Wolf Alice today release their new track “No Hard Feelings” via Dirty Hit/RCA Records, a delicate ballad striking the balance between emotional complexity and direct songwriting. The track is the third to be taken from forthcoming album Blue Weekend, which follows their Mercury Prize-winning Visions of a Life. “No Hard Feelings” is the sound of a moment of clarity, a bouncing guitar line intertwining with Ellie Rowsell’s vocals. Speaking on the track Rowsell says, “I started out trying to make a really cheesy almost Motown-y, Ronettes kind of song about the end of a relationship, and feeling ‘What’s the point of being miserable about it?’ But it was short, because originally it was played so fast. I tried to make it longer, but I didn’t have any more words — I had said everything I wanted to say perfectly, and didn’t want to ruin it with more. So instead we slowed it down, and I felt way more moved by it like that.”
“No Hard Feelings” is accompanied by a video directed by Jordan Hemingway (Gucci, Raf Simons, Comme Des Garçons), the band’s third collaboration with Hemmingway, following the singles “The Last Man On Earth” and “Smile”. The band recently appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, performing a riotous version of “Smile”.
Lead album single, “The Last Man On Earth”, was released to critical-acclaim, with the track remaining on the BBC Radio 1 A-list for 7 weeks. The band released a special live version of “The Last Man On Earth” which can be viewed below.
The band recently announced a 2022 UK & Ireland tour, their first headline shows since 2018; the majority of dates sold out within hours and a number of new shows have been added, including second shows in London, Manchester, Bristol and Dublin, and a third night in Glasgow. For the full list of dates see below, to purchase tickets go to https://wolfalice.co.uk/#tickets. Before then, on May 22, Wolf Alice will play the Glastonbury Presents Live at Worthy Farm Livestream alongside Coldplay, Michael Kiwanuka, Haim and more.
Wolf Alice UK & Ireland January 2022 Tour Dates
05 January – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK (EXTRA DATE)
07 Jan – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK (SOLD OUT)
08 January – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow, UK (SOLD OUT)
09 Jan – O2 City Hall, Newcastle, UK
10 Jan – UEA, Norwich, UK (SOLD OUT)
12 Jan – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK (SOLD OUT)
13 Jan – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK (EXTRA DATE)
14 Jan – O2 Academy, Sheffield, UK (SOLD OUT)
15 Jan – Uni Mountford Hall, Liverpool, UK (SOLD OUT)
18 Jan – Eventim Apollo, London, UK (SOLD OUT)
19 Jan – Eventim Apollo, London, UK (EXTRA DATE)
22 Jan – O2 Guildhall, Southampton, UK (SOLD OUT)
23 Jan – De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill On Sea, UK
24 Jan – Olympia Theatre, Dublin, IRE (EXTRA DATE)
25 Jan – Olympia Theatre, Dublin, IRE (SOLD OUT)
27 Jan – O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
28 Jan – Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth, UK
30 Jan – O2 Academy, Bristol, UK (SOLD OUT)
31 Jan – O2 Academy, Bristol, UK (EXTRA DATE)
Wolf Alice are Ellie Rowsell (vocals, guitar), Joff Oddie (guitar, vocals), Theo Ellis (bass) and Joel Amey (drums, vocals). It has been a decade since the band began as a duo of Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie, then later expanding to a four-piece, with Joel Amey and Theo Ellis joining the group. Since then, the band saw their 2015 debut album My Love Is Cool soar to #2 on the UK charts, their sophomore album Visions Of A Life win the 2018 Hyundai Mercury prize, and a GRAMMY nomination for Best Rock Performance. The band played a massive 187 shows on the Visions Of A Life world tour – including a sold out Alexandra Palace, 2 sold out dates at Brixton Academy, and a set on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.
It was no surprise that creating a follow-up to Visions Of A Life was a daunting task. The band decamped to an Airbnb in Somerset, and it was there that they reconfigured who they were together, far away from festival stages, tour buses, awards shows, and fans. They cemented their friendship and set to work on some fledgling demos in a converted church. These demos evolved into Blue Weekend, a record produced by Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Björk, Brian Eno, Florence + The Machine) who has aided the band in refining their sound to an even sharper point. Rowsell’s personal storytelling is at the core of Blue Weekend, an album that sees Wolf Alice embrace a newfound boldness and vulnerability in equal measure.
Blue Weekendwill be released on June 4th 2021 via Dirty Hit/RCA Records, and will be available on all DSPs & vinyl.
