IDLES new single out now
Single release: 'Great' by IDLES
Release date: Out now
More info: Band website
Following the single's debut with Steve Lamacq on 6 Music (listen to recent session here) and ahead of a live performance for Annie Mac on Radio 1, IDLES have shared another new song off their much-anticipated new LP ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance,’ out 31st August via Partisan.
'Great' is a pro-immigration black comedy (“Islam didn’t eat your hamster/change isn’t a crime”) as well as a scathing confrontation of the Brexit/Trump era. The song is accompanied by a music video (directed by Theo Watkins), which you can watch here.
Singer Joe Talbot says of the track: “Let us go forward with open minds and open hearts into that fuck off fire we've started. No blame, no hate. Just love and a blue passport.”
‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’ bluntly addresses everything from toxic masculinity, immigration, racism, nationalism + more. The band are able to channel those weighty subjects though pure positivity and even biting humor.
Earlier this month IDLES also announced an art exhibition to celebrate the release of their album. Open for two days on 30 and 31 August, between 12pm and 8pm, and curated by the band, the exhibition will take place at: HM Electrics Gallery, 65 Nile Street, London N1 7RD
The gallery will contain 18 pieces of work across several mediums. All proceeds going to the Samaritans charity. Watch the exhibition trailer here.
Watch IDLES on News At Ten
The band have also announced a run of live in-store dates around the album:
30 Aug UK London, Banquet Records, 9pm
31 Aug UK Bristol, Rough Trade, 3pm
31 Aug UK Bristol, Rough Trade, 7pm
03 Sep UK Portsmouth, Pie and Vinyl, 1pm
03 Sep UK Brighton, Resident, 6.30pm
04 Sep UK London, Rough Trade East, 7pm
05 Sep UK Sheffield, Record Junkee, 1pm
05 Sep UK Nottingham, Rough Trade, 7.30pm
06 Sep UK Leeds, Crash Records, 1pm
06 Sep UK Manchester, FOPP, 5.30pm
07 Sep UK Cardiff, Spiller Records, 7pm
'Great' is the fourth song to be released from IDLES's much-anticipated upcoming album 'Joy As An Act Of Resistance'. Produced by Space and mixed by Adam Greenspan & Nick Launay (Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kate Bush), The album takes aim at everything from nationalism and immigration to class inequality - all while maintaining a visceral, infectious positivity. Singer Joe Talbot summarises: “This album is an attempt to be vulnerable to our audience and to encourage vulnerability; a brave naked smile in this shitty new world. We have stripped back the songs and lyrics to our bare flesh to allow each other to breathe, to celebrate our differences, and act as an ode to communities and the individuals that forge them. Because without our community, we’d be nothing.”
Read Joe’s full statement on the album’s inspiration and origins here
Watch the video for album opener 'Colossus'
This autumn, IDLES will embark on their first ever global tour, including their biggest London headliner yet at O2 Forum Kentish Town on 18th October. Their last London headliner, at Heaven, sold out nearly six months in front. Tickets are on sale now here
Watch the video for anthemic single 'Danny Nedelko'
"IDLES might just be the best live guitar band in Europe." - The Quietus