Brand New Friend's latest song from debut album Seatbelts for Aeroplanes is ‘Mediocre At Best’, which you can listen to below. The track supports their first mainland UK tour, with Pretty Vicious, startihg on Wednesday 7 March. The band have also been confirmed to join Britrock heroes Feeder on two of their forthcoming Irish dates. Seatbelts for Aeroplanes is released on 27 April 2018 and you can preorder it on vinyl, CD or download.
The four-piece, who hail from Castlerock in Northern Ireland released the first single from the album in February 2018, ‘Girl’, and instantly received plays from Huw Stephens (who played it twice back to back!), Phil Taggart and Annie Mac at Radio 1. It was also added to the Spotify ‘Rocked’ playlist and ‘Pure Pop Punk’ playlist.
Vocalist Taylor described the track as: “A fragile love song. It’s about facing up to the invisible battles in our heads and the importance of helping each-other through life, because it’s not easy. I wrote it for my girlfriend, to remind her that just by being here, she’s won every fight so far. It was written after a house party. I had one conversation with this girl & fell for her there and then. This song was my way of being able to talk to her after the party, because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see her again...”
The band, who began as a duo with brother and sister Taylor and Lauren Johnson started off playing and writing when Taylor received his first guitar for doing well in his GSCE’s. After releasing an EP ‘American Wives’ they hooked up with Aaron Milligan (bass) and Luke Harris (drums) and developed a fuller, punchier sound which transformed the gigs they had been playing to much more energetic affairs. Playing their first Irish tour in January 2017, they soon followed on with shows on the BBC Introducing Stage at Hull (during its City of Culture year), festivals and support slots with local bands. In the meantime BBC Radio Ulster and Radio 1 were taking note and giving support and the new year kicked off with a sold out show at the Duke of York in Belfast.
UK tour (with Pretty Vicious)
MARCH 2018
07 Manchester, UK @ Soup Kitchen
08 Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Petes
09 Barrow In Furness, UK @ Underground Music Society (headline show)
10 Cardiff, UK @ Club Ifor Bach
12 Leeds, UK @ Lending Room
13 Bristol, UK @ Louisina
14 Southampton, UK @ Joiners
15 London, UK @ Borderline
With Feeder
21 Dublin, Ireland @ Olympia
22 Belfast, UK @ Limelight
Irish tour (headline)
APRIL 2018
20 Omagh, Ireland @ Top of the Town
26 Derry, Ireland @ Sandino’s
27 Portrush, Ireland @ Kiwi’s
28 Belfast, UK @ Black Box
Further dates to be announced.