Propagandhi, Wonk Unit, The Bennies, Antillectual, Pizzatramp, Darko, Svetlanas, Nervus, Mobina Galore, Egos At the Door, Throwing Stuff, Natterers, Captain Hotknives, Uniforms, The Minor Discomfort Band, Drones, All Aboard!, Aerial Salad, Fresh, Christmas, Spoilers, Wolfbeast Destroyer, Regret, Rotten Foxes, Forever Unclean, Foxes Faux, Shankland, Incisions and The Lab Rats will play the Manchester based festival from the 19th to the 21st April 2018. More acts shall be added soon.

The event will take place across various Manchester venues including Gorilla, Rebellion, The Bread Shed, Zombie Shack, Underdog, Font and The Thirsty Scholar. Advance tickets cost £40 and can be purchased here. Keep a tab on their Facebook for future updates.

Bird Law, Cavalcades, Cherym, Chris Snelgrove, Darko, The Eddies, Empty Lungs, Fat Goth, Flatfoot 56, Kaddish, Kapil Seshasayee, Lost Avenue, Lost Love, Lou McLean, Muppet Mule, No Matter, Nosebleed, PMX, Thee Rag ‘N’ Bone Man,  The Spook School, Swordmaster, Tongue Trap, Uniforms and Warshy will play the three day fest, which takes place across Dundee venues Abertay Student Centre, Conroy’s Basement and Deacon Brodie’s, from the 1st to the 3rd December.

Early bird tickets are still available at £20. The fest will also be raising money for the following organisations: Young Minds, Addaction, Insight Counselling and Royal Life Saving Society. There will also be the donation stands Tins for Tunes, in support of Dundee Foodbank, and Donation Station, in support of Refugee Support/Dundee Caring the City. More info can be found here.

The song is taken from the band’s debut self-titled EP, which was released last month.

The anonymous collective are also playing the following shows.

JULY
30 LONDON Sebright Arms w/ Fights and Fires, Delayed + Miami Nice
AUGUST
04 LONDON New Cross Inn w/ Pears, Great Cynics, Darko, On a Hiding to Nothing + CBH

The song itself is taken from their debut album, ‘Bonsai Mammoth’, which was released earlier this year on Lockjaw Records (UK), Torch of Hope (JAP) and Bird Attack Records (US).

The folk punk artist will also be releasing his upcoming new single, ‘Come on Home, Hero’, on one-sided white flexi 7″, limited CD and digitally on the 14th April via Make That a Take Records and Aaahh!!! Real Records, to coincide with the tour.

APRIL
14 CAMBRIDGE The Cornerhouse w/ Sam Russo
15 LONDON Dugstock, New Cross Inn
16 HASTINGS The Tub w/ Darko, Werecats + Butane Regulators
17 BRISTOL Easter Half-Dayer, The Chelsea Inn
18 EXETER The Phoenix w/ Lande Hekt + Jon Shoe
19 CARDIFF The Moon Club w/ Tim Loud + Dan Fairhurst & The Entourage
20 WREXHAM Rewind
21 MANCHESTER Manchester Punk Festival
23 BOLTON Kesbri Studios Fest, The Alma Inn
24 DUNDEE Conroy’s Basement w/ Dáša Fon Fľaša, Chrissy Barnacle + Haystack Monolith

The pace of the album is relentless and the level of high-octane punk rock is high throughout. The opening lick of ‘I Knew I Should Have Taken That Left Turn At…’ is riotous, the lead riffs reminiscent of early Thrice, the dual work really allowing Darko to define their sound and identity. ‘Just A Short Line’ is reminiscent of Matt Davies’ soaring vocals for Funeral For A Friend and the break down in ‘Set In Our Ways’ highlights the development of this band from previous material, shining a spotlight on their riff work, which enhances the layers of this band in great detail.

