An interview with Switchfoot's Chad Butler on new album 'Forever Now'

photo: Erick Frost

Switchfoot’s compelling 14^th studio album Forever Now! includes some of the hardest hitting tunes from the San Diego alt-rockers in recent memory.

Thematic and narrative-driven, the lyrics center on the emotional difficulties of someone’s last day on Earth and internal questions we might ask if faced with such a reality. To that end, lead singer and songwriter Jon Foreman described his Forever Now! creative process in a press release as “trying to unearth the things we want to keep buried and the parts of ourselves that inevitably surface in other ways.”

For the past 30 years, Switchfoot – comprising fellow founding members Tim Foreman (bass) and Chad Butler (drums), plus Jerome Fontamillas (keyboards) and more recent recruit Boaz Roberts (lead guitar) – have adeptly made thought-provoking, often spiritual-minded songs with widespread appeal.

The quintet’s popularity reached an apex with 2003’s The Beautiful Letdown, which went triple platinum in America, and spawned multi-format hits “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move.” Follow-up album Nothing is Sound and the ’05 single “Stars” (both certified gold) continued the momentum. Successive releases have kept Switchfoot in the upper echelons of the charts.

Earlier this month, the band’s 22^nd Annual Bro-Am Beach Fest took place in Encinitas, Calif. More than 15,000 people attended the music and surfing-centric event, which raised $335,000 for The Switchfoot Bro-Am Foundation (total to date: $3.35 million+). The charity gives back to the San Diego community by spotlighting and providing grants to nonprofits that support services for unhoused at-risk and disadvantaged youth with a focus on music, art, and surfing programs.

We caught up with Chad Butler from his home in San Diego, right before a planned afternoon surfing session and the Bro-Am festivities started. The interview was lightly edited for clarity.

Rock Cellar: Is everyone prepared for Bro-Am? I’d imagine it’s quite an undertaking to host a festival.

Chad Butler: Yeah. We’ve still got to practice our surfing, practice for the show and new songs we’re going to debut.

Rock Cellar: Last year’s event raised a record amount for the various charities.

Chad Butler: It has been an incredible 20+ years of helping kids in San Diego and become something that’s much bigger than Switchfoot. It’s this community group hug; a celebration of San Diego, generosity and just helping kids. Everybody wants to invest in kids, so it’s a great unifier - people from all different walks of life coming together to help kids.

Rock Cellar: Forever Now! arrives soon. What was your mindset going into it?

Chad Butler: This is a special record. It has taken us a long time to make it - more than we’ve spent than I can remember on an album. Also, I think it has reminded us of why we loved rock and roll in the first place.

All of us discovered rock and roll and playing in bands in our teenage years. Falling in love with bands that were power trios or really heavy guitar riffs. I got to see Nirvana live when I was in high school and it changed my life. I saw the power of that music, how it moved me, and I said, ‘I want to do that.’ I wasn’t even thinking professionally. I just wanted to be in a band and play loud music with that kind of energy.

In the process of making this album, we kept referencing bands from when we were 14-15, picking up the guitar or the drums for the first time, and trying to get back to that. All these songs have been sparked by that love.

Rock Cellar: Several of the new songs are more aggressive in nature. Was that a reaction to the moodiness and atmospheric vibe on your last album, 2021’s Interrobang?

Chad Butler: Yeah. As an artist, you always want to challenge yourself, pushing your sound, and trying new things. Working with producer Tony Berg on that last record was a real experience. We took a different approach. He was very much into pre-production. For months, we just rehearsed together in a room with him coaching us and figuring out the parts. Then, we tried to capture it in one take. The songs that he was gravitating towards were a little bit more outside the box of our sound typically.

For this album, working with Mike Elizondo was a [totally] different process. We had worked with him on Fading West and some other albums along the way.

Rock Cellar: Like Hello, Hurricane, which delivered you guys a Grammy Award.

Chad Butler: Yeah. Hello, Hurricane was the first one. We’ve been friends for a long time. He posed the question: ‘What are the songs that only Switchfoot can make?’ And for us, it was a reminder that we do love heavy guitar riffs, big drums, and these more aggressive sounding songs.

Rock Cellar: Did this new album being the first all-new studio effort with Boaz on guitar have a big effect on the sound?

Chad Butler: We’ve known Bo for a long time. He grew up on the same street as Jon and Tim Foreman. We’ve surfed and played music together for decades. It was a natural thing for him to get involved with the band on the last couple projects.

