Crows announce 'Beware Believers' and share new single & video 'Slowly Separate'
London four-piece Crows are today announcing their highly-anticipated second album ‘Beware Believers’ and releasing the first single and video, ‘Slowly Separate’. Equal parts ferocious and hedonistic, the incoming ‘Beware Believers’ LP is due out April 1st 2022 via Bad Vibrations Records and perfectly captures the raucous, anarchic energy that Crows have become renowned for on the stage. It arrives off the back of their critically acclaimed 2019 debut ‘Silver Tongues’, international touring and festival appearances, and shared stages with the likes of IDLES, Wolf Alice, Girl Band, Metz, Slaves and Protomartyr. The first taste of the album, ‘Slowly Separate’, is out now on all platforms. Stream the video below and pre-order the vinyl here.
Alongside the news, Crows have also announced a run of UK/EU tour dates for April 22nd, including a show at London’s Scala on April 13th.
Talking about ‘Slowly Separate’, Crows frontman James Cox says: “Slowly Separate is about living in London, working a job you hate and just going through the mundane routine of hand to mouth living. Don't get me wrong, I love London. It’s been my home for 13 years, and this song translates to any city and anytime you're working a job that doesn't fulfil you. When it gets to the end of the month, all your rent and bills come out and you're barely left with enough to get through the next month. It gets to you, I’m sure a lot of people can relate. It just makes it sweeter when you are finally making changes in your life for the better and you can leave those feelings in the past.”
Conjuring a dark and visceral post-punk that’s been hardened by years of notoriously rowdy live shows, Crows have amassed a legion of die-hard fans since they formed back in 2015 and cultivated a singular, much-adored presence in the British alternative music scene. Following the release of their long-awaited debut album on the IDLES-run Balley Records back in 2019 (a sold-out UK tour with the Bristol heavyweights also followed the album’s release), Crows immediately set to work on its follow-up.
“We started writing the album in the downtime between tours just after releasing Silver Tongues in the Spring of 2019”, Cox recalls: “We were really determined to follow up the album as quickly as possible and keep that ball rolling and we were creatively in a really good place.” By January 2020 they were already back in London’s Fish Factory Studios (the same studio and team with which they made ‘Silver Tongues’) tracking what would become the ‘Beware Believers’ LP. Their debut was a long time coming but this time around Crows had no intention of taking things slow and patiently. The new album was quickly coming along, they were playing to busier and busier crowds and were gearing up for their first trip to the US for SXSW – and then Covid hit.
Not only did the arrival of the pandemic cancel their upcoming shows, including the US run they had planned around SXSW, but it also put recording the new album to a sudden halt. For a band known first and foremost for their live shows, who were also right in the middle of a creative and critical surge, the lockdown-enforced break was initially hard to stomach. However, Cox admits that the album Crows came out with on the other side of lockdown was all the better for it:
“Once we knew Covid was here to stay, we took the first break we’ve taken since we released our first single ‘Pray’ in 2015. Being locked down for three months unable to finish the last bits of the record was very frustrating but it did mean we could come back to the album with fresh ears and make sure it sounded like it should: a true representation of Crows.” Loud, cathartic and abrasive – a quintessential Crows record it certainly is.
“Beware Believers has felt like a marathon, a real endurance test that’s been a long, winding road filled with highs and lows and plenty of twists and turns. The majority of the themes on the album came from what was going on in the world around in summer 2019, Covid wasn't in our lives and the biggest impact was Brexit and the madness our government were putting us through. I was reading a lot of J.G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut whilst all this craziness was going on around us and it was a weird headspace to get into.”
‘BEWARE BELIEVERS’ TOUR DATES
05/04/22 - Bristol, UK @ The Exchange
06/04/22 - Cardiff, UK @ Clwb Ifor Bach
08/04/22 - Manchester, UK @ YES
09/04/22 - Birmingham, UK @ Muthers Studio
10/04/22 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
11/04/22 - Glasgow, UK @ The Garage
12/04/22 - Sheffield, UK @ Sidney & Matilda
13/04/22 - London, UK @ Scala
17/04/22 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
18/04/22 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique
20/04/22 - Hamburg, DE @ Molotow
21/04/22 - Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club
