British pop-soul group The Blow Monkeys are heading out on tour this coming September and October 2026 off the back of the release of the band’s 13th studio album ‘Birdsong’.
The album was released on Creation Youth, the British independent record label launched by Alan McGee – the Creation Records founder who famously signed artists like Oasis, Primal Scream, and My Bloody Valentine – and producer and Killing Joke bassist Martin ‘Youth’ Glover.
UK tour dates are as follows, with more to be added:
September
11th Southampton – The Brook
October
02nd Dublin – Opium
03rd Belfast – Limelight
06th Glasgow – Cottiers
07th Gateshead – Sage
08th Leicester – Y Theatre
09th Liverpool – The Dome
11th Manchester – Stoller Hall
12th Worcester – Huntingdon
13th Exeter – Corn Exchange
15th Christchurch – Regent Theatre
16th London – Union Chapel
17th Brighton – St George’s
Tickets for the whole tour are available from HERE.
The latest album ‘Birdsong’ was recorded at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios in Surrey and produced by Dr Robert, The Blow Monkeys’ lead singer Robert Howard (aka Dr Robert) is backed throughout Birdsong’s ten-tracks by fellow founding members Neville Henry (sax), Mick Anker (bass), with Crispin Taylor on drums and additional musicians such as Mick Talbot , Gina Foster and Steve Sidelnyk.
Dr Robert said, “Youth is one of our closest neighbours up in the mountains near Granada, close to where I live, and I often pop in for a cup of tea. One time, I was up there, and I bumped into Alan McGee. I was sitting, strumming an acoustic guitar, and he asked if I could play Buick McKane, the old T Rex number. I did, which I think sealed the deal! He asked me to write and record a “brilliant Blow Monkey record”. I knew what he meant. The songs just poured out, almost without effort, which is always a good sign. It’s a very ‘up’ album, and deliberately so.”
McGee added, “The album they recorded for Creation Youth at Paul Weller’s studio is as good as anything Dr Robert did back in the day. It’s the original line-up bar the drummer, so it has that unique sound that’s unmistakably The Blow Monkeys. I love this band!”
After making their debut over 40 years ago, The Blow Monkeys became household names when classic singles ‘Digging Your Scene’ and ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way’ became worldwide hits and their cover of Leslie Gore’s 1963 song ‘You Don’t Own Me’ featured on the biggest-selling soundtrack of all time, ‘Dirty Dancing’.
But there was always so much more going on with these soulful troubadours, with them possessing a relentless desire to move forward, collaborate, to be socially engaged, and have something to contribute.
Back in the ‘80s, they worked with people as varied as Curtis Mayfield, Paul Weller, Cheb Khaled and even Jamaican Toaster EEK-a-Mouse. Dr Robert even took time out to release one of the UK’s first homegrown House records with ‘Wait’, his top 5 duet with Chicago soul diva Kym Maselle.
