Newcastle’s Knats are releasing “A Great Day In Newcastle” on March 6th digitally and March 29th physically via Gearbox Records, and it arrives with serious weight behind it. Produced by Geordie Greep of black midi (who also appears on one track), the album documents the North East working-class experience with unflinching specificity. Toxic masculinity, crime, life after prison, alcoholism, the mining industry, and community resilience all find their way into a record that pulls from lived experience, local legend, and the stories of people close to the band.
Led by lifelong best friends Stan Woodward on bass and King David-Ike Elechi on drums, Knats have spent the past year building serious momentum. They toured as the live band for both Greep and RnB legend Eddie Chacon, played two sold-out nights at London’s Koko, earned a Best Breakthrough Artist nomination at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, and delivered sets at The Great Escape, We Out Here, and Love Supreme. The new album deepens everything that won those rooms over, genre-fluid grooves and strong melodic architecture, while reaching further into rock and experimentation, with compositional work rooted in Olivier Messiaen’s modes.
First single “Wor Jackie” sets the tone immediately. The track draws on the story of Newcastle football icon Jackie Milburn, who reportedly split his days between the coal mine and the pitch, as a lens for exploring North East pit culture. Stan says the piece started as “a moody sort of march,” evolving after poet Cooper Robson brought his words to it. Robson’s addition changes the album’s entire dynamic, tackling dark subject matter with what Stan calls “classic Northern optimism.” Blistering solos from Stan and George Johnson on tenor saxophone drive the track forward with real force.
“This album has been a few years of thought and writing in the making,” Stan explains. “A Great Day in Newcastle is an exploration through happy, sad and angry stories from Newcastle and the beginning of a new sound for Knats.” The record closes with words drawn from a BBC interview with Durham Miners from the 1960s, grounding everything in the region’s deep history. This is a document, not a mood board, and it lands as one of the most purposeful UK jazz records in recent memory. Early listeners are calling it essential.
Tour Dates:
April 22nd – Brighton – The Hope & Ruin
April 23rd – Norwich – Voodoo Daddy’s
April 24th – Margate – Where Else?
April 25th – London – Brick Lane Jazz Festival
April 27th – Liverpool – Quarry
April 28th – Manchester – Band On The Wall
April 29th – Leeds – Hyde Park Book Club
April 30th – Birmingham – Hare & Hound
May 1st – Glasgow – The Glad Cafe
May 2nd – Newcastle – Cobalt