Shvpes (pronounced ‘Shapes’) have announced a November run of UK headline shows to complement their October UK tour with Hawthorne Heights; Shvpes will visit towns not covered on their 14-day stint with Hawthorne Heights.
Says Shvpes vocalist, Griffin Dickinson: “We’re super excited to announce these tiny headline shows down south in support of our new album, Greater Than. We haven’t been back to some of these towns in over two years, so we’re expecting the shows to be hot, sweaty & all round fucking carnage! See you there!”
Full list of dates below…
October (Special Guests to Hawthorne Heights)
10 – Belfast, Foundry
11 – Dublin, The Grand Social
12 – Liverpool, Jacana Phase One
13 – Plymouth, Turbulence Festival
15 – Bristol, Exchange
16 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
17 – Leeds, The Key Club
18 – Glasgow, Audio
19 – Sheffield, Corporation
20 – Newcastle, Head of Steam
21 – Manchester, Rebellion
22 – Birmingham, The Flapper
November (headline dates)
15 – Exeter, Cavern
16 – Tunbridge Wells, The Forum
17 – Bournemouth, Anvil
19 – Swindon, Level 3
20 – Milton Keynes, Craufurd Arms,
Tickets are available now.
You can also see the band this summer at Reading & Leeds festivals.
SHVPES FESTIVAL APPEARANCES
August
25 – Reading Festival
26 – Leeds Festival
Fans in mainland Europe can catch Shvpes in support of Bullet For My Valentine, alongside Of Mice & Men and Nothing More, this October/November.
Meanwhile, check out brand new single, ‘Calloused Hands’, from Shvpes forthcoming second studio album, Greater Than. Watch the video for ‘Calloused Hands’ here: http://vevo.ly/Fmp1rb
“This is the first song we wrote together after coming back from our debut European tour,” continues Griffin. “We’d been out for six weeks, experiencing something we’d always dreamed of… As soon as we got back, as with most tours, reality hits and you’re sucked back into the ‘real world’ that pressures you to go and get a ‘real job’ i.e. doing something you probably don’t care about for some narcissistic company that equally doesn’t care about you. This song was all about reminding myself why I don’t want to be a part of that. With lyrics like ‘capitalise; cannibalise’ & ‘paralysed by your next fix’, it’s exploring the futility of the paper chase.”
Shvpes will release Greater Than on November 9th via Search and Destroy/ Spinefarm Records. Pre-orders, including exclusive bundles, are now live here: https://shvpes.lnk.to/greaterthan
Direct link to Shvpes vinyl, CD and T-shirt options here: https://store.universalmusic.com/spinefarm/shvpes/
Having initially planned to run with three ‘mixtapes’ leading into the full album next year, Shvpes have now decided to bring the record forward, following an incredible fan response to first single ‘Undertones’. The album will now be issued as a single body of work, supporting an exciting autumn/winter touring schedule.
Written in Snowdonia, Wales, and recorded at Treehouse Studios in Chesterfield with world renowned producer / engineer, Jim Pinder (Bullet For My Valentine, Machine Head, While She Sleeps), Greater Than is truly genre-defying; combining hip-hop and metal, plus alternative rock and urban elements, this is heavy music for the adventurous and open-minded.
Says Griffin: “What we’ve created feels bold, and I’m not worried about people getting pissed off – they can take it or leave it. A lot of people are going to absolutely love it!”
Matt Heafy of Trivium – one of Shvpes’ biggest inspirations – collaborates on the song, ‘Rain’; but despite this being the most metal track on the album, Matt’s vocals, unpredictably, feature on the rap section…
“That just seemed like the perfect part,” says Griffin, “because we didn’t want to give him a screamy-shouty verse, we wanted to do something a bit different. We put about 10 takes of him on there, so we’ve got this vocal gang monster!”
Since releasing their highly-praised 2016 debut album Pain. Joy. Ecstasy. Despair, Shvpes have been riding the wave of acclaim that rapidly attached itself to their name, touring Europe with some of the biggest names in hard rock (Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine, Blessthefall) and appearing at festivals the world over.
But in 2018, with Greater Than, the band have truly arrived…
Greater Than track-listing: –
Calloused Hands
2. Undertones
3. Afterlife
4. Someone Else
5. Two Wrongs, No Rights
6. Rain (feat Matthew Kiichi Heafy)
7. War
8. Renegades
9. Hey Brother
10. I’m Stuck
11. Note to Cell
12. Counterfeit