Skunk Anansie share ‘This Means War’ & announce Meltdown Festival

RELEASE VIDEO FOR THE NEW SINGLE‘THIS MEANS WAR’WATCH HERE ANNOUNCED FOR MELTDOWN FESTIVAL

CURATED BY GRACE JONESPLAYING SOUTHBANK CENTRE’S ROYAL FESTIVAL HALLTHURS 18TH JUNE+UK HEADLINE TOUR DATES

Skunk Anansie have shared the video for their powerful new single ‘This Means War’, which features live footage of the iconic rock group on stage at Pol’and’Rock festival last year where they headlined to a huge crowd of over 850,000 fans. The track is a super-charged, rallying anthem with vocal powerhouse Skin’s fiery and provocative lyrics commanding you to sit up and listen. The video premiered exclusively with Kerrang where Skin explained, “We wrote this track just before we went on tour last summer, it totally stood out as a fan favourite and never left the setlist. So we’re really happy to release a finished version produced by the magnificent Tom Dalgety. Enjoy!” It follows last year’s single ‘What You Do For Love’, which was the band’s first instalment of new music in three years and garnered airplay on BBC Radio 2. Both tracks will be made available as a limited run ‘collector’s edition’ double A-side vinyl 7” in April, with pre-orders available via https://skunkanansie.tmstor.es/

Skunk Anansie are also thrilled to have been announced as part of this year’s Meltdown Festival, on London’s South Bank, which has been curated by music, film and fashion icon Grace Jones. They will be playing at the Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 18th June. Southbank Centre members can get access to tickets from Wednesday 12th February and general sale starts Friday 14th February at https://bit.ly/2OymurY

The news comes hot on the heels of their 2020 UK headline tour being announced, which sees them playing venues across the UK throughout the year. Tickets for Skunk Anansie’s headline tour are available at www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk

The last 25 years have seen Skunk Anansie internationally acclaimed as one of the greatest British rock bands of all time. They were presented with the Hall of Fame Award at the 2019 Kerrang Awards while Skin herself has become one of the world’s most iconic female performers, as well as inspirational role model, activist, trailblazer for women in the music industry, model and muse for designers.

It’s no surprise that she picked up the Inspirational Artist Award at the Music Week Awards in 2018. Skin recently stunned audiences with incredible renditions of ‘Ave Maria’, Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’, Stormzy’s ‘Blinded By Your Grace’ and Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’, whilst dressed as the hilarious Duck on ITV’s smash hit show ‘The Masked Singer’, and has just revealed that she will be reflecting on her incredible journey in her very first memoir co-written by respected journalist and friend Lucy O’Brien. It promises an alternative narrative to the male dominated, predominantly white Britpop era and will chart Skin’s unique story from her working class Brixton roots to the Glastonbury and international stage. The book is due for publication in September 2020 with Simon and Schuster and available to pre-order now. Skunk Anansie are renowned as one of the most fearless acts in modern British history. Their reflective, emotional and radical music has seen them grow as an important cultural force, on and off stage, while remaining honest and timely. The new single ‘This Means War’ continues their story with a ferocious impact.

2020 UK TOUR DATES

JUNEWed 17th –The LCR UEA, Norwich Thu 18th – Meltdown Festival, Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, LondonFri 19th – O2 Academy, SheffieldSat 20th – O2 Academy 1, Birmingham

OCTOBERMon 26th – G Live, GuildfordTue 27th – O2 Academy, LeicesterWed 28th – Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone

NOVEMBERSat 28th – The Engine Shed, LincolnSun 29th – Rock City Nottingham

DECEMBERTue 1st – O2 Academy, Glasgow Wed 2nd – O2 Academy, Newcastle Thu 3rd – O2 Academy, LeedsSat 5th – Cardiff University, CardiffSun 6th – O2 Academy, BristolMon 7th – O2 Victoria Warehouse, ManchesterWed 9th – Brighton DomeThu 10th – Corn Exchange, Cambridge

“Skunk Anansie are as sharp-edged and occasionally confrontational as ever they were”Kerrang! KKKK “A ribcage-rattling homecoming for this glorious powerhouse of rock”Daily Telegraph 5* “Skin’s megawatt presence as a queer, black rock frontwoman has never seemed more vital… en route to this ferocious climax there were molten riffs and soaring vocals to spare”The I Newspaper “Twenty-five years in and Skunk Anansie are as good as they’ve ever been.”The Daily Star “Visually and musically they appeared as fresh and unique as they have ever been… judging from this performance there is still much more to come from Skunk Anansie.”Louder Than War