He helped us with the This is Our Christmas record a few years ago. Then, when we re-recorded The Beautiful Letdown, he was a big part of that. We have been developing a rapport in the studio with him. He’s been playing live with us for [about five] years now. But yeah, Boaz had an influence on tones and guitar parts and is a big part of the team.

Rock Cellar: When you first heard the lyrics the Foreman brothers wrote for the new album, what were your thoughts? Some of them really tap into the zeitgeist of everything going on in today’s society.

Chad Butler: Yeah. I’m a lyric guy - someone who has to read it, process it and absorb it to really fall in love with a song. I think the biggest disagreements we ever have are [about] which songs make the record. When I say disagreements, it’s that artistic friction that is really healthy for the art. It elevates the songs that do make the album because we all care so much. Songs mean different things to different people. We’ll spend hours debating ‘What does that lyric mean to you; to me? What’s the feeling it’s trying to embody?’

Some songs lyrically on this album are really challenging like ‘The Butterfly Effect.’ Just to back up, the album is basically about the last day in the life of a character. That’s the thread that connects all the songs. But the last song on the album [surrounds] seven minutes after [the character] flatlines, his brain shuts off. There is that idea in recorded medicine that the brain functions for up to seven minutes after death technically. And the song explores that. It’s a reflective moment and sort of sums up the whole record.

But the record thematically is really challenging. And like you said, it’s sort of a zeitgeist moment in where we’re at in our culture. The idea of our mortality and that of memento mori [Latin for “remember that you must die”], is something in our Western culture we often avoid…I think it’s a really empowering thing when you ask yourself that question: ‘If today is my last day, how would I live it?’ That's really where the songs come from.

Rock Cellar: What is the significance of the new album title?

Chad Butler: It’s a fall back to a previous song lyric on ‘Where I Belong’ [from 2011’s Vice Verses]. We typically play it every night in our live set.

Rock Cellar: Considering all the songs on Forever Now!, do any come to mind as being more difficult to nail down than others? Were there any unusual rhythms done on your part?

Chad Butler: ‘Same Blood’ was the single hardest song I've ever had to learn that we’ve made. The timing is really strange, the way it transitions from section to section. As a drummer, I grew up listening to ‘90s hip-hop and Motown; more groove-oriented stuff. And referencing Nirvana, I’ve heard Dave Grohl talk about him basically ripping off disco beats, turning it into grunge.

A 4/4 time signature that grooves is kind of my sweet spot. I love that pocket. To be pushed into new territory with different time signatures and transitions is a challenge for me. ‘Same Blood’ is definitely the high-water mark for my brain [Butler laughs]. It is so fun to play live. We’ve been working on that one, getting it ready for the summer and the tour coming up in the fall. I can’t wait to play it live.

Rock Cellar: Two standouts on the new album, “Beautiful Life” and “Natural Causes,” contain distinct melodic effects. Were you guys inspired by U2 or Coldplay at all when creating those songs?

Chad Butler: I love those references. Growing up in the ‘90s, U2 and Coldplay were a big part of my musical upbringing - very alternative.

Rock Cellar: I’m thinking of Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head.

Chad Butler: All the guitar work on there is still super inspiring. And Radiohead. Those are great references. ‘Beautiful Life’ is a really special song for me. That’s the song that I fought for the most to be on the record. It is my favorite.

Rock Cellar: What was the having Mike Elizondo [whose credits include Turnstile, Linkin Park, Twenty-One Pilots, Sheryl Crow] co-produce half the tracks on this album? Was everyone comfortable getting back into a past groove?

Chad Butler: As a drummer, working with a producer who’s a bass player - he plays everything, but is primarily a bass player - his ability to communicate rhythm is almost shorthand between a bass player and a drummer. You’re finishing each other’s sentences. When I get into a room with him, and he’s calling out fill ideas, or ‘try this,’ it’s so much fun.

I would say it’s the closest thing I’ve experienced to how professional athletes are only as good as their coach. When you get an incredible coach with an incredible team, they’re going to win a championship. That’s how I feel when I work as a drummer with Mike.

Rock Cellar: The band re-recorded The Beautiful Letdown and released it subtitled as (Our Version) in 2023. What prompted that decision?

