‘A’ Return With PRANG After Two Decades Away
After more than twenty years in the wilderness, British alt-rock stalwarts A are back. Their long-awaited new album PRANG lands May 22, 2026, via Cooking Vinyl, and it arrives not as a tentative reunion record, but as a full-colour reintroduction — loud, loose and gloriously alive.
The catalyst is lead single “Hello Sunshine”, a fizzing, riff-charged anthem that rediscovers the band’s early spark: carefree, scrappy and unmistakably them. If there were any doubts about whether A could still bottle that particular lightning, they’re dispelled within the first chorus.
From Suffolk To Silver Status
Formed in Suffolk in 1993 by childhood friends Jason Perry and Mark Chapman — alongside Perry’s brothers Adam and Giles — A built their name the old-fashioned way: sweat, hooks and cult devotion. Early favourites How Ace Are Buildings and A Vs Monkey Kong laid the groundwork, before 2002’s Hi-Fi Serious pushed them into the mainstream. The record went Silver in the UK and delivered the Top 10 anthem Nothing, a high-water mark of noughties British alt-rock.
2005’s Teen Dance Ordinance closed that first chapter. Then: silence, at least on record.
In the years since, anticipation for new material swelled into something close to myth. The band continued to grace festival stages, but questions lingered about what a modern A might actually sound like.
Rediscovering The Blueprint
“It was hard to know what ‘A’ was,” Perry admits. In the interim, he’s become a Grammy Award-winning producer, working with the likes of Don Broco, McFly and Kids In Glass Houses. “We needed to find out what ‘A’ looks like today.”
The answer didn’t come from boardrooms or label strategy meetings, but from barbecues, dinners and low-pressure jam sessions. A rough guitar idea from Chapman snowballed into “Hello Sunshine,” which quickly became the album’s blueprint. With bassist Richard Trigg completing the line-up, PRANG took shape gradually — recorded in downtime, free from expectation.
Self-produced by Perry to preserve the band’s DIY DNA, the record leans into instinct over perfection. The edges are frayed in all the right places.
“There’s a messiness to it that allows our personality to come through — which is where the magic really happens,” he says. “Life’s hard enough — there has to be fun in making music.”
Punchy Riffs, Open Hearts
Across ten tracks — including “Walkover,” “Shit Summer,” “Techno Viking” and the wryly observational “Comment Leaver” — PRANG balances punchy, riff-driven energy with moments of disarming vulnerability. There are flashes of country-tinged nostalgia, flamboyant soloing and even gospel-inspired flourishes. As Perry puts it, “each song is its own little island.”
Lyrically, it’s A at their most candid. Perry, now a mental health advocate and ambassador for the International Association for Suicide Prevention, writes with warmth about gratitude, resilience and survival. Two decades of life experience — the highs, the crashes, the friendships that endured — shape the emotional core of the album.
“By the end of ‘A’ in 2005, I felt like we didn’t have anything to say anymore. Now, I really do,” he reflects. “This album is gratitude — gratitude for friendship, for still making music, for still being alive.”
Festivals And Arena Stages Await
Fans can catch A celebrating their return at Slam Dunk Festival, as well as 2000trees Festival, before joining The Darkness on their arena tour this December.
Twenty years on, PRANG isn’t simply a comeback record. It’s a rebirth — cathartic, melodic and fizzing with the same stylish sloppiness that made A essential in the first place.
PRANG Track Listing
Hello Sunshine
Walkover
Bring On The Likes
Shit Summer
All In
Techno Viking
Kings of Lowestoft
Comment Leaver
Back To The Shop
Lifeline
All vinyl variants of PRANG include a cut-out insert with a 3D Ice-Cream truck and lamp post for you to build and stage your own PRANG. Don’t miss out on the fun – pre-order PRANG HERE
