The Rifles head out on UK Tour next week
It’s been over seven years since The Rifles released their previous record, but now the east Londoners are set to return with their new album ‘Love Your Neighbour’ on July 5th, which they have previewed with the single ‘The Kids Won’t Stop’. Their previous two albums – ‘Big Life’ and ‘None The Wiser’ – achieved the highest chart positions of their career to date, while their cult-like popularity has continued in the intervening years with countless sold-out London shows at venues including the Roundhouse, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, O2 Kentish Forum, KOKO, Electric Ballroom and Electric Brixton, and they have also previously headlined Brixton Academy.
The triumphant reaction and electrifying energy of those shows inspired The Rifles as they went about writing ‘Love Your Neighbour’. It’s a record which bursts with the traits that have inspired such devotion amongst fans: songs as gritty as they are anthemic, and full of lyrics which capture broadly relatable experiences and provide evocative snapshots of modern British life. The overriding message of the album is a plea to embrace the power of your local community.
Vocalist/guitarist Joel Stoker says, “‘Love Your Neighbour is saying we’re all in this big old mess together and it would be good to get along a bit more and enjoy it. Talk to people more, help each other out when you can, say good morning and maybe take your head away from your phone for 5 minutes and appreciate the people standing next to you. I’d like to think that the record captures life’s daily situations that we all come across, all wrapped up in 3 minute bundles that you can sing along to.”
Completed by Lucas Crowther (guitar), Rob Pyne (bass), Grant Marsh (drums) and Deano Mumford (keys), The Rifles have nonetheless had plenty going on since since releasing ‘Big Life’ in 2016: regular headline shows and festivals, Joel’s acclaimed debut solo album ‘The Undertow’, a singles collection, an acoustic album recorded at Abbey Road and a live album from London’s Roundhouse. But the predominant factor has been the demands of their lives outside the band, which has made it hard for them to find an opportunity to all be able to work together.
Yet as their live shows continued to sell-out, often far in advance, The Rifles wanted to repay fans by making a new album. They actually had a record’s worth of material prepared early in 2022, but instead took the time to keep on writing new songs to ensure that ‘Love Your Neighbours’ lived up to its full potential and ensured that the wait was well worth it. They recorded the album at Joel’s home studio in Walthamstow, east London, which allowed them the freedom to work whenever was convenient.
‘Love Your Neighbour’ is now available to pre-order HERE. The band’s own store offers some very limited physical formats, which include a marbled red transparent vinyl with a signed art print and individually signed test pressings. Three retailers also stock exclusive editions: Amazon have a digisleeve CD with a signed insert, Assai offer a blue vinyl, and HMV are selling a sunflower yellow vinyl.
The Rifles debuted some of the songs from ‘Love Your Neighbour’ during last month’s sold-out London show at the Electric Ballroom.
The band are about to head out on their UK headline tour next week. The dates are:
MAY 2024
9th – Glasgow, Oran Mor
10th – Manchester, Academy 2
11th – London, O2 Forum Kentish Town
16th – Bristol, The Fleece
17th – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
