Reverend and the Makers highly anticipated seventh studio album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ has provided the Sheffield stalwarts with their first top 10 album in 16 years.
The newly released album marks their highest charting position (6) since their debut album The State of Things (5) in 2005. This means the band have an unbroken run of 7 Top 20 albums to date, and thanks to seventh offering ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ they now have a second top 10.looks When speaking on the album, Jon described it as “the best thing we’ve ever done.”
The opening single from the album of the same name ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’, has become their biggest hit in over a decade. The hazy, sun drenched Barry White-inspired soul bop, was added to Radio 2’s B list and named their Record of the Week. The track became a Top 10 UK airplay chart fixture as the summer came to a close. This was followed by the softly spangled psychedelic soul of ‘High’, an ode to Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfrield and long hazy afternoons. As well as typically catchy ear-worm ‘Problems’. The fourth and final single before the album release was ’A Letter To My 21 Year Old Self’. Ahead of this release Jon has launched a campaign for fans to send in a letter that they’ve written to their own 21 Year Old Selves. They formed part of a pop-up exhibition/ mass therapy session in Fagans Pub, Sheffield that gave locals the chance to come along and meet Jon, get an exclusive listen to the album & have a pint. His friends and supporters have already got involved with the likes of Brian Eno, Mel C, Jeremy Corbyn, Carl Barat, Joey Barton, Helen Chamberlain, Steve Lamacq, Richard Hawley + more writing letters for the exhibition. Many went on to comment on how cathartic they had found the experience.
The band recently announced a four-day pop-up shop in Meadowhall to coincide with the release. It will run from tonight (28th April) to the 1st May and will give fans the chance to buy the album, get it signed by Jon, meet Koko the camel (from the album cover) and will include other cool features such as an acoustic zone. The opening times for the shop are Friday 28th 10am-9pm, Saturday 29th 9am-8pm, Sunday 30th 11am-5pm & Monday 1st 10am-8pm. Tickets here.
Lead singer Reverend Jon McClure will be around on both Saturday and Monday for signings and a Q&A. Fans are able to get an allocated slot for the album event on Saturday & Monday completely free of charge.
On top of this Rev have also announced a 17 date acoustic UK tour to be played this summer featuring lead singer Jon MClure and guitarist Ed Cosens. The shows will run from 8th June until 19th July and will see them hit venues in Wrexham, Worthing, Bristol, London, Tunbridge, Norwich, Margate, Hertford, St Albans, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stockton, Sunderland, Hull, York & Lincoln. Tickets are on sale now. See here.
Never resting on their laurels and constantly striving to challenge perceptions of the band, Reverend and the Makers have become one of the enduring and great survivors of the British music scene. With a career spanning two decades Jon McClure and his collective of musicians burst onto the scene with their Top 5 charting debut album, ‘The State of Things’. The album spawned the UK top 10 single "Heavyweight Champion of the World". The five albums since have seen the band move through several incarnations, sounds and line ups and experience all the highs, and most of the lows, that the music industry has to offer. Each album has reached the Top 20 of the UK album charts, an impressive unbroken run of six albums. These albums have seen them cut across a creative spectrum, ranging from collective efforts to the frontman’s singular visions. Instead, The Makers is more a sobriquet, a statement of intent, a commitment and a guiding principle that has seen McClure consistently strive to build, innovate and grow musically and artistically. The Reverend’s story is one of the great survival stories of the music industry as charisma, talent, defiance and sheer willpower sees the band start a new chapter reenergized and raring to go. With a point to prove, with ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’, Reverend And The Makers set about the task in hand armed to the teeth with an arsenal of their biggest, best and most accessible and ambitious songs to date.
‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ Tracklist
Heatwave In The Cold North
Problems
A Letter To My 21 Year Old Self
26 Thousand Days On The Earth
High
I Hate It When You Lie
You Don’t Love Me
Overthinking
The Exception
Living Without You
