Bang Bang Romeo announce Record Store Day mini-tour

The band, from Doncaster, will perform in record stores in Sheffield, Chesterfield, Leeds and Liverpool on Saturday April 13 to promote a vinyl version of their single Cemetery.

Announcing this week off the back of a sold-out debut headline tour, the band commented on their love of physical music.

“There’s nothing more satisfying than holding a physical, beautiful, REAL version of the music you love in both hands – that version especially being vinyl – jumping on your bike and peddling back to your house to stick it on your dad’s record player, and taking in every aspect that listening to music on vinyl has to offer.

“We each grew up hanging around our favourite music shops as much as we could, and our fondest memories of our favourite artists were all born there.

“We put as much heart and soul into our artwork as we do the music, for us, the visual experience is almost as important as the music itself, so it’s a real buzz for us to be releasing our own music on vinyl for the first time.”

The band will also embark on a mini-tour throughout Record Store Day, playing live sets at four different stores, Record Junkee in Sheffield, Tallbird in Chesterfield, Jumbo in Leeds and Jacaranda in Liverpool on April. The show at Jumbo is part of a bill put together by the Leeds-based singles club Come Play With Me.

Singer Anastasia ‘Stars’ Walker’s love of vinyl stems from going through her uncle’s record collection when she was little, from the feel to the smell of them, to the delicate way you must place the record on the turn table and drop the pin with total respect. From that point on, she was hooked.

Guitarist Ross Cameron remembers the buzz around Oasis’s Be Here Now being released and just dying for school to finish so he could jump on the bus and fly over to Track Records in Doncaster to grab it.

Drummer Rich Gartland only discovered Muse because he fell in love with the cover of Showbiz, and spent all his time during school breaks at Jumbo Records in Leeds going through racks of vinyl and CDs.

Record Store Day takes place 13th April, and the band have put together some very apt artwork for the release. The artwork features the band standing in front of a long list of British independent record stores, including some of the band’s personal favourites, Leeds’ own Jumbo and Crash Records and Doncaster’s Track Records.

Cemetery was written with music shopping in mind, an ode to record stores and finding your place within a music scene, the lyrics capture that excitement of going into a record store:

The B-side Creep is a cover of the Radiohead breakthrough track from their 1993 album Pablo Honey.

Says Stars: “We’ve adopted the timeless classic Creep as one of our own, and sort of use it as a secret weapon. Radiohead are probably one of our favourite bands, so to play it we’re really just honouring Radiohead. Live, I also change the lyrics “I want a perfect body” to “I’ve got a sexy body” because, well, I have.”

Bang Bang Romeo embarked on their first headline tour in February selling out shows from London to Leeds, the band release their debut album A Heartbreaker’s Guide To The Galaxy on June 14. They tour stadiums across the UK and Europe supporting Brits winner P!nk in June.