The Beta Band have announced details of UK. & North American tours this autumn. The shows will feature the classic line up of Steve Mason (guitar, vocals), Richard Greentree (bass), John Maclean (samples, keyboard) and Robin Jones (drums).
Speaking about the forthcoming tour, the band explained: ‘The Beta Band, as everyone knows, is an institution, like Bedlam, or the RSPCA, and as such has its own indelible stain on the bedsheet of Western culture. It was the great John Noakes who said “you have to shake it out at least once every couple of decades, if you want to know what the moths did”. So with both those facts in mind, we realise the time has come to show the wall the Luminol, kill the lights and hit the UV.’
This will be the first time the band have played together since they split in 2004, following a tour which ended at Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms venue. The UK tour dates are as follows:
SEPTEMBER
25 – Barrowland, Glasgow
27 – O2 Academy, Leeds
29 – O2 Academy, Bristol
30 – Rock City, Nottingham
OCTOBER
2 – Roundhouse, London
4 – Albert Hall, Manchester
Tickets for the shows will go on pre-sale on March 5 at 10am. Fans can sign up to the mailing list to access pre-sale tickets here. General sale starts on March 7 at 10am and tickets are available here, while tickets for the US dates can be found here.
The band will re-issue their classic compilation The 3 E.Ps on deluxe double vinyl on July 11, and can be pre-ordered at this link. It comprises the Champion Versions, The Patty Patty Sound and Los Amigos del Beta Bandidos EPs, which were originally released by Regal in September 1998. They would go on to release three studio albums The Beta Band (1999), Hot Shots II (2001) and Heroes To Zeroes (2004). This new vinyl re-press will be available on 2 x 12” 180g heavyweight black vinyl with artworked inner sleeves which feature the original cover artwork of the 3 EP releases.
The tracklisting for the re-issue vinyl is as follows:
A1. Dry The Rain %
A2. I Know %
A3. B + A %
B1. Dog’s Got A Bone %
B2. Inner Meet Me $
B3 The House Song $
C1 Monolith $
C2 She’s The One $
D1 Push It Out £
D2 It’s Over £
D3 Dr. Baker £
D4 Needles In My Eyes £
% – Champion Versions
$ – The Patty Patty Sound
£ – Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos
