Following their sold-out show last year – POP WILL EAT ITSELF – are delighted to confirm they’ll be back for a second helping at Manchester’s Academy 2 later this year.

Celebrating 30 years since the release of ‘Dos Dedos Mis Amigos’ PWEI will perform six (Seis) fan favourites from the album along with other classic cuts from their extensive catalogue and some brand-new songs.

After their ‘All Killer – No Filler Greatest Hits Set’ at the venue in 2023 sold out in a matter of weeks, appetite for the Grebo originals remains at an all time high. Returning to the venue on Saturday 28th September, the Graham Crabb-fronted gang will be topping the bill, with support from the GARY CLAIL SOUNDSYSTEM FEATURING TONY WRAFTER, who will be Special Guests for the evening.

Tickets are priced at: £28.00 +BF, here.

With members hailing from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country, Pop Will Eat Itself formed in 1986 in Stourbridge. Initially known as a Grebo act, they rapidly changed style with the times and developed an innovative style incorporating sample-driven indie and industrial rock that the band wryly self-described as “electronic, punk, alternative hip-hop, hybrid music for f**king, fighting & smoking cigars”.

After a succession of hits and near misses as they developed their sound, PWEI would eventually strike pure gold in 1993 with the top-ten hit “Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!”, their highest-charting single. Disbanding in 1996, before reforming in 2005, the band would continue their intrepid legacy in 2011 with the comeback studio album ‘New Noise Designed By A Sadist’ and a succession of other releases including ‘Anti-Nasty League’ (2015), plus two brand new tracks in 2022 (“The Poppies Strike Back”, “Chihuahua”).

Hitting the festival circuit hard in 2023, PWEI reminded the crowds Camper Calling and Camp Festival of their jubilant live shows, before taking-in a run of headline shows including a date at the legendary 100 Club. Finding success from Stourbridge to Sydney, an Australian tour also awaits the band early-on in 2024.

Featuring the current line up of Graham Crabb (vox), Adam Mole (guitars), Richard March (bass), John “Fuzz” Townsend (drums), Mary Byker (keyboards, vox), and Davey Bennett (guitars); expect old favourites and a surprise-or-two when the Poppies Strike Back at Manchester Academy 2 this Autumn.

Support for the show will come from special guests, the GARY CLAIL SOUNDSYSTEM FEATURING TONY WRAFTER. Finding fame with the major club hit “Human Nature” in 1991 as part of the Gary Clail On-U Sound Soundsystem, the project would go on to score an official UK Top 40 with the album ‘Emotional Hooligan’ that same year. Releasing two further albums in the 90s, Clail took an extended hiatus from music following 1996’s ‘Keep The Faith’ LP. Resuming his studio output in 2013 under the new guise of the Gary Clail Soundsystem, he’s since released two albums including 2022’s ‘Violence’. In 2024, Clail will be teaming up with celebrated musician Tony Wrafter for what will be his first shows in a decade. Not his first rodeo, Wrafter, has recorded and played live with the likes of Tricky, Massive Attack, On-U Sound, Glaxo Babies, Slits, Blue Aeroplanes to name just a few over the years and he will be laying down his live brass and wind instrumentation expertise at the show. Expect Clail and Wrafter to raise the roof in euphoric fashion on their return to Manchester later this year.