The Twang will release their new album, Bring Yourself, on January 22nd 2027.
The Birmingham band came within touching distance of calling it a day before making the record, born out of grief, reconciliation and a renewed appreciation for life. The passing of lead songwriter Jon Watkin’s wife in 2023, following a two-year battle with cancer, was followed by a breakdown in Watkin’s relationship with co-songwriter Phil Etheridge, leaving the band’s future uncertain. Music eventually brought the pair back together, with Watkin writing daily during a three-hour window between school drop-off and pick-up, songs that became the catalyst for the band’s reunion. Etheridge has said what he wanted most wasn’t another album, but to repair the friendship at the heart of the band.
First single ‘Something to Someone’ is out now, described by the band as an instant statement of intent and a sign that they’ve found themselves again as a group.
Recorded over five weeks at producer Ross Orton’s studio in Sheffield, whose credits include Arctic Monkeys and M.I.A., Bring Yourself strips the band back to its most immediate and instinctive form, recorded live with minimal studio embellishment. The band have credited Orton’s own phrase, “bring thissen”, meaning to bring your real self and nothing else, as the guiding mantra behind the sessions. Reflecting on that spirit, Etheridge has said simply that “when sh*t happens, you realise what really matters.”
Across ten tracks, the album moves from the frantic, pub-fuelled chaos of ‘Sandbags’ and the Happy Mondays-meets-Blur clatter of ‘Crazy’, through the dreamy ‘Where Are We Going’, the friendship of ‘Always Something’ and Birmingham’s own regeneration reflected in ‘Kings’, closing on the optimistic ‘Put It On’.
The Twang will play their only UK headline show of the year, a Twangmas Christmas show at Birmingham’s O2 Academy on December 19th, with early ticket access available to fans who pre-order Bring Yourself through the band’s official store.
2027 also marks 20 years since the band’s breakthrough debut album, Love It When I Feel Like This.
Bring Yourself tracklist:
- Something to Someone
- Sandbags
- Crazy
- Always Something
- Kings
- Candlestick
- Where Are We Going
- Who Knows Where
- Pringle Jumpers
- Put It On
Bring Yourself is out January 22nd 2027.
