Svalbard have announced a headlining UK tour. Here’s the dates for that run:
03/09 Southampton, UK – The Loft (feat. Underdark & Mountain Caller)
03/10 Huddersfield, UK – Parish (feat. Underdark & Mountain Caller)
03/11 Wolverhampton, UK – KK’s Steel Mill (feat. Underdark & Mountain Caller)
03/12 London, UK – The Forum (feat. Underdark)
03/13 Leicester, UK – Firebug (feat. Underdark)
03/19 Luton, UK – The Hat Factory
03/20 Plymouth, UK – Junction (feat. Monolithian)
Svalbard have premiered a new video for their song “Silent Restraint.” The clip features fan-submitted footage and it can be seen below. The track is from the band’s latest album “When I Die, Will I Get Better?.”
Guitarist Liam Phelan told Kerrang! the following:
“Whilst putting these clips together I realised that, to me, this video represents positivity and togetherness in a time when we’ve never been further apart.
The juxtaposition between the lyrics to the song and the clips that we were sent are a perfect metaphor for the situation we currently all find ourselves in. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I had a lot of fun putting it together.”
With this news, the band have also announced a UK tour:
11/20 Birmingham, UK – Asylum 2
11/21 Nottingham, UK – Bodega
11/22 Glasgow, UK – Stereo
11/23 Manchester, UK – YES
11/24 Sheffield, UK – Corporation
11/25 Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
11/26 Bournemouth, UK – The Anvil
11/27 London, UK – The Dome
12/18 Bristol, UK – The Exchange
Svalbard are currently seeking fan footage that they can use in their upcoming video for “Silent Restraint.” The band said the following about that:
“Want to be in the new video for ‘Silent Restraint’? Please send footage of dancing, miming, pets and pals to svalbardvid@gmail.com. Please film in landscape if using phone camera. Deadline: Sunday Feb 7th.”
Svalbard recently played a set at Blondies in London, England as part of Kerrang!’s “The K! Pit” series. You can see pro-shot footage of that below:
Svalbard have confirmed that Church Road Records will now be handlining the UK release of their new album “When I Die, Will I Get Better?” (out September 25). This news comes after the band parted ways with Holy Roar Records due to the rape, etc. allegations against the label’s founder Alex Fitzpatrick. Fitpatrick denied the accusations, but many artists and employees have now distanced themselves from the label, including manager Justine Jones (Employed To Serve), who has since launched Church Road Records.
Svalbard commented:
“We are very happy to announce that we will now release “When I Die, Will I Get Better?” via Church Road Records – the new venture of former Holy Roar label manager, Justine Jones.
The release date remains 25th September and pre-orders are now available from svalbard.bandcamp.com and https://linktr.ee/churchroadrecords
Translation Loss Records will release the album in North America and Tokyo Jupiter Records will release the album in Japan, neither label having any affiliation to Holy Roar so all aspects of their release remain unchanged.
We are fortunate to have worked with Justine for many years, her passion, dedication and label knowledge has been instrumental in our growth as a band. She’s a person in the music industry who genuinely cares. We are proud to be releasing this record on Church Road Records.
Justine is doing everything she can to keep the release on track, however please be patient if minor delays occur along the way or if things continue to appear online under the Holy Roar label during the transition period – we will keep everyone informed via our socials of all developments.
We will be donating a portion of each record sale through Church Road to RapeCrisis England & Wales. We have chosen to support this charity as their centres, helplines and campaign for change against sexual assault are so desperately needed.
Thank you for being understanding, supportive and patient – and to Justine and Sammy at Church Road Records for all their hard work ensuring our album still gets released.(In the interest of complete transparency, the stock that Through Love Rec, EVIL GREED and ourselves are selling was manufactured by Holy Roar and purchased from the label at cost price but will have the logo stickered over. If we did not use this stock we would have to delay the album until next year, the already pressed CDs and LPs would have to be destroyed which would be terrible for the environment and could have ended up costing us thousands of pounds. We hope you agree that this is the best course of action to help us move forward without hindrance.)”
[via The PRP]
Svalbard have issued another statement regarding the rape, sexual assault, etc. allegations against Holy Roar Records founder Alex Fitzpatrick. The band were planning to release their new album, “When I Die, Will I Get Better?,” through the label on September 25, but have now severed ties with them completey. The group said the following:
“We have severed all ties with Holy Roar Records. Our thoughts are with the victims. We are sending all our support and solidarity to those who have suffered. Our upcoming new album will not be released on Holy Roar Records. We are in the process of figuring out what we can do. Please bare with us as we try to find a solution.”
Svalbard have premiered a new video for their new song “Listen To Someone.“ This track is from the band’s new album “When I Die, Will I Get Better?,“ which will be released on September 25.
Serena Cherry commented:
“This song is about how we need to do so more than simply encourage people who suffer from depression to ‘talk to someone.’ There’s a lot of well-meaning discussions about mental illness online, and whilst I appreciate that talking about mental illness helps reduce the stigma that depression is a weakness; I do take issue with this catchphrase: “Speak to someone.”
It’s a common sentiment expressed in mental health discourse – people want to make it known that sufferers can speak to them if they’re feeling down, which is a clearly a kind and caring act. However, I would much rather the emphasis was placed on listening to someone. ‘If you want to talk about the most difficult, darkest aspects of your mental health – I will listen without judgement.’
Something like that is an improvement. You can feel the shift in sentiment; and as someone who has struggled with depression – someone offering to listen to me is far more reassuring than someone instructing me to talk to them. When a person urges someone with depression to speak about it, it places the onus on the mentally ill to reach out – which is actually a really difficult thing for a depressed or anxious person to do.
Also, if someone does choose to confide about the darkest depths of their depression to you, you need to be truly prepared to listen. This means: not getting impatient or frustrated with the person for being unable to be “cheered up.” Not wincing at the topic of suicide.
Not alienating mentally ill people with dramatic reactions to their words. It’s all very well and good to encourage people to speak to someone, but people also need to be prepared to listen to the mentally ill without making judgement.”
[via Revolver]
Metal Anarchy 
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