The Amazons, whose self-titled debut smashed into the album charts at #8 earlier this summer. It also reached #6 on the vinyl album chart. The year started in style for the young Reading-based quartet as they became the most hotly-tipped guitar band of 2017 according to Music Week. That flying start was extended with continuing support from Radio 1, a debut performance on Later… with Jools Holland and the backing of a wide range of print and online media. The Amazons couldn’t be ignored.

Now they have shared a brand new static video for the album cut and fan favourite ‘Ultraviolet’, which was produced by the Grammy nominated Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, Foals, PJ Harvey). A counterpoint to the band’s more visceral moments, ‘Ultraviolet’ signposts their arena-filling potential with insistent melody, an anthemic holler-along hook and explosive dynamic shifts. Lyrically it’s immediately relatable too, with frontman Matt Thomson exploring the yearning and confusion which accompanies young love.

“‘Ultraviolet’ is about all the things you fill your head with during lonely hours. The silence and the space when they don’t call you back. All the things you want to say but can’t find the words,” says Thomson. “We’re excited for this track to be our next single knowing it’s become a favourite amongst our fans since the release of the album, and also having seen how crowds have engaged with it at our live shows.”

The track’s parent album includes the punk ‘n’ roll rush of opener ‘Stay With Me’, the playful rhythmic drive that underpins ‘Black Magic’, and the foreboding grunge of ‘Little Something’. Elsewhere, ‘Burn My Eyes’ recalls both Husker Du and Biffy Clyro with its cocktail of visceral aggression and melodic intent, while ‘Raindrops’ showcases Thomson’s emotive vocal delivery. The album comes to surprise conclusion with the lighters-aloft piano ballad ‘Palace’ which demonstrates another angle to band away from their fiery wall of sound.

The Amazons’ ascent has continued in the live arena too. Their first headline tour of the year was entirely sold-out and their festival scheduled has extended from Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend at home to dates all across the rest of Europe. A big moment for the band is set to come with a homecoming set on the Festival Republic Stage at the Reading Festival later this month. The Amazons’ previous Reading Festival performance on the BBC Introducing Stage represented a turning point for the band as local fans and newcomers alike were spilling out of the tent in order to catch their set.

October’s headline tour will be their biggest to date and the first since their album was released. Tickets for the dates, listed below, are selling quickly with several nights already sold-out. Remaining tickets are on sale from http://theamazons.co.uk.

HEADLINE SHOWS

OCTOBER

2nd - The Waterfront, Norwich

3rd - The Leadmill, Sheffield (SOLD OUT)

4th - The Liquid Room, Edinburgh

6th – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (SOLD OUT)

8th – The Riverside, Newcastle (SOLD OUT)

9th - The Tramshed, Cardiff

11th - Phoenix, Exeter

12th - The 02 Forum Kentish Town, London

13th - Engine Rooms, Southampton (SOLD OUT)

14th - SWX, Bristol

UK FESTIVALS

 AUGUST

 25th – Reading Festival

26th – Leeds Festival

 OCTOBER

 7th – Neighbourhood Festival

The album celebrates The Pocket Gods' 20th anniversary of making indie pop records. They were discovered by the late John Peel and been championed by likes of Huw Stephens and Tom Robinson who call's frontman Mark Christopher Lee a wilful maverick. They are also featured in the current Guinness Book Of Records alongside Justin Bieber for their 100x30 album which holds the record for most tracks on a digital album and was featured in Billboard, ITV, and BBC Radio 6.

Since their immaculate misconception in 1997 they have recorded and released over 40 albums, 20 EPs and 30 odd singles. They mix genres at will - country, indie, psyche rock, prog and folk. Frontman Mark Christopher Lee writes all the songs and has been heralded by Billboard as a genius, and by others as the UK's Daniel Johnston. Some say there is a curse around the band as shortly after John Peel had discovered the band he died. A few years later Tony Wilson of Factory Records also discovered them and then he himself died. More recently the band were managed by ex MTV star Steve Blacknell who had a near fatal asthma attack a few weeks after taking on the band.

In 2007 the band won the first ever BBC Radio 1 Gods of The Pod award and where asked by DJ Huw Stephens to record a podcast on how to record a demo - it was hailed by Radio 1 as classic radio! The band live in a small village outside of St Albans and hail themselves as the 3rd biggest band in the village after 60's rockers The Zombies and Dappy. They are also stars of their own Nub TV music show on Sky TV in the UK - where they are the house band and have played with legends such as Joan Armatrading, Junior Giscombe & even Paul Hardcastle.

This new album features new songs and is about the time frontman Mark Christopher Lee played bass very briefly with Scots indie legends The Jesus And Mary Chain. Other songs reveal a search for truth, love and God in a increasingly baffling fraught and troubled world. Other songs deal with their neverending love affair with the paranormal and esoteric matters.