With Essex punks Pet Needs‘ impending third LP ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ fast approaching, the band have dropped the new single “Sleep When I’m Dead”; an invigorating clash of buzzsaw melodies and carpe diem ideologies.
Following up the blazing, bristling lead single “Separation Anxiety”, the band’s latest track (which you can stream here now) was inspired by lost nights in sticky boozers and living for what tomorrow brings. Commenting on the genesis behind the song, frontman Johnny Marriott says:
“We wanted to subvert the tired rock n roll “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead!” mentality and celebrate both the million mile an hour touring lifestyle and, well, being in our own beds, too! When you’re on the road for months you pine for home. When you’re at home you’re always thinking ahead to the next tour. To us, this is the ultimate” Intermittent Fast Living” song. Singalong, high energy, filterless reality. Sex, drugs, booze, snooze. Perfect!”
Pet Needs’ career has been sky-rocketing ever since the release of their acclaimed debut ‘Fractured Party Music’ in 2021. From getting signed to sold out shows, rave reviews to rabid fans, and embarking on extensive global tours with the likes of Frank Turner, The Hives, The Lottery Winners, Skinny Lister; demand for these four lads from Essex has been on a trajectory with the stratosphere.
As such, their third studio release in as many years, ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ (pre-save here) is inspired by this relentless, breathless, stop-start lifestyle the band have found themselves living in recent times. Finding themselves jolting between a life in the fast lane and “the security and stillness” of being with those they love, their latest work captures all the chaos and curiosities that come with their dichotomous current lifestyle. As Johnny adds:
“In the last 2 years we have been catapulted from steady jobs and playing in our small town local bars to world tours at a million miles an hour. The life we’d grown accustomed to is constantly thrown behind us until it disappears into the distance in our rear view mirror.
We thunder forward, show by show, adventure by adventure, until [normal life] returns as a speck on the horizon like an oasis in the desert. Then suddenly we’re home again. I sit content on the sofa with a beer, my wife and our new little puppy wondering what the hell just happened for the last three months.”
The album was recorded in just two weeks at Vada Studios with producer and sound engineer George Perks (Enter Shikari, You Me At Six, Mogwai, Skindred) and will be released on 16th February 2024 (via Xtra Mile Recordings). With the release date right around the corner, the band is currently mounting a campaign to smash into the UK Official Top 40, an effort dubbed by the band as ‘Bottom of the Pops’, and their masterplan includes a genius twelve-sleeve CD campaign (comprising a dozen collectible artworks that pay wry homage to Top of the Pops logo throughout history) poised to push them towards chart stardom.
After completing a run of UK headline shows last November and December plus a huge homecoming show in Colchester, the band are all set to embark on an extensive schedule of additional live fixtures throughout the first half of 2024, including the following UK & European dates, and a limited run of intimate instore gigs.
INSTORE DATES
FEBRUARY
15 – BURY Wax & Beans
16 – BRISTOL Rough Trade
18 – GLASGOW Assai
19 – PORTSMOUTH Pie & Vinyl
20 – KINGSTON Banquet
21 – COLCHESTER HMV
UK TOUR
FEBRUARY
17 – NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
APRIL
16 – STOCKTON ON TEES Georgian Theatre
17 – LEEDS Boom
18 – MANCHESTER Night & Day
19 – BRISTOL Exchange
20 – BRIGHTON Hope & Ruin
23 – CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
24 – OXFORD The Bullingdon
25 – LONDON The Underworld
26 – BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds
27 – SOUTHAMPTON The Joiners
EUROPEAN TOUR
MAY
28 HAARLEM, NL Patronaat
29 COLOGNE, DE Blue Shell
30 – HAMBURG, DE Nochtwache
31 – BERLIN, DE Cassiopeia
JUNE
02 – PARIS, FR La Boule Noire
Tickets for all shows are on sale now: https://petneedsband.com/live-dates.
Main image credit: Vanessa Sollner
