Photo Credit: Fraser Thorne
After coming within touching distance of calling it a day, The Twang are firmly back in their groove, today sharing new single ‘Crazy’ – the latest track to be taken from forthcoming album Bring Yourself, out January 22nd, 2027 on Cooking Vinyl.
Aptly titled, ‘Crazy’ is a clattering kitchen-sink drama with shades of both Happy Mondays and Blur. Recorded live with producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A.), it captures everything that makes Bring Yourself tick: the band, in a room, playing live, with no studio gloss. Listen here.
“We recorded live and you can hear that,” says co-songwriter Phil Etheridge. “Ash’s drums really power the record. Ross didn’t want to add strings or fiddle about in post-production. He gave us a ballsy sound like the band we are on stage.”
‘Crazy’ follows comeback single ‘Something to Someone’, the song that announced The Twang had found themselves again. Radio has been quick to welcome them back, with a first play from Chris Hawkins on BBC Radio 6 Music daytime, and spins from John Kennedy on Radio X’s X-Posure.
The Twang round off the year with their Twangmas Christmas show at O2 Academy Birmingham on December 19th, their only UK headline show this year (tickets here), before heading out in January for a run of intimate instore performances and signings at 11 record shops across the UK. Kicking off at Vinilo in Southampton on January 15th and wrapping up at Assai Records in Glasgow on January 30th, the tour has already sold out at Crash Records in Leeds. Full dates are below, with tickets available here.
Bring Yourself is the album that almost didn’t happen. The passing of lead songwriter Jon Watkin’s wife in 2023, after a two-year battle with cancer, was followed by a breakdown in the relationship between Jon and Phil, leaving the band’s future uncertain. Then the songs started pouring out of Jon, written at home in three-hour bursts between school runs, and became the catalyst for the band’s reunion.
“It’s still tough, every day,” says Jon. “But there are only two options – you lock yourself away or you learn to live again. I value so much that I took for granted in the past. I see magic everywhere and that’s what’s in these songs.”
That magic proved contagious. Cooking Vinyl heard the demos and immediately signed the band to their first label deal in over a decade, while Orton wanted in as soon as he heard them. Five weeks at his Sheffield studio later, The Twang had their sixth album, and their first since 2019’s If Confronted Just Go Mad.
2027 will also mark 20 years since The Twang’s gold-selling breakthrough debut album, Love It When I Feel Like This. With the band now playing the largest venues of their career, Bring Yourself marks the beginning of a new chapter, one built on friendship, honesty and a renewed love of making music. As Phil puts it, “The best lyrics always have multiple meanings. What matters is that they come from a place of honesty. People relate however they like to what’s real.”
The Twang – UK Instore Tour
January 2027
15th – Southampton, Vinilo Record Store
16th – Brighton, Resident
17th – Kingston, Banquet Records – SOLD OUT
18th – London, Rough Trade East
20th – Bristol, Rough Trade
21st – Oxford, Truck Store
23rd – Nottingham, Rough Trade – SOLD OUT
25th – Leeds, Crash Records – SOLD OUT
26th – Liverpool, Jacaranda Baltic
27th – Bury, Wax & Beans – SOLD OUT
29th – Edinburgh, Assai Records
30th – Glasgow, Assai Records
February
1st – Newcastle, Reflex
2nd – Sheffield, Bear Tree Records
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