In an interview with NME, frontman Guy Garvey said about the new album, “it’s in very sharp contrast to the last record. The last one was made in lockdown and was very gentle, wistful and based on life, childhood, memories and fatherhood – all these very wholesome things. With the bruising that the pandemic had given everyone, it felt the right time to do a record like that….That’s a beautiful, gentle record, whereas this is groove-based. It tackles some pretty full-on subjects, and it’s loads of fun as well.”

Garvey divulged that the new studio effort by the band tackles some weighty topics that he feels the time is just right for. He added, “It deals with some pretty inky stuff. There are a couple of wholesome tunes on there, but by and large there’s everything from a maniacal rant from the point of view of a frontman who’s lost his mind, to really awful portraits of toxic relationships failing – all set to a very thick, guitar, drum and groove-based thing. It doesn’t sound like anything that we’ve done before. There’s everything from Stiff Records and what Elvis Costello was doing in his early years, right through to Afrika Bambaataa. We’re wearing our influences a bit more proudly.”

Formed in 1997 in the Greater Manchester area, Elbow came into considerable success after the release of their fourth album, The Seldom Seen Kid-scoring the band their first Mercury Music Prize and Brit Award for Best British Group. From there, Elbow continued to release new material at a steady rate, even having one of their songs (“Mirrorball”) covered by none other than Peter Gabriel.

For their upcoming tour, Garvey has revealed that the band fully intend to provide a career-spanning setlist, saying, “the first time we played arenas, we didn’t have enough big numbers to do an arena set….we had a B-stage, a walkway, all this stuff – but now we’ve got more than enough massive songs. I think it’s going to be loads of fun.”

Tickets for the arena tour can be purchased here, ahead of the general sale on 27 October.

Elbow UK Tour:

07/05/2024 – Brighton Centre – Brighton
09/05 – O2 Arena – London
10/05 – Resorts World Arena – Birmingham
11/05 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow
12/05 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
14/05 – Co-op Live – Manchester
15/05 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham

The Hull based band last Friday 1 September issued a statement via Twitter (X) concerning their unfortunate circumstances. It read, “Hello! As a band we’re going through some financial hardship due to non-payment by promoters for a performance outside of the country – a show which heavily cost us to get to. This, paired with inflating tour costs, has left us unable to fund our October/November tour. As an independent band, touring is vital to our survival and we rely on promoters to do the decent thing and actually pay us. This is something that hasn’t happened recently regarding a show that promised a substantial fee and has left us seriously out of pocket.”

It continued, “Therefore, we’ve set up a crowdfund to help us recoup the money we have lost due to non-payment. Anything you can give to help us get this show on the road would be greatly appreciated. As well as this, to raise funds we’ve made all our tour stock of vinyl and tees available for purchase at a discounted price this Bandcamp Friday. Every purchase is greatly appreciated and all the money will go towards helping us eat and sleep comfortably on the road.”

After an extremely positive and uplifting public response, Bdrmm lead vocalist and guitarist Ryan Smith posted a video onto Twitter (X) outlining his appreciation to all those who donated to the crowdfunder appeal and those who purchased band merch in the form of vinyl copies of albums and t-shirts.

Watch the heartwarming video below:

thank you all so so much. people are fucking incredible. x pic.twitter.com/3yTCAQCmJZ

— bdrmm (@smellybdrmm) September 2, 2023

The crowdfunder, appropriately named ‘The “bdrmm got effed over” fund’, has already amassed £4,296 by way of donations, 66% of its target of £6,500. You can contribute by clicking here.

Bdrmm released their second and latest album, I Don’t Know, via Rock Action Records this June, and the band were hoping to showcase this new material on their upcoming tour.

See below for tour dates:

09/10/2023 – Future Yard – Birkenhead
17/10 – Cactus Club – Bruges
18/10 – Le Grand Mix – Tourcoing
19/10 – Trix – Antwerp
20/10 – Left Of The Dial Festival – Rotterdam
23/10 – Molotow – Hamburg
24/10 – Loppen – Copenhagen
25/10 – Hus 7 – Stockholm
26/10 – Plan B – Malmö
28/10 – Kleinvieh Dresden – Dresden
30/10 – Privatclub – Berlin
31/10 – Helios 37 – Cologne
01/11 – Arci Bellezz – Milan
02/11 – Covo Club – Bologna
03/11 – Point Éphémére – Paris
04/11 – Paradiso – Amsterdam
05/11 – Mereleyn – Nijmegen

You can purchase tickets here.