IDLES announce new album and share first single 'The Beachland Ballroom'
IDLES have announced the release of a new album called ‘CRAWLER’ and have shared its first single, ‘The Beachland Ballroom’.
The Bristol punk band’s fourth album is the follow-up to last year’s ‘Ultra Mono’, which landed them their first Number One on the UK album chart.
Set to be released on November 12, ‘CRAWLER’ – which is co-produced by Kenny Beats and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen – was recorded at the famed Real World Studios in Bath during the coronavirus pandemic.
The album’s announcement comes alongside the release of its first single, ‘The Beachland Ballroom’, an “honest-to-goodness soul song” named after the iconic Ohio venue.
“It’s the most important song on the album, really,” IDLES frontman Joe Talbot said of the track. “There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms. Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, fuck — we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got.”
He added: “The song is sort of an allegory of feeling lost and getting through it. It’s one that I really love singing.”
Bowen chimed in about the track, adding: “I didn’t know Joe could sing like that. He’s been trying to write ‘Be My Baby’ since the very beginning, but he didn’t want to be the punk guy wearing the Motown clothes. He wanted it to feel natural, and this song is.”
‘CRAWLER’ arrives on November 12 – see the tracklisting below and pre-order it here.
1. ‘MTT 420 RR’
2. ‘The Wheel’
3. ‘When the Lights Come On’
4. ‘Car Crash’
5. ‘The New Sensation’
6. ‘Stockholm Syndrome’
7. ‘The Beachland Ballroom’
8. ‘Crawl!’
9. ‘Meds’
10. ‘Kelechi’
11. ‘Progress’
12. ‘Wizz’
13. ‘King Snake’
14. ‘The End’
IDLES are gearing up to head out on a sold-out 23-date North American tour that begins on October 7. They will then play a run of sold-out UK and Ireland shows throughout January and February 2022 including a four-night stretch at O2 Academy Brixton in London. See the UK and Ireland dates below:
JANUARY 2022
16 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
17 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
18 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
19 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
21 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
22 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
24 – Vicar Street, Dublin
25 – Vicar Street, Dublin
26 – Vicar Street, Dublin
28 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
29 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
30 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
FEBRUARY 2022
01 – O2 Academy, Sheffield
02 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
03 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
04 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
05 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
Meanwhile, IDLES have been announced as one of the main headliners of Creation Day Festival 2022.
The festival is being curated by Creation Records co-founder Alan McGee, and had been set to debut this year before coronavirus-enforced restrictions forced its cancellation.
