Experimental punks WACO are proud to reveal that their long-awaited second album Hope Rituals is set for release on 28th August 2020 via Venn Records.
Today, the band have shared a music video for their latest single, ‘Dark Before The Dawn’—a powerful call to arms from the London-based quartet. WACO will be donating all proceeds from the track to the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
“This song is about hope, collectivism and our future,” explains frontman Jak Hutchraft. “It’s about how ideas and dreams can change the world. It’s about how we can be proud of how far we’ve come, while still fighting for a better tomorrow. It’s about how peace and progression will come through relearning our connection with the earth, the animals and the entire biosphere here on earth. This is a manic stream of consciousness that arose after a short period of freewriting. However, it feels oddly prescient, given the current social climate. The message is greatly important to us in these times and always. Black lives matter.”
The band have also shared new UK tour dates from September through to December including selected dates with The Young Hearts, dubbed ‘The Freedom Tour’, and a much-anticipated London Underworld show with Wonk Unit (full details can be found below).
Originating from the weirder nooks of the UK (North Yorkshire, Jersey and Teesside), WACO came together through their animalistic compulsion to make noise and their shared goal to brainwash the masses with their relentless optimism.
Displaying their knack for raw storytelling and good vibes through their early EP’s—Deathless (2017), Uprise (2016), and Sundown (2015)—and their debut album Human Magic (2019), the band has earned praise from the likes of LOUDER, Kerrang! Magazine, UPSET Magazine, and Punktastic, alongside radio support from BBC Radio One DJs Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens, Phil Taggart and Dan P Carter, Kerrang! Radio, and Planet Rock Radio.
The band are ably fronted by their enigmatic ‘high priest’ frontman Jak Hutchraft, himself a gonzo journalist and broadcast regular for the likes of VICE and Kerrang! Magazine, and now presenter of the Human Magic podcast: a series of conversations with creatives, thinkers, believers and dreamers, centered around ideas and experiences, helping to navigate this weird and wonderful life.
Their latest offering Hope Rituals, produced by Steve Sears Jr at Monolith Studios, London, is the first of the band’s material to feature new bassist, James Robinson. He joined the band after the tragic loss of their dear friend Chris Cowley in 2018. While much of their previous album Human Magic served as a method of healing for the band, their latest offering looks optimistically to the future and a hope of better days.
A roaring slice of modern punk rock from one of the UK’s most exciting and experimental punk bands, constantly pushing the boundaries of the genre, WACO are in a league of their own when it comes to defining exactly what punk music can be in the 21st century.
Live dates:
30 September – Guildford, The Boileroom *
01 October – Cheltenham, Frog & Fiddle *
02 October – Cobblestones, Bridgwater *
03 October – Swindon, Level III *
04 October – London, 229 Venue *
22 November – London, The Underworld +
12 December – London, The Black Heart
* w/ The Young Hearts
+ w/ Wonk Unit