BFB stated yesterday (the 21^st of July) that the number of British artists set to perform in Europe for this year’s festival season has decreased by 45 per cent when compared to 2017-2019 (pre-Brexit). The incursions largely being down to a lack of visa-free travel and work permits that are applicable across Europe for musicians and crew. Artists attempting to set out on tour once again after Covid have found themselves tangled in the red tape created by Brexit.

The CEO of Best For Britain, Naomi Smith broke down the meaning behind their discovery; “The Beatles famously made their name in Europe and it’s on tour that many musicians gain the formative experiences and audiences they need to take off. With their dud Brexit deal, our lame duck Government has not only robbed emerging British talent of these opportunities abroad, but has also made international acts think twice before including Glasgow or London in their European tours.”

Deborah Annetts, The Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and UK Trade and Business Commissioner, stated; “Previous witnesses to our commission have described how, if you’re a festival organiser in Barcelona who needs to fill a last-minute slot, British bands will be at the bottom of your list due to new barriers created by this botched Brexit deal. Whoever ends up replacing Boris Johnson must commit to removing this needless bureaucracy which is stifling the prosperity and creativity of the next generation of British musicians.”

The Ealing-born band White Lies are a prime example of the toll Brexit is taking on acts and artists in the UK. As they were forced to cancel their 2022 European tour in Paris in April 2022, with their equipment being held for 2 days after issues with; “Brexit legislation”.

Jack Lawrence- Brown, the band’s drummer elaborated on the situation; “We’d done our best to ensure that we’d be prepared in any circumstance. It’s very frustrating when you prepare for as long as we have to then rock up to the first venue and find that your equipment has been stuck in a 25-mile-long queue on the M20 through no fault of your own, and no fault of the trucking company either. It wasn’t the plan that we’d worked hard to get right.”

Grant Schapps, the UK’s Transport Secretary, revealed plans for a dual registration system that will lift the previous limit of three EU stops in a tour for equipment hauliers. When the plans come into action, hauliers will be allowed to stop as many times as they need for six months a year.

Schapps said of the situation that “It is unacceptable that, because of EU bureaucracy, the operations of our specialist haulage sector on which our artists rely have been put at risk, impacting the livelihoods of touring artists and sportspeople. Dual registration helps put this right and means that touring events can take place seamlessly across Great Britain, the EU and beyond, keeping our incredible cultural sector thriving for years to come.”

From music artists to Formula 1, Britain is at the heart of the cultural business. Today I have announced a new ‘dual registration’ option for specialist hauliers to ensure that all British talent can freely tour between Great Britain and the EU #LetTheMusicMove.

— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) May 6, 2022

It’s an encouraging sign that the government is listening to the music sector, with Whole Entertainment manager Ross Patel saying back in January that it was “depressingly apparent that the government will not act until we as an industry raise the alarm on these issues.”

It’s not been a fun time for musicians as of late with all the restrictions. London post-punk group White Lies recently had to cancel a show in France due to not being able to get all the equipment there on time. The band’s drummer, Jack Lawrence-Brown, noted that despite having “everything fully in order“, they “still found [themselves] in a situation where – because of Brexit – there are these inhumane motorway queues“. He blamed it on “Brexit fuck-ups and essentially a lack of government control over what’s happening in Dover.”

Tonight’s show can’t go ahead, even though we are in Paris. We are so gutted to announce this. News on rescheduling ASAP. Details below. pic.twitter.com/YDqJKjeJCJ — White Lies (@whiteliesmusic) April 7, 2022

Despite the apparently good news, some still believe there’s a way to go before the situation is under control. Duran Duran and Sam Smith touring manager Wob Roberts argues that the new regulations will be less beneficial to smaller artists who lack hubs in Europe. Although “UK-based tours [will] keep going“, Roberts says that artists who can’t “afford to set up a European arm are still going to be facing the same issues”.

So there you have it. Good news for many, but perhaps slightly less helpful for others. On the bright side, it’s one of many signs that live music is starting to heal after the disruption of the past few years. You can read here about how the damage from the pandemic has already started to resolve itself as of late.

• ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Mars’ is available to stream everywhere now, and the video is live on YouTube. Enjoy • pic.twitter.com/TqUTDQqj7D

— White Lies (@whiteliesmusic) November 30, 2021

The single is the second release from the group’s soon-to-be-released new album, As I Try Not to Fall Apart, which was announced last September and will be available next February 18^th via PIAS Recordings. Recorded in London’s Sleeper, Assault and Battery studios with long-term collaborator Ed Buller, the album will be the group’s sixth effort, following up the 2019 LP Five.

