Features
Permission To Return
On May 30, the band kicks off a summer North American jaunt that will take them through the end of June, after which they’ll head back to hit the European festival circuit. Fellow British hard rockers The Wildhearts will accompany on the U.S. dates.
The group – vocalist/guitarist Justin Hawkins, lead guitarist Dan Hawkins, bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Ed Graham – is playing amphitheatres on the Stateside tour, a step up from the clubs and theatres they filled this spring. Larger venues aren’t about to intimidate the band, though, as Dan explained to Pollstar earlier this year.
“You could put us in any venue, any size and we’ll kick ass. We’ve played to 125,000 people one day and 100 people two weeks later in Germany. The bigger the stage gets, the more natural it is for us,” he said. “The roof could cave in on a venue, and we’d still be playing. Ed fell off the back of the stage once and we kept playing.”
“It’s nice to be where we are, but we’re nowhere near happy yet,” he continued. “Once we’re an internationally huge rock band and generally playing stadiums, then I think we’ll be getting there, you know?”