At the end of February Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn released their latest album 'Breathing Exercises'. Recent singles have been supported by Annie Mac 'New Names', DJ Target (1Xtra), Huw Stephens (Radio 1) & Steve Lamacq (6Music). 'Breathing Exercises' has amassed over 5.5m streams (currently at over 250k streams p/w) and has already added over 10k followers/250k monthly listeners to their profile w/ editorial support via Lofi Hip-Hop, dazed, Grime Shutdown & Conscious

The Wildhearts are proud to announce the release of Renaissance Menon 3^rd May, their first full-length studio album in 10 years.

To coincide with the release of Renaissance Men the Wildhearts’ classic line up of Ginger, CJ, Ritchie and Danny, are to play an 8 date UK tour. This intimate tour will start in Manchester at the Academy 2 on Friday 3^rd May and concludes at the Riverside in Newcastle on Sunday 12^th May. 

“Well fuck me it's only been 10 years since our last release and we have a monster album on its way. Danny is back in the band and we hit the road in May, playing new tunes and all the old hits. Can't wait and I know the boys are super bloody excited for this. ROCK!” - CJ Wildheart

Before the Renaissance Men UK tour, The Wildhearts play 2 festivals: the Winters End 2019 in Chepstow and Great British Alternative Festival in Minehead, plus a special warm up show at the Exeter Cavern on Friday 8^th March.

Creatively brilliant, The Wildhearts play a distinctive fusion of hard rock, perfectly complimented by contemporary melodies. With a career spanning nearly 30 years The Wildhearts helped change the landscape of British rock through the 90’s, and to this day they haven’t shown any sign of slowing down. Miss these shows at your peril.

Magnum guitarist Tony Clarkin is a man who seems to never stop working. He is responsible for writing all the material released by the band, and on top of that he produces their albums from the very first demo to the final mix. “As soon as an album is finished, I start to collect new ideas,” he explains. “That’s how I’ve worked since the early seventies, for me that’s the ideal method.” On their latest album, Clarkin and Magnum’s other original member, vocalist Bob Catley, prove all over again just how perfectly this established system works.

Magnum have recorded eleven new songs which feature all the traditional strengths of the British act and also live up to the band’s ambition to explore a more rock-oriented direction. “Thanks to our current record company, we enjoy full artistic freedom,” Clarkin enthuses. “SPV understand how important this is to us.We’ve not always been in such a fortunate position. During the eighties, the label we were with at the time wanted us to sound as pop-oriented as possible because they hoped for better album sales. I used to hate that, despite the success we had.”

The new album was recorded by the Magnum line-up consisting of Clarkin, Catley, keyboardist Rick Benton and drummer Lee Morris, plus their latest addition, bassist Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Place Vendome, Unisonic, among others), who joined the fold to replace Al Barrow. “Unfortunately Al had to leave the band because he didn’t have enough time. He lives in the US, which had always caused organisational problems,” Clarkin explains the background of the line-up change. “Tobias Sammet of Avantasia recommended Dennis, who is a great musician and vocalist, exactly what we were looking for. His contribution to the album surpassed our wildest expectations. We’re really looking forward to touring with him.”

Talking of which: Magnum’s major European tour has been scheduled to start in March 2020, initially with a number of headlining shows, to be continued by a first-rate package together with Gotthard from Switzerland. This extremely successful collaboration first passed the litmus test a few years ago, and Clarkin, Catley & Co. are very enthusiastic: “Along with some classic numbers, we will also present four or five songs from the new release.” the band promises, providing even more reasons for their fans to mark the dates in their calendars.

LINE UP

Tony Clarkin – Guitar

Bob Catley – Vocals

Rick Benton – Keyboards

Dennis Ward – Bass

Lee Morris – Drums