be Buckley’s last performance in London, McManus said that “it’s very poignant because it was his last performance in London, but we didn’t know that then. His life was ahead. There was all these great things that he was still going to do. That was just a very sad coincidence.”

Other artists he talked of included Paul McCartney, whom he worked in the eighties with, describing their songwriting process as spontaneous; “One of us would start strumming a rhythm and then some harmony would emerge.“ And his collaborations with classic sixties icon Burt Bacharach were also touched on. If you want to read the full interview, which includes details on the inspiration behind his latest album, you can look here.