Chad Butler: Good question. The Beautiful Letdown was the album that took us around the world. We grew up in the San Diego music scene and never really had ambitions of leaving Southern California. When radio stations across the country started playing ‘Meant to Live’ and ‘Dare You to Move,’ and then internationally, we got to tour Australia for the first time, and Europe, and headlining in Asia, all this stuff, it was mind-blowing.

That’s a very special memory for us. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, we thought, ‘Let’s make a version that’s our own.’ We had been playing these songs for 20 years, so they’ve evolved. There are parts and sounds and lyrics that changed along the way. It was a really nostalgic and challenging thing to try to recreate it.

Rock Cellar: For the deluxe version of the album re-recording, you had an impressive crop of guests to interpret the songs. What did you think when you heard the guys from Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic, Twenty-One Pilots, etc., singing those songs?

Chad Butler: What an honor to have people reach out and say they wanted to record their own version of it! Jon Bellion did ‘Meant to Live’ and recorded it with just strings at Abbey Road in London, and it was a beautiful version of that song.

When you hear somebody else reimagine your song, like Tyler from Twenty-One Pilots doing ‘24,’ it was beautiful to hear his voice on that song as well. It’s an honor. And to feel like those songs have impacted artists that now I look at [with admiration]? I can’t imagine that they ever listened to us because they’re so talented in their own right and have gone way beyond what we ever did. I’m like, ‘Wow, they actually heard our music back when they were sort of in their formative years!’

Rock Cellar: You returned the favor for the title track to Jonas Brothers’ 2025 album, Greetings from Your Hometown.

Chad Butler: That was a blast. We had a great time. We love those guys and always enjoy an opportunity to collaborate.

Rock Cellar: While preparing for this interview, I was surprised to discover that the band also teamed up last year with Buddy Guy on “Last Man Standing.” Hearing Switchfoot on a blues number is unusual.

Chad Butler: Yeah. That wasn’t on my bingo card last year. We had the opportunity because his drummer Tom Hambridge is a friend of ours and had connected us to Buddy to work on the song. Buddy loved it, and I’m really proud of that. I don't know many living legends that have more of an influence on modern music than Buddy Guy.

Rock Cellar: On Memorial Day Weekend, Switchfoot played two shows in two countries in 24 hours. How did you manage that feat?

Chad Butler: That was wild. We played at the Indy 500’s huge event before the race with Counting Crows, and later that night, we played on the other side of the border in Canada, in Niagara Falls. Somehow, we were able to go across the border and make it all work out. That was an ambitious day. We don’t often do two shows in one day.

Rock Cellar: Amazing. On some of the band’s recent set lists, I noticed you’ve often been incorporating Bob Marley, Beastie Boys, Radiohead, and Led Zeppelin covers or snippets. Do you enjoy giving the fans a glimpse of your influences?

Chad Butler: Yeah. Like we were talking about earlier with influences, it adds context. I remember as a kid reading the liner notes on hip hop records and finding out where the samples came from. And then going to the record store and asking for that record.

Maybe it was A Tribe Called Quest sampling James Brown. Then I find that James Brown record and buy that. Just finding, remembering, and discovering where things came from. For us, sharing with maybe a younger generation, these songs that we grew up on, is a gift. We just want to pass that along, for sure.

Rock Cellar: Finally, I wanted to ask you about seeing you on Facebook dressed as a Jedi on your birthday back in March.

Chad Butler: [Laughs] I'm a Star Wars fan.

Rock Cellar: Did you see ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ and if so, what did you think?

Chad Butler: I have watched most everything ‘Star Wars,’ but when it got to the more recent stuff, I began to lose interest. Bring me back to ‘A New Hope,’ ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi.’

For tour information, go to switchfoot.com.

My interview originally appeared at rockcellarmagazine.com.

Album Review - Ryan Beatty's 'Sweet Fortune'; U.S. Tour Includes LA, San Diego Dates

Ryan Beatty

Sweet Fortune

(Atlantic)

Possessing a voice that's often as captivating as the late Jeff Buckley and a picturesque way with words like Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Beatty's fourth album Sweet Fortune is easily the best of his career. 

In contrast to past forays into bedroom pop, and alt-R&B, Beatty leans even more into an Americana-minded sound than on 2023's Calico and impressively recalls Seventies singer/songwriters too. 

In recent years, the artist has collaborated with Beyonce (four co-writes on the latter's Cowboy Carter, netting a Grammy for Album of the Year), Miley Cyrus, Bleachers, Marcus Mumford, Brockhampton, and others.

