When someone decides to write the definitive history of London glam punks Towers Of London, they’re not going to be short of material. There’s the fights, the reality TV series, that performance on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, the ban from Download Festival, the support slots with Guns N’ Roses, the fights with My Chemical Romance, singer Donny Tourette’s early escape from Celebrity Big Brother, and yes, the comebacks.
There was the 2008 comeback that accompanied second album Fizzy Pop. There was the 2015 comeback, when the band released their Shake Up single. And now they’re back again. And maybe, just maybe, people will be talking about their music this time. For new single Shot In The Dark is a giant leap forward, with a chorus that rivals The Manics at their most triumphant without losing any of Towers’ spiky exuberance.
“I guess we’ve been through a lot,” say the band. “And we’ve learnt a few lessons. Back then was all about having a laugh and we rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way… but that’s over ten years ago now, we were just kids and everybody’s grown up, both musically and as people.”
“I think if you listen to Shot in the Dark it gives a good indication as to the struggles we’ve had to overcome and also to the difference we want to make with this record,” they continue. “We’ve finally made music that really means something and is from the heart. And hopefully people will appreciate that.
“It was the first single we wrote for the album that led the way for the others. Gave us some much needed belief that our hard work was paying off. It was half written in a shed and half written in Clacton On Sea. Two years of tears, toil and tiredness went into the five minutes of the song. It’s a moving record, and one that the three of us are very proud to have written.”
The band have also found new management, and are now under the wing of Creation Records boss Alan McGee, a man with something of a track record when it comes to betting on the right horses, and whose record label took Oasis to superstardom. “I’ve been following these guys for a while,” says McGee. “They’ve now grown up, sorted their shit out but importantly they still retain their bite. This album blows the shit out of what they’ve done in the past!”
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The upcoming album, Super Sounds Of K-Town, will be released in early 2018, while Shot In The Dark is out on November 17. On the same day, a video for the song will premiere on the motivational and positivity Facebook page Bright Vibes, a media organisation that describes itself as counteracting “the negative and fear-driven press and news that surrounds us everyday.”
“I’ve become a qualified reiki therapist,” explains Donny. “Which is all about tapping in to the universal life force energy, it’s primarily a healing thing… but once you understand that we’re all connected and everything is just energy, that has a huge impact on how you see life in general… the bigger picture.”
Towers Of London will also play two shows to mark the single’s release, on December 7 at the Crowndale Club in London, and on December 9 at Night People in Manchester. Tickets are on sale now.
