Dear Scott

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On releasing the single, Head says: “Kismet’s about being stranded, the kindness of strangers, love and destiny.”

Head found the notion handy as a starting point amongst the sepia toned images of palm trees, pools and desperation; what transpired lives though in a number of worlds.Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? Head and The Red Elastic Band look ahead to their first comprehensive UK Tour since forming in 2021, setting off on the eve of Dear Scott’s release to play a run of eight dates. Including a huge homecoming at Liverpool’s Eventim Olympia on Fri 10 June 2022 and visiting London to play the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Sat 11 June 2022, the full run of shows is confirmed as follows: Head has performed at St George’s Hall itself on numerous occasions, most recently with the Red Elastic Band. His manor, however, lies a mile or so east, a short hop down London Road and up into Kensington. This is where he spent his formative years during the ’70s. “It’s been an important route through town for centuries,” says Head, nursing a cappuccino and settling into the subject. “For me, personally, it’s a ley line of some kind.” I was at a wedding the other night and a young band from Liverpool, The Sway, were there. Like, they're only kids, but they were so into telling me about the album and these little bits and pieces about the lyrics. I was thinking, 'Wow, these have really listened'.

The ending feels like the only less than stellar moment, Shirl’s Ghost an all too brief piano and strings instrumental, a definite comedown after its predecessor, the rousing Pretty Child, has so ably matched neighbours The Coral at their beat psychedelic best, the tale a divertingly strange one of a sex worker eventually usurped by her own daughter.

Dear Scott’s themes in part revolve – loosely – around Hollywood’s golden age, the titular subject being F.Scott Fitzgerald, whose descent to bankruptcy and installation in the decadent Garden Of Allah Hotel prompted him to write a postcard to self. Indeed, listening to Dear Scott now, it's hard to believe that the songwriter didn't have an inkling that they were on to something really special while recording the album.

We did about seven or eight songs, and I was drinking heavily at the time," he recalls of the initial album sessions.Head first gained attention as a member of the Pale Fountains in the early 1980s with his best friend Chris "Biffa" McCaffrey. The band suffered from critical and commercial apathy, and the band split around 1987. Shortly afterwards, McCaffrey died from a brain tumour. Released by independent label Modern Sky, the Bill Ryder-Jones produced Dear Scott also earned the guitar-wielding singer-songwriter his first ever 'proper' Top 10 album when it hit Number Six on the Official Chart. The songs are probably his strongest since Waterpistol with a lush production, if a little bass heavy. Similar sound to Miles & Gill including a rewrite of ‘Funny things’. In episode #86 of The XS Noize Podcast, Mark Millar catches up with one of the greatest ever British songwriters Michael Head of The Red Elastic Band. Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career. His new Bill Ryder-Jones-produced album, Dear Scott, will be released on Fri, 27 May 2022, via Modern Sky UK.