Having appeared at Reading and Leeds and Download and toured with Frank Turner, the band are set to mark release of new album, Alamort, with a special hometown launch gig at Norwich Arts Centre.
Norwich band Ducking Punches are set to mark the release of their new album with a hometown gig next month.
Originally the solo acoustic song project of vocalist and guitarist Dan Allen, Ducking Punches are now a punk/folk/rock quintet.
Hailing from Norwich, the band have over 1,000 gigs under their belt, including a European tour in 2014 with Frank Turner and Andrew Jackson Jihad, as well as festival sets at Reading and Leeds and Download.
Their latest album, Alamort, will be released through the Xtra Mile Recordings label on February 16, with a special hometown launch gig at Norwich Arts Centre on February 17.
The album is a swift follow-up to 2016's acclaimed previous release Fizzy Brain. With a darker backdrop and consequently more punk driven sound than ever before, Alamort was recored at Crooked Rain Studio in Leeds by Bob Cooper and further mastered by punk-rock guru Mass Giorgini, best known for his work with American hardcore bands Anti-Flag and Rise Against.
Dan Allen explained: 'Alamort seemed a fitting title for what myself and the band had been through recently. Some of these songs are frighteningly honest but it has been really therapeutic to write. Themes of the album range from crippling self doubt to death, friendship, love, witch-hunters, addiction and hope.'
The album has been preceded by a single, Smoking Spot, with a video filmed at one of the band's own old haunts and hideaways, offering an intimate reflection of the song's lyrical themes of escapism.
Dan added: 'This is a song about a private place I have with my buddies, where we've made some of the brightest memories. We'd often drive out there if someone was having a bad time and take in the expansive world around us, realising how small we all are, which in turn would alleviate the pain of our problems. It's humbling and grounding at the same time.
'We shot the video and let off a bunch of fireworks at one of these spaces. The fireworks that grace tons of our videos act as a tribute to my closest friend that we lost. Smoking spot is for friendship, for love and for those shared burdens on tired shoulders.'
• Ducking Punches, Norwich Arts Centre, February 17, 8pm, £7 adv/£9 door, 01603 660352, norwichartscentre.co.uk• The band will return to Norwich Arts Centre on April 30 as part of a UK tour.
• Alamort is out on February 16. More details HERE
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