The Spook School – Head on the road with PWR BTM and Share video for Gone Home from the Continental Drift EP

Head out on tour with PWR BTM in December

Share video for “Gone Home” taken from The Continental Drift EP

Out now via Fortuna POP! and Slumberland

The Spook School’s second album Try to Be Hopeful is out now via Fortuna POP!

Watch video for “Gone Home” by The Spook School here

TOUR DATES!

8th October – Broadcast, Tenement Trail, Glasgow
29th October – DIY Space for London, Slayerfest (Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed festival), London
12th November – The Blue Moon, Cambridge Indie-Pop Alldayer, Cambridge SOLD OUT
PWR BTTM Tour
3rd December – West Hill Hall, Brighton SOLD OUT
4th December – Brudenell Games Room, Leeds
5th December – The Hug and Pint, Glasgow
6th December – Shacklewell Arms, London SOLD OUT
7th December – Skull Factory, Amsterdam
8th December – Blue Shell, Cologne
9th December – Lido, Berlin
10th December – Molotow, Hamburg

Edinburgh, Scotland’s The Spook School are surely the most *fun* band taking-on issues of gender and identity today, writing queer-pop anthems that are noisy, tuneful, sharply-observed and outrageously catchy. Citing influences as varied as T-Rex, C86 and Buzzcocks, they tell stories that are as multi-faceted and complex as modern life and sexuality itself, but also universal in their optimism. The title of their recent album Try To Be Hopeful sums it up well, and their two songs on The Continental Drift EP are up there with the band’s finest. The band head out on a European tour with America’s PWR BTTM in December.

The Spook School are Anna Cory (bass and vocals), Adam Todd (guitar and vocals), Nye Todd (guitar and vocals) and Niall McCamley (drums).  Since forming in 2012 they’ve become increasingly involved with the DIY queer punk scene, taking inspiration from the passionate, like-minded people they’ve met along the way, and from bands such as Martha, Joanna Gruesome, Trust Fund and Tuff Love.
Try To Be Hopeful follows The Spook School’s critically acclaimed debut album Dress Up (2013), which received plaudits from the Guardian (which featured them as a New Band of the Day), Uncut which called it “a rewarding, multi-layered debut” and Loud and Quiet which said, “this is music for the young and disillusioned, but identifiable to anyone who’s ever been frustrated by the grievances of identity and growing up.” The Spook School have since seen their music used on TV, having recorded the theme tune for BBC Three series “Badults” (Adam, Anna & Niall all have sidelines in the world of comedy), and have also toured the US, where they became the subject of a Rolling Stone documentary and met Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!.
Lyrically, Try To Be Hopeful is more direct than their first album, exploring issues around gender and identity, the destructive stereotypes that are generally accepted as the norm, and the difficulties of fighting them and building alternatives. Nye was undertaking his own personal journey during the making of the record too, beginning to really embrace his trans identity and starting testosterone therapy, a side effect of which meant that his voice kept changing throughout the recording process.
Try To Be Hopeful is the sound of a band growing up, embracing their identities, and taking charge at the world. But amidst the fight for a place in society for everyone, there’s still time for love, friendship, and fun. With their bold, fizzy and electrifying anthems, The Spook School are the shot of optimism we’ve been hoping for.
Praise for Try To Be Hopeful:
“Edinburgh’s Spook School are a band who have to exist… the quartet’s bright indie-pop – sometimes breezily cheerful, sometimes dramatic, always steeped in the best traditions of their nation’s indie history – is addictive.” The List 4*s
“Emotionally literate and politically conscious… The Spook School deliver the goods with a good-humoured, no frills approach.” The New Internationalist 5*s
“The importance of Try To Be Hopeful today is undeniable.” Clash
“It sounds like such a simple formula: write catchy pop songs about things which are important to you, but the fact is The Spook School have nailed it better than pretty much anyone in recent memory.” Drowned in Sound
“All told, this is one of the most vital releases of 2015, both in terms of its importance and its addictiveness” Narc 5/5
“Excellent stuff.” Uncut

THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT EP

Featuring:
The Spook School / Tigercats / Mercury Girls / Wildhoney
Out NOW
Mini-LP – Various Artists
Limited edition blue-inside-white coloured vinyl LP / Gatefold CD
Tracklisting:
1. Mercury Girls – Holly
2. The Spook School – Sometimes I Hide From Everybody
3. Wildhoney – Horror Movie
4. Tigercats – Sidney Street
5. The Spook School – Gone Home
6. Mercury Girls – Beverly
7. Tigercats – Rent Control
8. Wildhoney – T L (Reprisal)
Four great bands, two great labels and two continents meet on this stellar mini-LP. Frequent collaborators Slumberland Records and Fortuna POP! team up to bring you Continental Drift, a smashing eight song sampler of some of the finest pop out there in 2016.