The first release from the new album was the title track last September, more of which you can read about here. On writing the track, the band said that “We wrote this song really quickly, late one night and often the songs that come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head … We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a pop song …It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man and knowing it’s OK to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s OK to not be OK.“

The title track was also released with a music video, directed by Jame Arden and showing band member Harry McVeigh being buried in sand. On the experience, McVeigh said “Being buried in sand was too mad to pass up. The sensation was really chilling and I was picking sand out of my ears for days, but I’m thrilled with the video, it really carries the message of the song and it looks beautiful.“

The band are also embarking on a new tour around the UK and Europe next year, more details of which you can see here. The tracklist of the new album may be seen below. For those interested in ticket details, you can look here. For those wanting to pre-order the album, you can look here.

Tracklist:

1. “Am I Really Going To Die”
2. “As I Try Not To Fall Apart”
3. “Breathe”
4. “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars”
5. “Step Outside”
6. “Roll December”
7. “Ragworm”
8. “Blue Drift”
9. “The End”
10. “There Is No Cure For It”

The new single is the band’s first music in nearly two years. The last album Five came out in 2019. Alongside the track, White Lies has shared a video, directed by Jame Arden. “The track made me think of people trying to lift themselves out of emotional spirals – navigating feelings of fragility and fighting everyday pressures just so they can keep it together – and it made me think about how we can be buried and overwhelmed by our feelings and emotions, and how we could explore that, visually” Arden said in a statement. 

Frontman Harry McVeigh added: “Being buried in sand was too mad to pass up. The sensation was really chilling and I was picking sand out of my ears for days, but I’m thrilled with the video, it really carries the message of the song and it looks beautiful“.

Watch the video below.

Talking about the new single, the band said: “We wrote this song quickly, late one night, and often the songs which come quickest are written from the gut and the heart, not with the head. We wanted the melody to feel like a hymn, to give the confessional lyrics weight despite being wrapped up as a pop song. It’s about accepting vulnerability as a man, and knowing it’s ok to be broken. There’s never been a more pressing time to spread the message that it’s ok to not be ok“.

A new album with the same title as the leading track will be released on 18th February 2022 and can be pre-ordered here. It will be the bands’ sixth record and has been recorded at Assault & Battery studios in west London. The tracklisting of the album is:

1. ‘Am I Really Going To Die’
2. ‘As I Try Not To Fall Apart’
3. ‘Breathe’
4. ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Mars’
5. ‘Step Outside’
6. ‘Roll December’
7. ‘Ragworm’
8. ‘Blue Drift’
9. ‘The End’
10. ‘There Is No Cure For It’

White Lies also announced the EU and UK tour next year, starting off on 10th March in Nottingham and finishing off on the 22nd May in Tourcoing, France. Tickets go on sale on 30th September and can be purchased here. See the full list of tour cities below.

It’ll be the band’s only UK Festival date in 2017, and it promises to be a special one. The band have announced that in addition to their hit-filled back catalogue, they’ll also be playing new material at the gig. The new material is the outcome of many months working in Las Vegas, San Diego, LA and Joshua Tree with producer Jacknife Lee, best known for his work with U2. The band have been recording their fifth album which has been a long time in the making; frontman Brandon Flowers spoke to NME about the process of making the album and what it might actually sound like, ‘There are moments that feel heavier than anything we’ve ever done, not that we’re the heaviest band in the world, but they have a finesse because of our experience. There’s also really beautiful things. Lyrically, it’s really close to home. There’s one called ‘Rut’ and we were all kind of excited about what was happening with that. Another is called ‘Run For Cover’ and that comes from ‘Day & Age’. so it’s eight-years-old. It started with Stuart Price and it still sort of has his stamp on it – but we’re funnelling it back through the band eight years later with a different producer. I never got the lyrics right and I think I’m gonna get it right this time. ‘Run For Cover’ looks like it’s got a good shot [of being on the album]. There’s one called ‘Tyson Vs Douglas’. I don’t know why but I think about it all the time and I finally tried to tackle it in a song, what it meant to have this hero of mine get torn down, and then everything that happened after that.’

They’ll be taking to the stage on Saturday 8^th July and if you’re excited about the top of the bill, don’t sleep on the rest of the line-up which will include Elbow, Tears For Fears and White Lies. It will be the first time in 12 years Tears For Fears, whom The Killers have previously credited as a key influence, have played on a UK stage. Meanwhile, Elbow will release their seventh album, ‘Little Fictions’, on the 3^rd February, and have also announced an extensive UK Touring schedule, which will include seven shows held in forests – the Manchester band can now add a park to that list. London punk trio White Lies also have plans to pack their bags and hit the road; they will cross the Atlantic at the start of February to play a series of dates in Canada, the US and Mexico before heading back to start their UK Tour towards the end of the month.