Beatty, 30, has said in interviews that he wrote the new album's songs from a positive perspective of being in a relationship. He had assists from Clairo, Amy Allen, returning producer/multi-instrumentalist Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer, Mumford and Sons, Conan Gray), and others. Esteemed session musicians Matt Chamberlain and Greg Leisz contribute (drums; pedal steel/dobro) respectively to a handful of tunes.   

Opening with the quietly elegant "Phantom," which Beatty has described as a "farewell and hello at the same time," he follows it with the alluring "White Lightning" and whispery falsetto while singing "you can stay if you don't break my heart" as soft harmonica plays in the background. 

The upbeat, folkish "Virtuoso" is colored by mandolin, dulcimer, synth and mellotron. Here, Beatty sings that "trying to hold me down is like trying to hold onto rain" before ending the verses with some "whoo hoos." It channels Kacey Musgraves, as does the sensual single "Secret Language" (be sure to check out the video where Beatty runs for his life across the country).

"Too Many Ways" - about being apart from the one you love - is a stunning Glen Campbell-styled acoustic-guitar led shuffle, where Beatty's lyrics include references to being a Central California native and then, "I've got a man in Massachusetts/Who comes to see me when he can/And he holds me in the morning/And he holds me through the night/So many ways to say I love you/Too many ways to say goodbye." 

Elsewhere, the captivating, nearly jazzy "Delancey" details a night of passion; a delicate "Dust" deals in dichotomies (love/hate relationships with New York, where the album was made and the music business), and the upbeat idyllic closer "Fleur de Lis," sort of a cross between chamber pop and country, contains fluttering orchestration. Definitely a contender for best albums of the year.   

Ryan Beatty - North American Tour Dates:

Sep 9 — Vancouver, BC — Vogue Theatre
Sep 10 — Seattle, WA — The Neptune Theatre
Sep 12 — San Francisco, CA — The Masonic
Sep 13 — Los Angeles, CA — Greek Theatre
Sep 15 — San Diego, CA — The Observatory San Diego
Sep 16 — Phoenix, AZ — Crescent Ballroom
Sep 18 — Salt Lake City, UT — The Depot
Sep 19 — Denver, CO — Summit Music Hall
Sep 21 — Minneapolis, MN — Varsity Theater
Sep 22 — Chicago, IL — House of Blues
Sep 25 — Toronto, ON — HISTORY
Sep 27 — Columbia, MD — All Things Go Festival
Sep 30 — Charlotte, NC — The Underground
Oct 1 — Nashville, TN — Ryman Auditorium
Oct 3 — Austin, TX — Austin City Limits — Weekend 1
Oct 7 — Houston, TX — White Oak Music Hall
Oct 8 — Dallas, TX — Majestic Theatre
Oct 10 — Austin, TX — Austin City Limits — Weekend 2
Oct 12 — Atlanta, GA — Buckhead Theatre
Oct 14 — Philadelphia, PA — Theatre of Living Arts
Oct 16 — Boston, MA — House of Blues
Oct 17 — Brooklyn, NY — Brooklyn Paramount

Album Review - The Alarm's 'Transformation'

The Alarm

Transformation

(21^st Century Recordings)

Transformation is a powerful final rock music statement from a musician who felt he still had plenty more life to live. Mike Peters valiantly battled cancer for decades but never stopped touring or recording new music. He finished Transformation early last year but sadly succumbed to the disease that spring, after an innovative medical treatment failed.

From 1981-91, Peters led the original incarnation of The Alarm, which created some of the period’s most indelible alt-rock anthems: “68 Guns,” “Where Were You Hiding (When the Storm Broke),” “Strength,” “Spirit of ’76,” “Rain in the Summertime” and “Sold Me Down the River,” to name a few.

During the early 2000s, the passionate Welsh singer/guitarist reinstituted the band name with a revolving cast of musicians. He was highly prolific in the ensuing years, often releasing a studio or live album or two every year. I was fortunate to interview him three times over the entire Alarm/solo career run, and those chats were some of my most memorable with any musician.

The invigorating Transformation was produced by longtime Peters associate George Williams, (who also played bass, keyboards, and effects on a song. The musicians include Mike Peters (vocals/guitar), his wife Jules Jones Peters (piano/backing vocals), and Dave Morait (drums), plus Mike and Jules’ son Evan Peters (drums on one song).

