The band’s new record Fall Better is set for release on 24 January via VKVI Records.
Vukovi, Glasgow’s finest architects of infectious pop-infused high-energy rock return today with another taste of their forthcoming second album Fall Better, due to be released in January through VKVI Records.
New single Run/Hide closes the album and is, in frontwoman Janine Shilstone’s own words, “about questioning whether I can actually get away from this thing that I think follows me. Can I learn to control it?” referring to her personal struggles with a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder called Thought Action Fusion, documented on much of Fall Better – a disorder that can lead those who have it to believe that their actions are guided by an external presence; in Janine’s case, this presence took the form of a shadow “that makes decisions for me, and decides whether something good or bad is going to happen to me on any given day.”
“I wanted to create a song we didn’t quite have yet on the album, like a super mature, heavy, fucked up track” explains guitarist Hamish Reilly. “Eventually I fell into the riff and just began to build from there! I felt lucky to find that riff, I didn’t actually come up with that, but more someone must have planted it in my head!”
Run/Hide is destined to become a live favourite (“I can already imagine the walls of death,” enthuses Janine) as it sums up everything that is thrilling about Vukovi’s sound as 2019 draws to end, effortlessly fusing their renowned pop-sensibility with juggernaut riffs.
Having just toured through Europe with Londoners Counterfeit, Vukovi are primed and ready to detonate across the UK and have announced a special series of record shop in-store acoustic performances and full band headline shows, commencing in their home city of Glasgow on 24 January, to celebrate the release of ‘Fall Better’ that day.
Produced by Bruce Rintoul – in whose spare bedroom Janine recorded some of her vocals – Fall Better provides a master class in powerful, melodic songwriting penned to a rock beat from which every trace of fat has been removed, set to pulsing rhythms that extend an invitation to the dance floor to all.
Janine Shilstone has a simple mission statement for her band’s music. “I want our songs to let people know that they’re not alone in feeling crazy,” she says. “I want to give people who feel that way a little bit of comfort. I want them to feel less alone. I want to let people know that it’s okay to be weird, and for them not to feel isolated because of it. Our fan base is a beautiful army of weirdos, and I want that to grow. I want them all to feel like they belong here. And I want to be a rock star,” she says, laughing.
Catch Vukovi live at the following special acoustic in-store performances and full-band headline dates in January 2020:
24 January – IN-STORE HMV in Glasgow
24 January – LIVE Nice N Sleazy in Glasgow
25 January – IN-STORE 2pm Assai in Dundee
25 January – IN-STORE 2pm Assai in Edinburgh
26 January – IN-STORE Beyond Vinyl in Newcastle
27 January – LIVE Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds
28 January – IN-STORE Rough Trade in Nottingham
29 January – IN-STORE Badlands in Cheltenham
29 January – LIVE The Frog & Fiddle in Cheltenham
30 January – LIVE The Fighting Cocks in Kingston
31 January – LIVE Asylum 2 in Birmingham
Fall Better track listing:
1. 17359
2. Violet Minds
3. Aura
4. C.L.A.U.D.I.A
5. Behave
6. Play With Me Cos I Can Take Me
7. Verify Your Worth
8. All That Candy
9. I’m Sorry
10. Where Are You
11. White Lies
12. Run/Hide
High Fives & Stage Dives 