After coming within touching distance of calling it a day, The Twang return with new album Bring Yourself – out January 22nd, 2027 on Cooking Vinyl.
A record born out of grief, reconciliation and a renewed appreciation for life, Bring Yourself sees the Birmingham band rediscover the chemistry that first made them one of the most distinctive voices of the British indie scene.
Its first offering ‘Something to Someone’ is an instant statement of intent. Its soaring chorus – “Don’t try to be everything to everyone / Take it from me, it’s a waste of time / Just trying to be something to someone like me” – captures the spirit of the album: self-belief without the bullshi*. Listen here.
“This song sums up so much,” says co-songwriter Phil Etheridge. “How we feel about this band, how we feel about our fans, why we started making music in the first place. Along the way, we forgot what the point of the four of us was. Maybe it got lost in the madness. Something To Someone is us announcing that we’ve found ourselves again.”
The album almost didn’t happen. The passing of lead songwriter Jon Watkin’s wife in 2023, after a two-year battle with cancer, was followed by a breakdown in the relationship between Jon and Phil. With the band’s future uncertain, making another album seemed increasingly unlikely. But music, and the friendship at the heart of The Twang, eventually brought them back together.
“I’d stopped going to the studio, but for three hours every day, between dropping my youngest off at school and picking him up, I’d shut myself in a room at home and write. I was on a mission,” says Jon.
Those songs became the catalyst for the band’s reunion. What began as an attempt to repair a fractured friendship developed into something much bigger: an album about living in the moment, finding yourself again and appreciating what really matters. “More than making an album, what I really wanted was for us to fix our relationship,” says Phil. “We need each other for this band to work.”
Recorded over five weeks at producer Ross Orton’s studio in Sheffield, Bring Yourself strips The Twang back to their most immediate and instinctive form. Orton, whose credits include Arctic Monkeys and M.I.A., heard the band’s demos and immediately wanted to get involved. He brought a back-to-basics approach to the sessions, recording the band live and resisting unnecessary studio embellishment.
“Ross had this phrase, ‘Bring thissen’, which became our mantra,” says Phil. “It means be yourself, bring the real you and no other nonsense.”
The result is an album that sounds like The Twang on stage: raw, direct and full of movement. Across ten tracks, Bring Yourself moves from the frantic, pub-fuelled chaos of ‘Sandbags’ and the Happy Mondays-meets-Blur clatter of ‘Crazy’, through the dreamy ‘Where Are We Going’, the friendship of ‘Always Something’ and the Birmingham regeneration reflected in Kings. Closing track ‘Put It On’ is the album’s final burst of optimism.
The band also announce their Twangmas Christmas show at O2 Academy Birmingham on December 19th, their only UK headline show this year, with fans able to gain early access to tickets by pre-ordering Bring Yourself through the official Twang artist store. Pre-Sale & O2 on Wed Sept 30th & General Sale – Fri Oct 2nd.
2027 will mark 20 years since The Twang’s breakthrough debut album, Love It When I Feel Like This and after years in which the band continued to build their reputation as a formidable live act.
Bring Yourself marks the beginning of a new chapter, one built on friendship, honesty and a renewed love of making music. As Phil concludes, “When shit happens, you realise what really matters.”
The Twang – Bring Yourself Tracklisting1. Something to Someone
2. Sandbags
3. Crazy
4. Always Something
5. Kings
6. Candlestick
7. Where Are We Going
8. Who Knows Where
9. Pringle Jumpers
10. Put It On
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