After announcing an indefinite hiatus in 2015, only to return with a new album last year (2023), this will come as welcome news to Gaslight fans everywhere.

The new EP History Books – Short Stories will feature a Billie Eilish and then they will hit the road all across North America with Joyce Manor, Pinkshift and The Dirty Nil.

After a recent tease suggesting that they had been back in the studio following last year’s ‘History Books’, the Gaslight Anthem have just announced a brand-new EP.

The band will be releasing the four-track History Books – Short Stories this Friday, and it’ll feature two singles from that LP (the title-track and Positive Charge), plus a re-recorded version of 2008 fan-favourite Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts, and a surprise cover of Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish.

“I was driving my daughter to school and she played it for me on the way and I really took to the song,” explains frontman Brian Fallon of the latter. “Then one day we were talking ideas for a cover with our friends and I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to do a heavier version of Ocean Eyes?’ I tried it out and everybody loved the idea.”

Check out a snippet below:

That’s not all, folks! We’re celebrating going on tour by releasing History Books – Short Stories. Out Friday + features two acoustic songs (“History Books” & “Positive Charge”), a re-recorded version of “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” and a cover of “Ocean Eyes” by @billieeilish. pic.twitter.com/5eurAcF5D4

— The Gaslight Anthem (@gaslightanthem) March 18, 2024

If that wasn’t enough, The Gaslight Anthem have also announced that they will be back on tour this summer in North America with a pretty stacked line-up.

The Gaslight Anthem was formed in 2006 in New Brunswick, New Jersey and has constantly delivered its brand of heartfelt folk-inspired punk rock since its debut album, Sink or Swim, in 2007. They gained a substantial global following and released four more studio records, the most recent being ‘Get Hurt’ in 2014. The following year, the band announced they would be going on hiatus as they focused on other projects, reuniting briefly in 2018 for a run of anniversary shows and then resuming the break.

In 2022, the band ended their hiatus and reformed, dropping their sixth studio album ‘History Books‘ the following year.

But as for the hear and now, you can catch them here at the following UK tour dates:

March

18 Glasgow O2 Academy
19 Edinburgh O2 Academy
21 Sheffield Academy
22 Manchester O2 Apollo
23 Wolverhampton Civic Hall
25 London Roundhouse
26 London Roundhouse
27 London Roundhouse
29 Dublin 3Olympia
30 Dublin 3Olympia

July

10 Nottingham Rock City
11 Cheltenham 2000trees Festival

Get your tickets now.

The ‘Shows Of A Lost World’ tour also broke the band’s previous attendance best of 402 000, a record set in 1992 during their Wish tour, with an impressive 547 000 tickets being sold for this year’s tour. And all this, incredibly, despite The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith’s campaign to keep concert ticket prices as low as possible.

Taking to Twitter to vent his obvious frustration at ever-increasing ticket prices in general but Ticketmaster in particular, Smith has previously and successfully obtained a discount on his fans’ behalf for their upcoming US and Canada tour, stating on twitter after the fact, “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and us a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for lowest ticket price (‘LTP’) transactions”

1 OF 2: AFTER FURTHER CONVERSATION, TICKETMASTER HAVE AGREED WITH US THAT MANY OF THE FEES BEING CHARGED ARE UNDULY HIGH, AND AS A GESTURE OF GOODWILL HAVE OFFERED A $10 PER TICKET REFUND TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR LOWEST TICKET PRICE (‘LTP’) TRANSACTIONS…

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 16, 2023

Smith had more good news, adding, “And a $5 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues; if you already bought a ticket you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees“.

Smith, who has had previous in letting his feelings known towards “sickening” high fees tacked on to ticket prices, and his beloved band therefore, we can all surely agree, wholeheartedly deserve these unprecedented levels of success. Three dates at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles alone grossed a staggering $4.9 million (£3.7 million) and sold 50 800 tickets, while three shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden amassed a figure of $4.1 million (£3.1 million), selling 44 300 tickets in the process.

Listen to “Killing An Arab” below:

Formed in 1978, The Cure, with frontman Robert Smith remaining the band’s only constant member, have become mainstays in the UK alternative rock music scene, having made distinct genres such as, originally, post-punk and later, new-wave, gothic rock and pop rock, their very own. The band garnered a significant cult following following the release of their first four albums (Three Imaginary Boys (1979), Seventeen Seconds (1980), Faith (1981), Pornography (1982)) but did not achieve mainstream success until the late 80’s and early 90’s, with Disintegration (1989) and Wish (1992) cementing their place in UK music history for good.