The Killers are the sixth headline act announced for the festival, and join Justin Bieber, Phil Collins, Green Day, Kings of Leon and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

Tickets for this instalment of the festival are available on pre-sale now and will go on general sale at 9am on Friday 27^th January. To grab them, go here. The full line-up for Saturday 8^th July at British Summer Time Festival will be:

The Killers

Elbow

Tears For Fears

White Lies

The video itself features various people stirred from their beds by the dulcet tones of the Post-Punk Rockers from Ealing. The song is clearly important to the band, and the video seems to reflect this intimate attachment, featuring lovers, parents and sons and what appear to be dream sequences, revealing our innermost secrets and desires. Charles Cave spoke to live4ever about the track, saying, “It’s hard for me to talk about ‘Hold Back Your Love’ in a measured way. We all absolutely love this song. I felt the same after we recorded ‘Death’, ‘Bigger Than Us’, or ‘Big TV’. Call it emotional attachment, or hopefully just a ‘good ear’, this song feels like it confidently sits itself down on the front row of White Lies songs that fall into elusive ‘encore’ territory. “I’m struggling to remember how this song came about, which is always a positive feeling as it suggests the process was a totally pleasurable and inspirational one, but I know that it was written quickly and the melodies seemed to do that dreamy thing of writing themselves.” You can check out the finished product below:

The band also have a full touring schedule planned for 2017, with a tour of the US, Canada and Mexico taking up the first half of February before the band return to their roots in the UK to perform 14 dates across the UK. Drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown spoke to The Nottingham Post about the tour, reflecting, ‘The reaction has been a lot stronger than expected, and really positive, so I’m delighted that we’re doing more UK shows. It’s funny because whenever you put a tour on sale, when you do the major cities, like Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Glasgow, London, you then immediately get several hundred responses saying ‘What about Hull, what about Edinburgh…” We would love to play everywhere, but that’s not always possible, so this time it’s pretty great that we can do basically a second sweep of the country where anyone who wasn’t able to get a ticket or who we didn’t get close enough to their towns this time around, we’re actually going to be able to do it next year.’ Their full schedule can be found below:

1/2 – 9:30 Club – Washington DC

2/2 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – New York, NY

3/2 – Middle East Club – Boston MA

4/2 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON

6/2 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL

7/2 – Majestic Theatre– Madison, WI

8/2 – Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN

11/2 – Nectar Lounge – Seattle, WA

12/2 – Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver BC

14/2 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA

15/2 – El Ray Theatre – Los Angeles, CA

17/2 – Teatro Diana– Guadalajara

18/2 – El Plaza Condesa – Mexico City

23/2 – O2 Academy – Newcastle

24/2 – O2 Academy– Sheffield

25/2 – O2 Academy – Oxford

27/2 – Cardiff University – Cardiff

28/2 – O2 Academy – Leicester

2/3 – Pyramids – Portsmouth

3/3 – Hull University – Hull

4/3 – Troxy – London

6/3 – Guildhall – Preston

7/3 – Garage – Aberdeen

8/3 – Potterrow– Edinburgh

9/3 – The Forum– Hatfield

11/3 – Keele University

12/3 – Norwich, UEA

A Daily Mail article last year lambasted several high profile pop acts for charging extortionate prices for fans to meet them, with Justin Bieber, One Direction, Madonna and Beyonce (who supposedly has a strict ‘no hugging’ policy) among the named culprits. Typical indulgent diva behaviour then, but surely ‘real bands’ would never do such a thing?

It seems that at least some of them would, as last month post-punk act 30 Seconds To Mars came under fierce criticism for supposedly charging fans up to £575 for the opportunity to meet them. US rockers Hawthorne Heights have also been named and shamed for offering fans the opportunity to spend time with them on their upcoming tour – for a £100 price tag.

Talking to NME, Ben Jonhston, drummer for Biffy Clyro called the practice, ‘absolutely appalling’, claiming that talking with fans was ‘just part of the job’ and adding, ‘What’s five minutes to shake someones hand?’

Among the other detractors are folk-punk artist Frank Turner, who said that he felt uncomfortable with the idea of making his time a commodity, with White Lies members stating that the practice was ‘like prostitution’.

Arguments made by some industry professionals state that, since digital piracy has minimalized artists income from record sales, other means of revenue have to be explored. And while it’s easy to profess a desire to simply chat to anyone after a show, this surely becomes complicated for any band with more than a very small group of fans.

That said, there seems to be a time honoured way to deal with this – offer meet-and-greet passes for free in competitions, or simply allocate a time slot at a signing tent – a growing concept at festivals – and the fans who get there first get to meet the band. Can paying £200+ to shake someone’s hand and tell them you loved their last album really be dressed as anything but extortion?