Long-serving Yorkshire ska-punks RANDOM HAND have unveiled a new single and video as a taster for their forthcoming new album.
'Lifejackets' is taken from the Keighley quartet's self-titled fifth album which is due out in September.
Formed in 2002, Random Hand earned a reputation as one of the UK's hardest working bands, touring across the UK and Europe as well as the US, Canada and Russia, with appearances at Reading/Leeds, Glastonbury, Rebellion and more. Sharing stages with the likes of Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Propagandhi, Big D & The Kids Table, Voodoo Glow Skulls along the way, they went on hiatus in 2015 to allow the members to recharge and work on other projects.
“We pushed ourselves to breaking, then further still,” explains bassist Joe Tilston. “We stopped to recover and then came back with a passion and energy we didn't think possible. Random Hand have now played over 2,000 shows and we are currently curating a series of our own HandFests across the UK this year, the first in Leeds in February sold out two days in less than 45 minutes.
“Once we started writing the new album, we hit a groove like in the years the band first started,” continues Joe. “Things felt so natural and exciting again. Working with Andy Hawkins, who helped us craft ‘Hit Reset’ was the obvious choice. We loved making that album, but recording an album you know you’re not going to tour is a very different experience. This was exciting, potential was oozing out of every session, that didn’t feel stunted or a waste. The choice to call it ‘Random Hand’ felt like a bold statement for album five and two decades into a career. But we feel that good about it, it defines all we’ve done, and we believe it stands as tall as anything else we’ve ever created, if not taller. With all the other great things happening in ska punk in the international scene and in the UK, makes it feel like this album couldn’t be timed better."
About the new single, Joe says, “It’s a song about the gap between us and those at the top. For the video we played out in a retro encounter with a tyrannical salesman, who ruins everyone's day. We descended on one of the empty shops, that litter Keighley’s Highstreet. Closed like a time capsule from the 2008 financial crash, it served as the perfect location for our throwback adventure. It was colder in there than the nice sunny day outside, but we were all dressed like cretins so we stayed in and shivered. But we knew we were onto something special with the talented people we were working with, getting the best out of us.”
Released on 29 September through Bomber Music, Random Hand is available to pre-order here.
Random Hand have a bunch of dates lined up, including a London Handfest at Tufnell Park Dome, featuring fourteen bands across two stages. Full dates are...
28 Sept - Nottingham, The Cold Store
29 Sept - Norwich, Arts Centre
30 Sept - London, The Dome HANDFEST
5 Oct - Manchester, Rebellion
6 Oct - York, The Crescent
7 Oct - Glasgow, Garage Attic
8 Oct - Newcastle, Think Tank