Watch the music video for “Boys Don’t Cry” below:

The tour will see Squid travel to North America for the fourth time following visits in November 2021, March 2022 and September 2022, and will commence in Austin, Texas on February 2nd 2024 and will conclude in Los Angeles, California on March 1st. The tour will be the first time Squid have the chance to showcase live performances of tracks from O Monolith for their American and Canadian fans.

North America we’re coming back. Tickets on sale Friday at 10am: https://t.co/OqnuoPfCSZ pic.twitter.com/uwiuTHqnXu

— Squid (@squidbanduk) April 18, 2023

The highly anticipated new album has already been performed live in the UK (see below) and will see a continuation of Squid’s experimentation with a multitude of differing rock genres. Speaking to NME, Ollie Judge, the group’s lead singer and drummer, states that the band have been “leaning a lot more into experimental song structures“, further adding that the album is “quite proggy – for better or worse“.

See O Monolith being performed live below:

Judging from their latest release, “Undergrowth“, “quite proggy” seems quite the understatement. An initial simple drumbeat and bassline is interrupted by a funky guitar section before Judge begins with his abstract lyrics, his vocals seemingly Hugh Cornwell-esque as we get into the chorus. The bassline returns along with the introduction of the brass and keyboards, and then returns the funk-rock of the guitars, and, slightly further on, a Black Midi-esque noise-rock section encapsulates us. All this and we are halfway through the six minute thirty five seconds song.

Watch the music video for “Undergrowth” below:

O Monolith will therefore be an expression of experimentation, blending together post-punk, art-rock, funk-rock and prog-rock to create an immaculate example of artistic brilliance.

Squid were formed in Brighton in 2016, releasing their first EP, Town Centre, in 2019 and their debut album, Bright Green Field, in 2021, the latter of which receiving widespread critical acclaim and reaching number four on the UK Albums Chart. The group consists of Ollie Judge on lead vocals and drums, Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson on both guitar and bass guitar, Arthur Leadbetter on keyboards and strings and Laurie Nankivell on brass.

Pre-order O Monolith now here.

See below for North American tour dates:

02/02/2024 – The Parish – Austin
03/02 – Dada – Dallas
05/02 – The Basement East – Nashville
06/02 – Terminal West – Atlanta
08/06 – 9.30 Club – Washington
09/02 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia
10/02 – Brooklyn Steel – Brooklyn
14/02 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston
15/02 – Sat – Montreal
16/02 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto
18/02 – Thalia Hall – Chicago
19/02 – Fine Line – Minneapolis
23/02 – Revolution Hall – Portland
24/02 – Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver
25/02 – The Crocodile Showroom – Seattle
27/02 – Regency Ballroom – San Francisco
29/02 – The Observatory OC – Santa Ana
01/03 – The Belasco – Los Angeles

Buy tour tickets here.

If you’re interested in getting tickets then you can look here. Some of the new shows have him visiting the likes of New Jersey, Washington and California. It’s especially impressive news considering he turned 81 back in July, with his 82nd birthday due during this tour.

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A post shared by Ringo Starr (@ringostarrmusic)

However, our two remaining Beatles have a tendency towards spritely old age. Paul McCartney is also set for some shows later this year, namely as one of the headlining acts for Glastonbury in June. If you’re interested in this, you can look here.

Starr’s news comes after the release of his two EP’s back in 2021 – Zoom In and Change the World. Zoom In was filmed in Starr’s own home studio during the pandemic months of 2020 and released last year in March, with Change the World following in September.

NME seemed to take the former project with a sense of humour, noting in their 3-star review that it was “the sort of upbeat, unrelenting jollity we expect from Ringo …. Well-meaning and positive, ‘Zoom In’ is the aural equivalent of wishing somebody a ‘Happy Hump Day!’ over email, while wearing a daft grin. For all its flaws, this is a hard record to hate.“

Sadly, we’ve been told not to expect any more full-length LPs from Starr, with 2019’s What’s My Name possibly being his last. But it could be seen as a fitting end, featuring McCartney on a cover of the John Lennon track “Grow Old With Me“, a version which references George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun“ in the string arrangement – thereby having something from each Beatle in some shape or form. A cover of “Money (That’s What I Want)“ also features, something The Beatles included on their 1963 album With the Beatles.

Starr is also due to appear on Eddie Vedder’s new solo album, Earthling, so exciting news for any Pearl Jam/Beatles crossover fans.