BETHLEHEM CASUALS – will tour the UK. The septet who recently revealed plans for a barking-mad new concept record, ‘The Tragedy of Street Dog’, now look to let it off the leash at venues nationwide.
Kicking off proceedings imminently with a warm-up at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club on 15th February, the 14 date ‘Tragedy of Street Dog Tour’ will see them take their electrifying live show to some of the country’s finest gig haunts over the ensuing months, before coming to a head at Newcastle’s Castle Keep on 8th May 2020. The full list of tour dates can be found as follows:
THE TRAGEDY OF STREET DOG TOUR
FEBRUARY
15 – LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
MARCH
6 – SHEFFIELD Peddler Night Market*
7 – CHESTER Telford’s Warehouse*
8 – YORK The Fulford Arms
13 – BLACKPOOL Bootleg Social
20 – HUDDERSFIELD Northern Quarter*
21 – BRADFORD 1 in 12 Club
APRIL
8 – BATH The Bell Inn*
9 – BRISTOL The Jam Jar
16 – LONDON Islington O2 Academy 2
17 – MANCHESTER The Bread Shed
19 – LIVERPOOL Zanzibar
28 – OXFORD The Mad Hatter
MAY
8 – NEWCASTLE Castle
* Free Entry
Tickets for all shows can be found here, and are on sale now:
https://www.songkick.com/artists/8702093-bethlehem-casuals/calendar
Bethlehem Casuals will also take in a hometown show at Manchester’s Bread Shed on the 17th April 2020 – the night of the release of their new album. With their upcoming concept record set in Manchester and its narrative something of a love letter to the city’s proud musical heritage, the Casuals will be pulling out all the stops to ensure this will be a launch to remember.
Speaking about what to expect from the upcoming tour, George from Bethlehem Casuals says:
“Having sharpened our live show at festivals across Europe and live on BBC Radio 6, BETHLEHEM CASUALS are back and this time we’ve got a story to tell. With the release of our new second album ’The Tragedy of Street Dog’ just around the corner, the Casuals will be bringing a cocktail of tribal rhythms, psychedelic vocals and raucous noise to your doorstep. You’d be a fool to miss it.”
Released on 17th April 2020, ‘The Tragedy of Street Dog’ tells the story of a house-pet-gone-rogue. Set in the band’s own hometown, the story follows a canine protagonist ‘Street Dog’ as he embarks on a quest to rediscover the music of Manchester. Along his perilous journey, Street Dog visits some of the city’s infamous haunts like Temple Bar, The Oxford Road and The Hacienda, and encounters treacherous foes like ‘River Rat’ and ‘The Oki’.
Erudite and experimental, ‘The Tragedy Of Street Dog’ sees Bethlehem Casuals’ sleazy, sultry and saxy brand of oddball pop truly come into its own. Mind-bending and musically adept in equal measure, it’s one heck of a ride and a record that casts a fresh and fantastical light on whether a dog’s life is all that bad after all…
‘The Tragedy of Street Dog’ was recorded at Giant Wafer Studios, Llanbadarn Fynydd in May 2019. All tracks on the album were engineered by Saam Jafarzadeh and Ashwin Menon, with mastering by Peter Fletcher.
Throwing us a bone as to what to expect, you can tune into head-spinning lead single: “Flaccid Passion”, here and now.
The info
Bethlehem Casuals are a jazz/psych/rock septet based in Manchester. With an eclectic sound that infuses a world of influences, heady grooves and tribal drum circles, the Casuals’ have been dubbed by some as “urban rock styled DIY world music”; but it’s of course open to interpretation.
Gaining momentum with every one of their wonderfully weird releases, the Casuals recently caught the ear of BBC 6Music tastemaker Marc Riley who invited them in for a riotous live session and praised them as: “All over the place in the best kind of way.” With word getting out fast, this summer the group embarked on a Summer that was perhaps a little less relaxed than their namesake would usually allow. Invited to a slew of major festivals, the band hit up the stages of Bluedot to Kendal Calling, Moovin’ to Manchester Jazz, and were even invited to make their Glastonbury debut. They even found the time to host their own biannual shindig! ’Keep It Casual Fest’ to a sell-out capacity. In Autumn 2019, the Casuals put their festival-tested live chops to the test and left jaws hanging at a series of packed-out headline shows on their ‘Flaccid Passion’ Tour.
After a string of acclaimed singles and studio releases, the band will now release their upcoming album ‘The Tragedy of Street Dog’ in 2020. There are also plans to release an illustrated children’s book to accompany the release.
