Following the long-awaited announcement of their extra-terrestrial debut LP, ‘Hardship Starship’ (out 16th August via Modern Sky UK) Stockport sensations NO HOT ASHES have announced their UK & IRE album tour for September & October.
The 13 date stretch will take ‘Hardship Starship’ from Guildford to Dublin, making stops in Leeds, Glasgow, and London before returning to their hometown for their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s o2 Ritz.
Tickets on sale from 10am on Wednesday 12th June.
A close encounter of the Northern kind, “W.Y.N.A” (or When You’re Not Around) is the first single to be taken from ‘Hardship Starship’, the track finds the four-piece examining the abnormal, yet predictable complexities of human relationships. Once almost jettisoned from the band’s catalogue altogether, but re-visited, re-purposed, and electrified with space-age synth bleeps and rocket-fueled guitar riffs; the result is one supernova comeback single.
Listen to “W.Y.N.A.” HERE
As its title would suggest, these aren’t the only star-gazing moments to be found on upcoming album ‘Hardship Starship’. Launching into the record with “Extra Terrestrial”, the band take us intergalactic from the moment go, with dark-matter dense basslines, choruses designed to be shouted to the heavens and lyrics inspired by that telepathic connection you feel when you meet the one you love. ‘Motion Sick’ dazzles with the reflective sheen of astronaut’s vizor; a track about loneliness of too much “space-cruising” away from your loved ones. “Paradise/Overdrive” makes the jump from the light-speed powered side one of the album to land with a slower, weightless proposition propelled by smooth jazz chord arrangements and an elating chorus about getting high. Astronomically, speaking.
Elsewhere the ‘Hardship Starship’ docks to observe a desolate, conflict ravaged, post-apocalyptic land, known to local inhabitants as… The United Kingdom. With his typical down-to-earth wit and charm, chief lyricist Isaac Taylor here addresses the economic inequality felt across the nation (’CAR’), ‘Trouble’ nods to violent crime and desperation, whereas ‘Indecision/Intermission’ provides an implosive big bang moment about Brexit and broken Britain; with ex-Imperial overlord David Cameron even making a “Guest Appearance” on the lattermost track.
