Legendary British new wave band Modern English have announced their upcoming North American summer headline tour. Celebrating its 40th anniversary and performing its breakthrough 1982 album, ‘After the Snow,’ in its entirely, the tour will kick off on Friday, June 12 in San Diego, CA and extend through Saturday, July 11. The tour will visit additional markets such as Los Angeles, CA on June 14, Vancouver, BC on June 20, Denver, CO on June 23, New York, NY on July 2, Atlanta, GA on July 8, and culminate with a performance at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach, FL on July 11. A full listing of dates can be found below.
Support will be provided by Vancouver and New York post-punk bands ACTORS and Bootblacks on select dates, and more information on tickets can be found on the band’s Facebook page here.
Frontman Robbie Grey had the following to share about the upcoming run:
“Recording ‘After the Snow’ with Hugh Jones as Producer was an incredible experience. To say it changed our lives forever would be an understatement. The band wants to bring this experience to a live audience as we play the album in its entirety for the first time. We want to bring a creative and memorable atmosphere to a tour which will be very special for us.”
June
12 – San Diego, CA – Casbah *
13 – Riverside, CA – Concert Lounge *
14 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex *
16 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel *
18 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir *
19 – Seattle, WA – Triple Door *
20 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
23 – Denver, CO – Soiled Dove ^
25 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
26 – Evanston, IL – Space ^
28 – Three Oaks, MI – The Acorn ^
30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Crafthouse ^
July
01 – Pawling, NY – Daryl’s House ^
02 – New York, NY – Sony Hall ^
05 – Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes ^
06 – Philadelphia, PA – Ardmore Music Hall ^
08 – Atlanta, GA – Earl’s ^
10 – Tampa, FL – Orpheum ^
11 – West Palm Beach, FL – Respectable Street ^
* – ACTORS supporting
^ – Bootblacks supporting
I Melt With You by Modern English is one of the most iconic songs of the New Wave era. It garnered heavy rotation on the then-thriving Modern Rock radio format, MTV and dance clubs across the globe, and was prominently featured in the classic 1983 film ‘Valley Girl,’ starring a young Nicolas Cage.
On 1982’s ‘After the Snow,’ the band’s sound evolved from the dark, moody and challenging post-punk found on its debut, ‘Mesh & Lace,’ to a more commercial and radio friendly mix of synthesizers, guitars, catchy drumbeats and singer Robbie Grey’s unmistakable vocals. As the title suggests, the icy sound featured on ‘Mesh & Lace’ melted away on ‘After the Snow’ to reveal more concise and potent songs, highlighted by I Melt With You which brought the band up from the underground to the mainstream. It’s a song so popular that the band was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 BMI Awards for five million plays on radio. ‘After the Snow’ was produced by the acclaimed Hugh Jones whose production credits include albums by Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Damned and many more, and the LP was released on the legendary 4AD Records in the UK and licensed to Sire Records in the U.S.
Formed in Colchester, England, the band self-released its first single on its own Limp Records label prior to signing to 4AD, home to such like-minded acts as Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. Laying the foundation for future musical movements such as goth and industrial, Modern English would gain the attention of renowned BBC DJ John Peel, who featured the band twice on his program.
Modern English would record various records over the years, and most recently, the band released its latest album, 2017’s ‘Take Me To The Trees,’ an album that reconnected the band to their youth, in the fervent and fecund world of late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk Britain. Given Modern English’s roots were post-punk icons Wire and Joy Division – dark and austere while still melodic and passionate – ‘Take Me To The Trees’ is a return to the sound and vision of their very early work that even James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has described as “a sneaky secret that everyone writes off, because they just think it’s going to be a ‘I Melt With You’ but it sounds way scarier than any Joy Division record [‘Mesh & Lace’].”
Modern English will be making the following North American appearances throughout June and July and release I Melt With You as an exclusive 12” as part of this year’s Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18 which will also include a B-side featuring Trees and Moonbeam from ‘Take Me To The Trees’. Tour dates below.
Purchase ‘Mesh & Lace’ and ‘After the Snow‘ reissues featuring reimagined artwork by Vaughan Oliver in LP and CD formats via Blixa Sounds here