“New Life” - originally intended to be a triumph over Mike Peters beating cancer again – now has a more poignant meaning. With a glam rock thrust and eerie, clarion call guitar work, it finds him singing, “100ml of pure life blood/designed for new life” and later, “I’ll see you in the new life/if not before.”

Similarly, “Chimera” was planned as a rebirth song upon release in January ‘25 - the exact day Peters’ CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell) therapy began. Symbolically encapsulating the Greek mythos of a chimera, which embodies the characteristics of different animals into one body, Peters thought he would become like the fabled creature. The intense song is punctuated by keyboards, searing guitar, and gritty vocals. A combined sense of desperation and optimism infuses “Outlier,” as Peters ably hammers home the point that he’s a “decider,” “finisher” and “still here.”

A high spirited, inspirational tone is at the heart of “Savior,” while “Metaverse” features fuzztone guitar snatches and - along with the hip-hop beat-driven “Wired” – deftly uses modern technology lyrical references (the thought-provoking latter song namechecks Alexa and Siri).

Elsewhere, “One in a Million” has a rabble-rousing vibe and autobiographical bent. Despite the realistic lyrics, a harmonious, organ-infused “Soul Town” should put a smile to any Alarm fan’s face as it seemingly pays tribute to The Jam’s “A Town Called Malice” (or classic Motown).

The fact that Transformation has less than 100,000 Spotify streams to date it a travesty. It is definitely an “all killer, no filler” album that should appeal to Alarm or Peters solo fans from any era.

Photo courtesy Reybee PR

Medium Build, currently touring with Mumford & Sons, reveals September album details

Island Records

Medium Build—a.k.a. acclaimed singer-songwriter Nick Carpenter— is set for the release of his new album King of Having Fun on September 4 via slowplay/Island Records. The first single is “Armor;” listen HERE/share HERE. Pre-order/pre-save the album HERE.

“‘Armor’ is the first song I knew was on the album. The most transparent look into my no filter stream of consciousness,” says Carpenter of the track. “The lyrics and the music pair up to imprint the feeling of unease and awareness that comes with being alive nowadays. If you listen to the lyrics there’s a lot to chew on, if you just vibe the music there’s a lot to bop to. Hope it leaves you better than it found you.”

King of Having Fun marks Carpenter’s first full length album since 2024’s Country. It often approaching each song from a perspective of playing live in bigger rooms and focusing on “rock and roll moments.” Carpenter explores multiple genres with traces of ’90s pop-country, modern country, rock, indie and more across the 14 tracks.

“I’m swinging for some big ideas, and I’m proud of how I showed up lyrically, leaving it all out there,” Carpenter details. “There’s a playfulness, sonically, and it’s a big collaboration, with six or seven people involved on almost every tune.”

He goes on to explain, “I’ve had no problem describing how sucky it is to be with someone; I’ve never been good at writing about how nice it can be. So this record feels like the first time I was able to say, in an artistic way that didn’t feel cloying, ‘Thank you for loving me”… This album has a genuine love song for my partner and a genuine love song for my mom… I guess it’s a sign of my growth. It’s maybe the best and most important thing I’ve ever made…. It’s a celebration of life.”

Medium Build is on the road supporting Mumford & Sons this August ahead of a fall headline tour. See below for a list of dates.

Born and raised in Georgia, Carpenter now splits his time between hometowns in Nashville, Tennessee and Anchorage, Alaska. Creating Medium Build in 2015, Nick Carpenter has gone on to release five studio albums to date. He has become a favorite across the creative community, with artists including John Mayer, Zach Bryan, Elton John, boygenius and more counting themselves amongst his fans. 

He has toured with the likes of Role Model, Tyler Childers, FINNEAS, Holly Humberstone and Briston Maroney, and found himself in a highly coveted slot on Zane Lowe’s Artists to Watch 2024 list. In 2025, he was nominated for Emerging Act of the Year at the 24th Annual Americana Honors & Awards.

