Today, Rat Boy has announced his second major development with the confirmation of his biggest headline tour to date which is set to commence at the end of April. This is big stuff for the young upcoming artist as this will be a step up from performing at smaller venues to performing at venues such as the 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London.

Tickets will be available from 9am Friday January 15th and can be purchased through gigsandtours.com, ticketmaster.co.uk and on 08448110051.

Rat Boy’s speedy rise to popularity will be boosted furthermore with the release of his new single “MOVE” which can be purchased now. Recording at 13 Studio, people are expecting big things for Rat Boy this year as he resurrects the vibes of the big beat era but in the modern age and his humorous yet relatable lyrics that the teenage generation have caught onto. In addition to his new track comes an accompanying stop-motion music video directed by Dillon Markey (who Rat Boy personally asked to direct) who is best known for his work on Robot Chicken and his Academy Award-nominated collaboration with animation artist PES on their movie ‘Fresh Guacamole’.

2016 is set to be a hectic year for Ratboy aside from his headlining tour with dates set to perform on the NME Awards Tour and at Reading Festival. His first show of 2016 at Heaven on January 26th is also his biggest show to date, selling-out quickly after it’s release and evenmore he will be performing alongside Drenge, Bloc Party and Bugzy Malone at the NME Awards Tour. Ratboy was also one of the first artists to be announced for this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals alongside icons such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The 1975 and Slaves. Dates can be found below.

NME Awards Tour 2016

26/01 – London, Heaven (headline show)
29/01 – Cardiff, Great Hall
30/01– Southampton, O2 Guildhall

1/02 – Bristol, O2 Academy
2/02 – Nottingham, Rock City
4/02 – Newcastle, O2 Academy
5/02 – Glasgow, Barrowland
6/02 – Manchester, Academy
8/02 – Leeds, O2 Academy
9/02 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
11/02 – London, O2 Brixton Academy
12/02  – Birmingham, O2 Academy

HEADLINE TOUR

29/04 – Glasgow, Oran Mor

1/05 – Newcastle, O2 Academy 2
4/05 – Norwich, Waterfront
5/05 – Birmingham, O2 Institute 2
6/05 – London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
7/05 – Brighton, Concorde 2

26/08 – 28/08 Reading and Leeds Festival

Tickets will be available from 9am Friday January 15th and can be purchased through gigsandtours.com, ticketmaster.co.uk and on 08448110051. You can listen to his new single ‘MOVE’ and other tracks below.

The NME Awards Tour is a UK based tour which celebrates the NME Awards (Could have guessed that!). The NME Awards cover a wide range of trophies to win; voting for Best British Band is currently being undertaken now (vote here), the current nominees are:

The Libertines
Foals
Wolf Alice
The 1975
Catfish and The Bottlemen
The Maccabees

NME took to twitter to announce the details of the tour:

BBC Sound of 2016 shortlister @RatBoy on NME Awards Tour with Austin, Texas in Jan. Tickets https://t.co/I2xOkMJMGb pic.twitter.com/Clnnf92aax

— NME (@NME) December 22, 2015

Bloc Party, who are set to headline, in particular are enjoying somewhat of a resurgence in mainstream music; having initially exploded onto the scene in 2005 with ‘Silent Alarm’, however their fifth album ‘Hymns’ is set to be released on January 29th 2016 to much anticipation.

Full details on the tour can be found here, and dates and locations can be found below:

29th Jan – Cardiff – Great Hall
30th Jan – Southampton – 02 Guildhall
1st Feb – Bristol – 02 Academy
2nd Feb – Nottingham – Rock City
4th Feb – Newcastle – 02 Academy
5th Feb – Glasgow – Barrowland
6th Feb – Manchester – Academy
8th Feb – Leeds – 02 Academy
9th Feb – Cambridge – Corn Exchange
11th Feb – London – 02 Academy Brixton
12th Feb – Birmingham – 02 Academy

The tour is headlined by indie rockers Bloc Party, along with supporting acts Drenge, Rat Boy and Bugzy Malone. The NME’s editor-in-chief, Mike Williams, said of the lineup: “The line-up for the NME Awards Tour 2016 with Austin, Texas is amazing for UK music fans – where else next February could you see three of the most exciting, game-changing new artists around, as well as a bona fide festival headliner in such an intimate setting?”

Bloc Party have recently announced a new album Hymns, with the release date being penned for around January 2016, coinciding neatly with the NME Awards Tour. Drenge have also released a new album, Undertow, so expect a healthy dose of new material being played by both bands. Meanwhile Libertines flavored rap act Rat Boy and 2nd wave Grime champion Bugzy Malone give the lineup some exciting new acts.

According to NME, exclusive ticket pre-sale begins at 9am on Wednesday (November 4) at NME.com/tickets. Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Friday (November 6).

The NME Awards Tour with Austin, Texas dates are as follows:

Cardiff, Great Hall (January 29)
Southampton, O2 Guildhall (January 30)
Bristol, O2 Academy (February 1)
Nottingham, Rock City (February 2)
Newcastle, O2 Academy (February 4)
Glasgow, Barrowland (February 5)
Manchester, Academy (February 6)
Leeds, O2 Academy (February 8)
Cambridge, Corn Exchange (February 9)
London, O2 Academy Brixton (February 11)
Birmingham, O2 Academy (February 12)