They said they’d grown-up, reaching for the poise of prose over the spit-and-fury rage of their youth and Derry punks, TOUTS’ fulfil their promise once more with new single, Old Man’s Land, a reggae-beat-blast that arrives just as the sun rises on their first, full UK Tour in four years. Setting off from Glasgow on Fri 11 November, the acerbic three-piece’s 10-date haul around intimate, eyeball-to-eyeball, sweat pit venues promises an intense reunion with fans.

Leaving behind the memories of summer dates in support of The Specials and more recently heating up crowds for Paul Weller, TOUTS face the future with no small debt to repay to punk, ska and new-wave heroes as Old Man’s Land treads in their chart-friendly Doc Martens and desert boots. Having catapulted themselves into contention as ones to watch in 2017, snarling and tearing strips in teenage rage, the trio follow this year’s Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth EP with another change of pace.

Unlikely to ever waste music on poor and meaningless lyrics, front man Matthew Crossan says of the track’s deeper meanings: “Old Man’s Land is about youth and innocence that was stolen in the past. The result that has on people today can be observed in many places at many times across our land. It draws influence from old Irish balladeers and the romanticism of their songs. It attempts to pick up the narration and story from where they left off.”
Kick-starting an eventful year following a purposeful cessation during the years of Covid’s live music cessation, it was back in January that TOUTS returned with new music for the first time since 2018’s Analysis Paralysis EP. The popular-culture-shaming Shane MacGowan’s New Teeth, followed soon after by wiry punk salvo, Can’t Take It Anymore gave credence to the band’s claim that the urge to burn everything to the ground had eased, no matter how great the need remained. There was more than one way to get their message across.

Giving fans their first chance to go wild to the old songs and find the same thrills by encountering everything TOUTS have been cooking up in their prolonged absence, the full run of their UK Tour dates this November are as follows:
Fri 11 Nov – Glasgow, Hug and Pint *with Spizenergi
Sat 12 Nov – Newcastle, Zerox
Mon 14 Nov – Manchester, Peer Hat
Tue 15 Nov – Hull, Adelphi
Wed 16 Nov – Liverpool, Jimmy’s
Thu 17 Nov – Leeds, Headrow House
Sat 19 Nov – Bedford, Esquires
Sun 20 Nov – Bristol, The Lanes
Mon 21 Nov – Brighton, The Hope and Ruin
Tue 22 Nov – London, The Old Blue Last
For all remaining tickets visit venue websites or follow links at https://linktr.ee/Touts

TOUTS rose to immediate prominence off the back of 2017’s debut four-track EP Sickening and Deplorable, catching attention with scorched-earth riffs and quotable interviews at a time when Brexit bonfires and the complexities within Northern Ireland’s music scene were hot off their lips. Despite having enjoyed press and radio attention, plus tour supports with Blossoms, Inhaler and Liam Gallagher during their initial rise, the whirlwind journey had them looking for the exit if only to take a breath.

Having regrouped and found new direction, TOUTS remain Crossan (vocals/guitars), Jason Feenan (drums) and Luke McLaughlin (bass).