Track listing:

1. Every Noise Is You
2. Do Something Productive
3. Perceived
4. Bird Woman
5. Home Depot
6. It’s Not Easy (Falling In Love)
7. Cone Off
8. Feed the Boys
9. In My Gut
10. Chill
11. Downpour
12. Armor
13. King of Having Fun
14. Thank You, Cook

Tour Dates: 

July 31—Shakopee, MN—Mystic Lake Amphitheater*
August 2—Riverside, MO—Morton Amphitheater*
August 4—Atlanta, GA—State Farm Arena*
August 6—Hollywood, FL—Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino*
August 7—Tampa, FL—Benchmark International Arena*
August 9—Charlotte, NC—Spectrum Center*
August 11—Madison Square Garden—New York, NY*
August 12—Madison Square Garden—New York, NY*
August 13—Madison Square Garden—New York, NY*
August 15—Gilford, NH—Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion*
October 4—Washington, DC—9:30 Club†
October 5—Pittsburgh, PA—Mr. Small's Theater†
October 6—Philadelphia, PA—Theatre of the Living Arts†
October 9—New York, NY—Webster Hall†
October 10—Cambridge, MA—Royale†
October 12—Toronto, ON—The Concert Hall†
October 13—Detroit, MI—St. Andrews‡
October 16—Chicago, IL—Metro‡
October 17—Madison, WI—Majestic Theatre‡
October 18—Minneapolis, MN—First Avenue‡
October 21—Oklahoma City, OK—Tower Theater‡
October 23—Denver, CO—Gothic‡
October 24—Salt Lake City, UT—Soundwell‡
October 26—Vancouver, BC—Vogue§
October 28—Seattle, WA—The Showbox§
October 29—Portland, OR—Roseland Theatre§
October 31—San Francisco, CA—The Regency Ballroom*
November 2—San Diego, CA—The Observatory*
November 5—Los Angeles, CA—The Bellwether*
November 6—Phoenix, AZ—The Van Buren*
November 9—Dallas, TX—Studio at the Bomb Factory*
November 10—Austin, TX—Emo’s*
November 12—Memphis, TN—Satellite Music Hall††
November 13—Louisville, KY—Mercury Ballroom††
November 16—Columbus, OH—Newport Music Hall††
November 17—Indianapolis, IN—Deluxe††
November 20—Nashville, TN—Brooklyn Bowl††

*supporting Mumford & Sons
†with Ken Kates
‡with Bella White
§with Merle Law
**with The Scratch
††with Eden Joel

Sam Smith returns with 'Hazel Eyes' in August

Capitol Records

Multiple award-winning pop/R&B singer and songwriter Sam Smith - of "Stay with Me" and "I'm Not the Only One" fame - has detailed fifth studio album Hazel Eyes, set for release on August 21. 

New single “My Guy” is out now via Capitol Records and accompanied by an official music video. Go HERE to pre-order Hazel Eyes, listen to “My Guy” HERE, and watch the video HERE.

“This album is an incredibly special record to me,” says Sam. “I have been writing it for over three years with a very small group of beautiful, dear friends of mine. This album is very personal, and I feel I have deepened myself as an artist through the making of it, through being a producer on the record, to walking alongside this record from the start to the finish and pushing myself at every single turn. This record and this music is incredibly romantic. I’ve learned so many life lessons through making this album, and I’ve documented it all through the music.”

Hazel Eyes was co-produced by the UK artist. Most of it took shape in New York, where Sam was joined by guest Feist, and draws from baroque pop, British folk, outlaw country, and R&B. 

“My Guy” (co-written by Sam, Feist, and Shahzad Ismaily), is a portrait of fully requited love as Sam proclaims their all-out affection for the one they adore. Feist and Moses Sumney join in on girl-group-esque harmonies. Earlier this week Sam performed “My Guy” on Later…with Jools Holland, watch HERE.

Said Sam of “My Guy”:

 ”This is a song that I feel I have been waiting a lifetime to write and sing. Written with beautiful friends on a summer’s day in New York, this one fell out of the sky. In this sometimes cold and distant world, I hope you can feel the love and the closeness of this recording. I tried to capture the glow and the warmth of love in this one, it makes me cry, maybe it will make you feel a little love too.”

In a kickoff to NYC Pride Weekend, Sam is performing tonight at The Booking.com Theater at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center (SNMVC). The first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Park Service, the SNMVC honors the legacy of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and serves as a vital physical sanctuary dedicated to protecting and preserving LGBTQ+ history. 

The follow-up to Gloria (a 2023 LP featuring their global smash single “Unholy” with Kim Petras), Hazel Eyes also includes the previously released “Love Is A Stillness” and “To Be Free.” 

