Bernard Butler has unveiled a new single with his newly-minted supergroup Butler, Blake & Grant, along with dates for an upcoming UK tour.
The group consists of the former Suede member alongside Teenage Fanclub frontman Norman Blake and singer-songwriter James Grant.
The single titled ‘Bring An End’ was released yesterday (January 15) with a music video – it’s the first peek into the group’s forthcoming self-titled debut, due March 28 via 355 Recordings.
“We recorded these songs over various sojourns in Norman’s living room last year each time adding a song each and then mixing in London,” Butler explained in an Instagram post. Watch the music video for ‘Bring An End’ below.
On the song, Grant said via Classic Pop: “Norman wrote the tune and sent me it and I had a feeling about it right away. Honestly, I just opened a notebook and it was pretty much all there and I had absolutely no recollection of having written any of it. I spent an afternoon honing it and that was it. ‘Bring an end to this ugliness…’ has a universality about it. Maybe it can be our Mull of Kintyre.”
Blake added: “Bring An End was one of the many musical fragments that live on my phone. When I was looking for something that might work for BBG, this tune sprang to mind.”
“It was a musical idea without a lyric and it occurred to me that James might have something in one of his notebooks that would work,” he continued. “I sent the phone recording off to him and the very next day we had a finished song.”
The group will set out to tour the UK this year – their album launch in Scotland on March 22 and 23 have already sold out, but they will perform at London’s Union Chapel and Liverpool’s Knowsley Music Festival in June, among other dates.
Tickets will be made available tomorrow (January 17) at 10am UK time via Ticketmaster for all dates except Leeds – its tickets are instead due for release on January 24. See the full list below.
The dates for Butler, Blake & Grant’s 2025 UK tour are:
MARCH
22 – FRETS, Strathaven, Scotland (sold out)
23 – FRETS, Strathaven, Scotland (sold out)
JUNE
6 – The Junction, Cambridge
10 – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich
11 – St George’s, Bristol
12 – June City Varieties, Leeds
13 – June Union Chapel, London
14 – The Glasshouse, Gateshead
15 – June Cockpit Theatre, Prescot, Liverpool (Knowsley Music Festival)
24 – June City Halls, Glasgow
Last June, Butler released ‘Good Grief’, his first solo studio album in 25 years. “For a good while I was scarred and I was scared. I was happily distracted and joyously involved with so much music,” he explained of the inspiration behind the album.
“I realised just being there was more than I had ever hoped for. I gave a lot to other people, but realised that my story was defined but what I was, rather than what I am.”
The supergroup originally played a handful of live shows early last year in Scotland, unveiling the project officially in an interview on the December issue of Uncut Magazine.
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