Knats deliver ‘A Great Day In Newcastle’ with production from Geordie Greep of black midi, who also appears on one of the album’s tracks. The record arrives March 6 digitally and March 29 physically through Gearbox Records. Stan Woodward and King David-Ike Elechi, lifelong best friends from Newcastle, lead the collective through sophisticated musical arrangements built around Olivier Messiaen’s modes, creating suspended and colorful sounds rooted in their hometown’s working class experience. The compositional approach gives the album an uncanny quality without sacrificing accessibility, balancing their genre-fluid grooves with heavier rock experimentation.
First single “Wor Jackie” centers on North East coal miners through the story of Newcastle football legend Jackie Milburn, who split his days between the pit and the pitch. Cooper Robson’s impassioned poetry navigates the narrative alongside blistering solos from Woodward and tenor saxophonist George Johnson, marking a shift in the band’s aesthetic through storytelling and weightier textures. The track grew from Woodward’s conversation with his grandfather about life as a pitman and his initial vision of a moody march, then evolved when Robson joined the project. This addition brings Northern optimism to themes including toxic masculinity, fighting culture, crime, alcoholism, and the mining industry, with the closing track featuring words from a BBC interview with Durham Miners from the 1960s.
The album’s artwork emulates Art Kane’s late-1950s Harlem photograph, framing ‘A Great Day In Newcastle’ as documentation of regional lived experience. Knats have spent the last year touring as the live band for both Greep and Eddie Chacon on their EU and UK dates, including two sold-out nights at London’s Koko, while earning a Parliamentary Jazz Awards nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist. They’ve also collaborated with Mike Keat of The Cuban Brothers, Simon Bartholomew of The Brand New Heavies, and hometown noise-rock outfit lots of hands. Their performances at The Great Escape, We Out Here, and Love Supreme have built significant word-of-mouth momentum.
Tour Dates:
Jan 21st – 100 Club, London
April 22nd – The Hope & Ruin, Brighton
April 23rd – Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich
April 24th – Where Else?, Margate
April 25th – Brick Lane Jazz Festival, London
April 27th – Quarry, Liverpool
April 28th – Band On The Wall, Manchester
April 29th – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
April 30th – Hare & Hound, Birmingham
May 1st – The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
May 2nd – Cobalt, Newcastle