Track listing: 

1. Everlasting Love
2. Hazel Eyes
3. Moondance (feat. Feist)
4. My Guy
5. When He’s Gone
6. Thief
7. Love Is A Stillness
8. Sugar Rush
9. Oh Mother (feat. The TwoCity Chorus)
10. Constant Companion
11. Hold On
12. To Be Free

UK alt-rock band Editors explore 'Surface, Echo & Sound' in October

Editors' 8th studio album, Surface, Echo & Sound, is slated for release on October 30 through Play It Again Sam. The latest single is "The Rush." 

Watch the video HERE

Following 2022’s EBM, a collaboration with electronic producer Benjamin John Power, aka Blanck Mass, on Surface, Echo & Sound, Editors have found themselves somewhere new entirely. When the band regrouped in summer 2025 to work on a follow-up, after three albums written and recorded very much as in-the-studio projects, Editors felt they wanted to go back to a more natural approach, something that harked back to their earliest days, sat in a practice room in Stafford, facing each other as they worked through songs together.

Like on last year’s solo record There is Nothing In The Dark That Isn’t There In The Light, frontman Tom Smith took a similar stripped back, acoustic-based approach to the new Editors material, bringing a selection of songs to the band for them to play together, trying different things out, and seeing where they went. 

In terms of creating the record, “It was a very productive summer, ” says Smith. “The sun was out for the most part, we were in greenest Gloucestershire, not far from where I live, on this innocuous little industrial estate – it was pretty much the opposite of being in Berghain!”

"The Rush" is described by the frontman as an imagined bar scene of two people talking about life, drinking, and thinking about all the ups and downs. Smith continues, “that idea of finding comfort in people close to me, friends and loved ones and family, is a theme that comes up all the time. It’s a theme that is in everything to a degree.”

The track features Smith on mandolin, an instrument that provides a more organic core to Surface, Echo & Sound. “It’s not used in a folky kind of way, but it brings a warm element that can spike through anything in the mix,” says the band’s guitarist Justin Lockey who also recorded and produced the album. “As a texture, it’s definitely a big character on this record. A lot of the rhythms come from the mandolin and the acoustic as much as they do from the drums.”

The single arrives alongside an official video, shot in Tokyo and directed by Henry Ehara.

Pre-Order / Save The Album HERE

Formed in 2002, having met at university in Birmingham, Editors have released seven studio albums all of which achieved top 10 status in the UK. Their debut album, The Back Room (2005) received a Mercury Prize nomination and the 2007 follow up, An End Has A Start, reached number 1 in the UK and went on to earn a Brit Award nomination. Their 2009 album In This Light And On This Evening also hit the top spot in the UK album charts.

Track list:

Surface, Echo & Sound
Call It In
The Rush
Rescue
Shadow
Real
Happiness
Much Love
Butterfly Wings
Seriously
The Hills We Died Upon

Mammoth box set of Joy Division rarities set for September

Joy Division's ETERNAL (LIVE), the first-ever official collection of live concert recordings, is out on Sept. 25. 

The box set is available to pre-order now via Warner Music. It brings together audio from 16 live performances across 14 CDs, sourced from audience recorded cassettes, soundboard tapes and broadcast recordings, all mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

ETERNAL (LIVE) documents two previously unreleased shows, Hope & Anchor and Acklam Hall, and three previously unheard recordings: The Factory, Lyceum, and Moonlight Club (2nd April). It also features the band’s final live performance, at High Hall Birmingham in 1980.

There are two DVDs featuring over 2hrs 30mins of live shows, including the previously unseen Plan K, Brussels concert and two concerts and soundcheck from the Apollo Theatre, Manchester that have only been partially released on VHS (in 1982) and a brand new edit of Joy Division - A Malcolm Whitehead Film.

Go to rhino.com for full track listing.

PRE-ORDER ETERNAL (LIVE)

STREAM "TRANSMISSION"
(LES BAINS DOUCHES,
PARIS) 12/18/79

In related news, "Ian Curtis: Insight" is now showing in NYC. The major exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Ian Curtis brings rare archival material to the United States for the first time.

Presented through a revealing selection of handwritten lyrics, photographs, personal letters, ephemera and artefacts drawn from the Ian Curtis archive, held by The John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester as part of the British Pop Archive.

The exhibition shows Ian Curtis as a writer and observer whose words captured a time and place while speaking to themes of alienation, vulnerability and connection. Curated with full access to the archive, the exhibition reveals the tension, tenderness and energy that defined his – and Joy Division’s – short life and enduring influence.

Runs through July 22.