British pop icons Modern English are excited to announce their upcoming U.S. headline and festival appearances for the fall. Kicking off on Saturday, August 26 at Evolution Festival in St. Louis, MO, the tour will visit numerous markets across the midwest, east coast and south through Saturday, September 30 when the band will appear as part of Neptune Festival in Virginia Beach, VA. The upcoming appearances come on the heels of the band’s widely talked about performance at Cruel World Festival in Los Angeles, CA in May and the recently completed recording of its forthcoming album produced by Mario J. McNulty (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Nine Inch Nails). Support on select dates will be provided by Korine with additional acts to be announced soon. Tickets for the upcoming tour are on sale now via the band’s website HERE, and a full listing of dates can be found below.
Recorded at Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY in the fall of 2022, directly after months of touring, Modern English’s highly anticipated forthcoming album will see a late 2023 release. Performed and recorded together in live sessions, the new album’s aim is to capture the energy of the band’s live show and harks back to the sounds, raw energy and post-punk passion of its Mesh & Lace days. With a touch of subtle themes lifted from After the Snow and Ricochet Days that include the environment, aging, failed relationships, love and more, the new collection finds the legendary band delving into nostalgia but, as always, exploring new creative territory. Stay tuned for more information on the forthcoming album to be announced soon.
Simply put, “I Melt With You” by the legendary British rock band Modern English is one of the most iconic songs of the New Wave era. It garnered heavy rotation on the then-thriving Modern Rock radio format, MTV and dance clubs across the globe, and was prominently featured in the classic 1983 film Valley Girl, starring a young Nicolas Cage.
On 1982’s After the Snow, the band’s sound evolved from the dark, moody and challenging post-punk found on its debut, Mesh & Lace, to a more commercial and radio friendly mix of synthesizers, guitars, catchy drum beats and singer Robbie Grey‘s unmistakable vocals. As the title suggests, the icy sound featured on Mesh & Lace melted away on After the Snow to reveal more concise and potent songs, highlighted by “I Melt With You” which brought the band up from the underground to the mainstream. It’s a song so popular that the band was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2020 BMI Awards for seven million plays on radio. After the Snow was produced by the acclaimed Hugh Jones whose production credits include albums by Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Damned and many more, and the LP was released on the legendary 4AD Records in the UK and licensed to Sire Records in the U.S.
Formed in Colchester, England, the band self-released its first single on its own Limp Records label prior to signing to 4AD, home to such like-minded acts as Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. Laying the foundation for future musical movements such as goth and industrial, Modern English would gain the attention of renowned BBC DJ John Peel, who featured the band twice on his program.
Modern English would record various records over the years, with its latest being 2017’s Take Me To The Trees, an album that reconnected the band to their youth, in the fervent and fecund world of late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk Britain. Given Modern English’s roots were post-punk icons Wire and Joy Division – dark and austere while still melodic and passionate – Take Me To The Trees is a return to the sound and vision of their very early work that even James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has described as “a sneaky secret that everyone writes off, because they just think it’s going to be a ‘I Melt With You’ but it sounds way scarier than any Joy Division record [Mesh & Lace].”
Most recently, Modern English issued After the Snow: Live From Indigo at the O2, a 40th anniversary live collection featuring the songs from the album on CD, CD/DVD and digital, with a vinyl version that was made available exclusively on Record Store Day 2022. Extensive touring throughout the U.S. on various legs would lead to the band making its late-night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (watch HERE) as well as a performance on The TODAY Show in October 2022.
Modern English will be making the following U.S. appearances this fall. Dates below.
AUGUST
26 — St. Louis, MO — Evolution Festival
27 — Chicago, IL — Chicagoland Taco Fair
28 — Evanston, IL — Space *
31 — Indianapolis, IN — HiFi *
SEPTEMBER
01 — Cincinnati, OH — The Ludlow *
02 — Columbus, OH — A&R Bar *
07 — Baltimore, MD — Ottobar
09 — New York, NY — Baker Falls
15 — Hamden, CT — Space Ballroom
16 — Greenfield, MA — Hawks & Reed
17 — Boston, MA — Sonia
20 — Richmond, VA — Canal Room
22 — Greenville, SC — The Radio Room
23 — Atlanta, GA — The Earl
24 — Nashville, TN — 3rd and Lindsley
27 — Athens, GA — 40 Watt
29 — Smithfield, NC — Paul A Johnson
30 — Virginia Beach, VA — Neptune Festival
* — Korine supporting
