NEWS

After twenty-five years of waiting, we're beside ourselves with excitement to announce New York City cult indie favourites The Van Pelt have a new album coming out on 17th March, titled 'Artisans & Merchants', and Gringo is releasing it in the UK!

Pre-order on either Transparent Royal Blue or Black Vinyl from the Gringo shop.

For North American orders please visit Spartan and for EU / ROW orders La Castanya.

The first single "Punk House" is out now, along with a brand new music video.

Frontman Chris Leo says, "When a bunch of old VHS tapes were unearthed, the band had them digitized and they turned out to be from US tours of the mid-90s. The footage is mainly of daily banalities: random purchases at rest stops, packing and unpacking the van, highway views that could be on the outskirts of Any Town USA. Yet there is a nostalgia to it that's compelling. The song mirrors the mood in both sound and text. Lines like "The floor is filled with resin on the place where you're to sleep / if you have enough to drink you can pretend that it's a sheet" bring any musician back to the rougher side of days on the road -- yet again, the subtext here is that the spirit of it all is to be longed for."

The Van Pelt has announced a series of UK, EU and Brooklyn shows in March and April. See dates below.

3/16 - Leeds, UK @ Wharf Chambers (SOLD OUT)
3/17 - Nottingham, UK @ The Old Cold Store
3/18 - London, UK @ The Garage
3/19 - Antwerp, BEL @ Trix
4/23 - Brooklyn, NY @ St. Vitus

Ticket and band links ahoy!

Super happy to announce the new (third) ORDER of the TOAD album 'Spirit Man'.

If you are not familiar with the Toad then they are one of Glasgow's best bands, featuring folk from The Wharves, Current Affairs, Nightshift and Robrt Sotelo. Monorail described them thus:

"Melodically, Order of the Toad have something of a medieval fixation, filtered through late 60s influences which end up sounding something like Jefferson Airplane - not least in vocalist Gemma Fleet's powerful lung-force - mixed with British psyche heat.. think Kaleidoscope or even Syd Barrett drug-damaged whimsy. There's no other band doing this in the U.K. that we know of, a musically rich tapestry woven from strands outside current trends"

The first single is 'Golden Rod' and the video is within this here post.

We are co-releasing this with Hidden Bay Records of continental France. Out on 16/9/22. 12 new cuts. Pre-order on LP/DD.

If you are in the EU please order direct from Hidden Bay to save you a world of hurt.

We have a special new release to announce!

We are putting out the debut album by Holodrum, a new disco-infused synth-pop group, who feature members of Hookworms, Yard Act, Cowtown, Virginia Wing, Drahla and more. Release date is 25th Feb!

There are two vinyl versions available:

500 copies standard edition (WAAT079LP)

+ Black vinyl.
+ Disco sleeve.
+ Holographic Holodrum sticker.

Avilable from Bandcamp and our Limited Run shop. For UK orders, Limited Run is a bit cheaper. EU customers should use Bandcamp as they calculate and add VAT which will ensure you don't get hit with any extra customs charges.

500 copies Dinked Edition (WAAT079LPX)

+ Hot Pink vinyl.
+ Alternate disco sleeve with obi strip.
+ Hand numbered. Clear flexi disc with exclusive studio track.
+ Holographic Dinked Edition sticker.

A list of Dinked stores can be found at here.

You can see some more photos of this beauty here.

To celebrate Holodrum have also shared the 8-bit animated video for 'Free Advice', a pulsating feel-good mantra which vocalist Emily Garner (they/them) says "expresses the state of feeling invincible in the face of adversity and acts quite explicitly as a piece of good advice, applicable to anyone that's gone out of their way just to harsh your vibe." The technicolour video was built frame-by-frame by in-house pixel art animators Emily and drummer Jonathan Nash, under their creative duo Pastel x Fortress.

Speaking about the themes and designs they say it "mostly includes things we miss and love about being in a band. Namely jamming, travelling, seeing stuff and enjoying the local delicacies. Iced in a candy-core palette, the video art is a motion collage of 2D, 2.5D and isometric 3D graphics."

You can also listen to the single on Spotify and other digital platforms.