There is a short interlude half way through the album in the shape of ‘The Chernobyl Effect’ that allows listeners to calm the nerves before ‘Hiraeth’ continues the second half of the album at a blistering pace, the monstrous licks giving way to the rasp of Dan Smith, the vocal snarl adding to the album’s integrity.

Darko have created a really strong album with ‘Bonsai Mammoth’. The miniature interlude and guitar trickery in ‘In The Company Of Wolves’ shows their ability to mix intricacy with punk rock panache and it works really well. The pace of ‘Life Blood’ sits it high amongst the others as a strong contender for the album’s finest moment, as does ‘Dead Hordes’ and the introduction of a short section of gang vocals perhaps would have been more welcome throughout more of this album, before ‘We Can Stand For Something More’ makes sure that listeners know we all have choices and differences but how we should all come together for the betterment of society.

‘Bonsai Mammoth’ will do Darko well. It will win over new fans, it will please old ones and hell, the world needs some campaign tunes to spark a movement towards humanitarianism in the purest sense of the word, and Darko have created just that. The last song on the album bleeds out to ‘We Can Stand For Something More’, half hope, half statement; it lodges a thought that perhaps music can indeed be the glue that binds us all together again.

DAVE BULL

The shows will be in support of their upcoming debut album, ‘Bonsai Mammoth’, which will be released on the 3rd February through Bird Attack Records (US), Lockjaw Records (UK) and Torch of Hope (Japan). You can pre-order it here.

To coincide with the announcement, the band are also streaming a new cut from the record, entitled ‘Set in Our Ways, which can be heard below.

FEBRUARY
03 GUILDFORD The Star
MARCH
17 PORSTMOUTH The Birdcage
18 MANCHESTER Retro Bar
APRIL
14 LONDON New Cross Inn
16 HASTINGS The Tub

“For our first video we wanted to keep things simple and DIY,” state the band, who feature Hearts Under Fire members Lexi Clark and Kit Reeve. “We genuinely have such a laugh hanging out together and playing shows, so we wanted that to be reflected in our video for ‘E.T.’.
It was just a standard Monday night for us; hanging out, watching films, going hunting for aliens and letting off casual explosives illegally in a field in Guildford. All in all, it’s a short story of friends getting together to watch old sci-fi films and going hunting for Aliens.
Unfortunately, no UFOs were spotted. However, we coincidentally filmed our video when Venus happened to be extremely visible to the naked eye. So I guess that’s kind of cool?”

The song ‘E.T.’ is taken from Screech Bats’ 2016 self-titled debut EP, which was produced by Jason Wilson (Don Broco, Reuben, You Me at Six). The band will also be playing a bunch of shows in February and April as well as making an appearance at this year’s Rebellion Punk Festival in Blackpool, which takes place from 3rd to the 6th August.

FEBRUARY
03 GUILDFORD The Star Inn w/ Darko
04 BASINGSTOKE Irish Centre
06 LONDON Nambucca
24 SPALDING The Black SwaN
APRIL
08 LONDON The Unicorn
16 NOTTINGHAM The Maze
29 SOUTHAMPTON Shooting Star
AUGUST
03-06 BLACKPOOL Rebellion Punk Festival

photo credit: Tom Le Bon

This is the first track to be released from their forthcoming debut album, ‘Bonsai Mammoth’, which will be released on the 3rd February through Bird Attack Records (US), Lockjaw Records (UK) and Torch of Hope Records (Japan). You can download the new track for free here.

The band also have a couple of confirmed shows, details of which are available below.

FEBRUARY
03 GUILDFORD The Star Inn
APRIL
14 LONDON New Cross Inn

The release will be handled by Bird Attack Records (US), Lockjaw Records (UK) and Torch of Hope Records (Japan), with a release due for the 3rd February 2017. For more up to date info about pre-orders for the record, you can sign up to the band’s mailing list.

The band also have a couple of upcoming UK shows, details of which can be found below.

DECEMBER
09 KINGSTON The Fighting Cocks w/ And Now We’re Even + Resuscitators
FEBRUARY
03 GUILDFORD The Star Inn