The Band: BAG OF CANS

The Release: 'WE ARE A BAND'

The Formats: DIGITAL & BEER COLOURED VINYL ALBUM

The Beer Coloured Vinyl Link: fiercepanda.co.uk/shop.php?release=776

The Digital Link: orcd.co/weareaband

The Release Date: JUNE 9TH 2023

The Tracklisting:
1. 'Spin Cycle'; 2. 'Hair of the Dog'; 3. 'Chris Alice'; 4. 'Pub Money'; 5. 'Milk and More'; 6. 'Hostage At The Dinner Table'; 7. 'Vasectomy'; 8. 'Houseproud'; 9. 'Gaunt'; 10. 'Sorry Mum That I Was Hungover This Christmas'

The Truth: ‘We Are a Band’ is not only the debut album of anarchic Norwich five-piece Bag of Cans, but the group’s mantra too.

“We are a band, aren’t we”, someone had muttered at a rehearsal after the latest insect-themed anthem had been completed. It’d stuck. Like Mohammed Ali’s “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” or the Gallagher brother’s “madferit”, the phrase is often uttered into mirrors before gigs and to themselves in drunken moments of sincerity. Never ones for subtlety, the boys thought the phrase encapsulated everything they stood for, them being a band and all.

The new album sees Bag of Cans planting a flag in the ground, acting as a marker for the last five frenzied years that have seen them play packed-out headline sets in London and Norwich, while signing “lucrative” contracts in pubs with tremendously well put together ex-NME journalists.

The writing process for ‘We Are a Band’ stretches back to 2019, with set favourites 'Houseproud', 'Chris Alice' and even Yuletide paean 'Sorry Mum That I was Hungover Last Christmas' all featuring. Newbies 'Hostage at the Dinner Table', 'Milk and More', 'Vasectomy' and 'Gaunt' line up among recent single releases 'Pub Money' and 'Spin Cycle' - both of which have enjoyed airtime on BBC Radio 6, courtesy of his MacQship (Steve Lamacq). There’s also an ode to hangovers tucked in there too, in the bruising, slide-guitar laden 'Hair of the Dog'.

As huge fans of matrimony and the excitement that comes from the union of humans, the band struggled to categorise ‘We Are a Band’ in any way other than the following:

Something old: 'Houseproud', 'Chris Alice', 'Sorry Mum That I Was Hungover Last Christmas'.

Something new: 'Hostage at the Dinner Table', 'Milk and More', 'Vasectomy'.

Something borrowed: basically everything, mostly from Dingus Khan and Blur.

Something blue: 'Gaunt’s really sad because it’s about nans who are no longer with us.

Although the songs span either side of the pandemic, the tunes are tied together by the band’s infectious indie-rock melodies, their unrelenting desire for the absurd and pretty much anything that makes them giggle. It was recorded mostly live with Jason Baldock (an East Anglian producing and recording legend) in a WW2 bunker on a strange Norfolk industrial estate next to a prison. Sadly that’s now closed down but he’s moved into a repurposed fish warehouse in Great Yarmouth.

'We Are a Band' was made by George Baker (vocals / trumpet), George Bryce (guitar / vocals), Tom McGhie (guitar), Sam Watts (bass) and Joe Wilson (drums). Bag of Cans are a band, and there’s nothing anyone can say that proves they’re not.

Come see the Bag of Cans band playing 'We Are a Band' at these shows here and there:

MAY 12TH BRIGHTON GRAND CENTRAL (The Great Escape)
JUNE 9TH NORWICH ARTS CENTRE (album launch show)
JUNE 22ND LONDON TOWER BRIDGE THE SCOOP
JULY 20TH TRUCK FESTIVAL
JULY 28TH Y NOT FESTIVAL

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