In the first interview since the death of Matley, while speaking to Christine Lampard, on ‘Lorraine’, the band said: “A bit of news to announce with you guys – we have recorded an album and it’s going to be coming out in October and it’s available for pre-sale today. It’s been the most extraordinary thing for us to go and do. We’ve stuck together like a band of brothers and we’ve recorded the most beautiful album that we’re proud of that our beloved Irish angel friend Timmy Matley would be proud of.

“We were lucky enough when we started the process of this album we were with Timmy. We planted the seeds with Timmy so we feel like he’s been with us though the whole process. It was all part of the grieving process as well, to be honest. We hid under a rock for a few weeks and then it was like, ‘Let’s get back into the studio and do what we do and make Timmy and the fans proud’.”

It was originally thought that Matley, 36, died after a battle with skin cancer. However, it has recently been determined, in an inquest held at Poplars Coroner’s Court, that Matley’s cause of death was a drug-related accident. It was revealed that Matley plunged to his death from a 13th floor balcony in Penn Court, on the 9th of April 2018, while high on crystal meth.

In an interview with the Mirror Online, his band mates, said: “We will not be making any comment other than to say that Timmy, our funny, talented, beautiful friend, bandmate and brother, was dearly loved and he is deeply missed.”

The Overtones hit our screens as a quartet consisting of Mark Franks, Mike Crawshaw, Darren Everest and Timmy Matley, after they auditioned for the 2009 series of The X Factor. After being rejected for the top 24 on the show, the band – then known as Lexi Joe, meet the fifth member of the band, Lachie Chapman. It was while working as decorators, in a shop in Oxford Street, singing on their tea break, that they were discovered by a Warner Bros, Records’ talent scout. Their debut album ‘Good Ol’ Fashioned Love’ entered the UK Albums Charts at number 16 in November 2010. However, after the re-release of the album in March 2011, it propelled to number 4.

The Overtones 2018 Tour Dates:
22/11/2018 – Watford Colosseum – Watford
23/11 – bath Pavilion – Bath
24/11 – Princes Theatre – Torquay
26/11 – Regent – Ipswich
27/11 – Worthing Assembly Hall – Worthing
28/11 – Leas Cliff Hall – Folkstone
30/11 – Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre -Bournemouth
01/12 – Venue Cymru Theatre – Llandudno
03/12 – Sheffield City Hall – Sheffield
04/12 – Baths Hall – Scunthrorpe
05/12 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
07/12 – Southend Cliffs Pavilion – Southend
08/12 – Birmingham Symphony Hall – Birmingham
10/12 – Bridgewater Hall – Manchester
11/12 – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – Glasgow
13/12 – Gateshead Stage 1 – Gateshead
14/12 – York Barbican – York
15/12 – Nottingham Royal Concert Hall – Nottingham
17/12 – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall – Liverpool
18/12 – Salisbury City Hall – Salisbury
19/12 – G Live – Guildford
20/12 – Indigo at the O2 – London