The Zutons announce Roadmender gig as part of new album tour

The Zutons will headline the Roadmender next year as part of a 22-date UK tour to promote their first new album in 16-years.

The band is set to release The Big Decider in April and will headline the Northampton venue on Saturday, February, 24.

The record was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with legendary songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers, alongside the band's original producer Ian Broudie.

Written against the backdrop of a decade and a half’s worth of lived experience, The Great Decider was born under the weight of family tragedies, lives lost and created, reality checks and home truths faced up to and stared down.

It was wrestled into shape under the kind of steam only decades-long friendships - with all their messy fall-outs, make-ups, breakdowns and ultimately love could muster.

The pandemic seemingly fast-tracked the process of the band’s next phase.

Characterising that time, shortly before he went into rehab, singer and guitarist Dave McCabe said: “We were all living together in our own little bubble, plenty of booze and mushrooms and a lot of bonding. It was necessary.”

It was McCabe’s subsequent time in rehab that sparked a turning point in the positivity of the new album and the joyful experience of putting it together.

Singer and saxophonist Abi Harding said: “Dave has been through an awful lot in the last few years and these things have obviously really impacted him.

“But his songwriting has only got better. Now he spends more time on his songs.

“He’s in touch with his own and others’ emotions, and that all goes into the songs. It has been so nice to watch him grow. I’m so proud of him.”

The multi-platinum selling band released three studio albums between 2004 and 2008, scoring nine UK Top 40 singles including two Top 10s with Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love? and the all- conquering Valerie, the latter a triple-platinum hit for Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.

Talking about the new album, McCabe said: “Working with Nile was just an amazing experience, he gave me a confidence I’ve never felt before making a record.

“He’s very laid-back as a person and a good listener.

“On the song Disappear, I wrote a spoken word piece about The Zutons travelling the stars and galaxies asking the most powerful question in the universe, ‘Why?’.

“I asked Nile if he’d read it out over the top of the end section of the song, thinking he’d just say no.

“But he jumped in the vocal booth with his chain around his neck and his sunglasses on and did about 20 different takes, all in different styles of himself.

“It was mind-blowing! It was as though he really does travel around the universe in some spaceship and just makes music in his spare time. He’s just one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.

“It was great to reconnect with Ian Broudie on this record as well.

“He told me the demo of Big Decider brought a tear to his eye and that’s why he said yes to working with us again.

“It was one of the first songs we wrote for the album so getting that reaction from Ian made me feel like we were doing something right. The song spoke for itself.”

The Big Decider has been described as the sound of a band channelling what Abi Harding describes as a lifetime of “great chemistry and great connection”.

Or, as drummer Sean Payne puts it: “We had a genuine feeling of a shared vision. In the past we haven’t really said how we feel, or we’ve taken each other the wrong way.

“But this album was different. We really didn’t feel good until it was just how we wanted it.”

Tickets are available on pre-sale now with pre-orders of the new album and will be available on general sale at 10am on Friday, November 24.

The Zutons will play the following dates next year. For more information, visit https://thezutons.com

January 2024

Wed 31 - Old Fire Station, Carlisle, UK

February 2024

Thu 01 – Bootleg Social, Blackpool, UK

Fri 02 – Parish, Huddersfield, UK

Sat 03 – Future Yard, Birkenhead, UK

Wed 07 – Ku, Stockton, UK

Thu 08 - The Welly, Hull, UK

Fri 09 – Gorilla Beer Hall, Mexborough, UK

Sat 10 – Redhouse, Merthyr Tydfil, UK

Thu 15 – MK11, Milton Keynes, UK

Fri 16 – Boileroom, Guildford, UK

Sat 17 – Chinnerys, Southend, UK

Thu 22 – Corn Exchange, Hertford, UK

Fri 23 – Waterfront, Norwich, UK

Sat 24 – Roadmender, Northampton, UK

Wed 28 – Bask, Stockport, UK

Thu 29 – Real Time, Chesterfield, UK

March 2024

Fri 01 – O2 Academy 2, Leicester, UK

Sat 02 – Sugarmill, Stoke, UK

Wed 06 – PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, UK

Thu 07 – Fat Sams, Dundee, UK

Fri 08 – St Mary’s Chambers, Rosendale, UK

Sat 09 – St Laurence Church, Reading, UK