TAKEN FROM UPCOMING ALBUM: ‘INTERMITTENT FAST LIVING’ PRE-ORDER HERE
Lurching through your monitors at 100mph, this life-lusting latest from the Essex punks is an invigorating clash of buzzsaw melodies and carpe diem ideologies.
Inspired by lost nights in sticky boozers and living for what tomorrow brings, frontman Johnny Marriott says of “Sleep When I’m Dead”:
“We wanted to subvert the tired rock n roll “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead!” mentality and celebrate both the million mile an hour touring lifestyle and, well, being in our own beds, too! When you’re on the road for months you pine for home. When you’re at home you’re always thinking ahead to the next tour. To us, this is the ultimate” Intermittent Fast Living” song. Singalong, high energy, filterless reality. Sex, drugs, booze, snooze. Perfect!”
“Sleep When I’m Dead” arrives with an official video filmed and directed by Jake Deemer-Evans, with the new track swiftly following the blazing, bristling lead single “Separation Anxiety”. Both tracks are due to appear on PET NEEDS’ upcoming album, ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ (out 16th February via Xtra Mile Recordings).
Founded with humble bedroom-band beginnings by brothers Johnny (vocals) and George (guitar) Marriott and later joined by Jack (drums) and Ryan (bass) only a matter of years ago, PET NEEDS’ career has been sky-rocketing ever since the release of their acclaimed debut ‘Fractured Party Music’ in 2021. From getting signed to SOLD OUT shows, rave reviews to rabid fans, and embarking on extensive global tours with the likes of Frank Turner, The Hives, The Lottery Winners, Skinny Lister; demand for these four lads from Essex has been on a trajectory with the stratosphere.
As such, their third studio release in as many years, ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ is inspired by this relentless, breathless, stop-start lifestyle the band have found themselves living in recent times. Finding themselves jolting between a life in the fast lane and “the security and stillness” of being with those they love, their latest work captures all the chaos and curiosities that come with their dichotomous current lifestyle. As Johnny says:
“In the last 2 years we have been catapulted from steady jobs and playing in our small town local bars to world tours at a million miles an hour. The life we’d grown accustomed to is constantly thrown behind us until it disappears into the distance in our rear view mirror.
We thunder forward, show by show, adventure by adventure, until [normal life] returns as a speck on the horizon like an oasis in the desert. Then suddenly we’re home again. I sit content on the sofa with a beer, my wife and our new little puppy wondering what the hell just happened for the last three months.”
Like that unexpected snapshot for sale at the end of a theme-park ride, ‘Intermittent Fast Living’ is a vivid portrait of a band riding high on the rollercoaster that is the rock’n’roll life, and stopping for just a split-second to capture the moment. A rush of adrenaline and a tornado of emotion, the album was recorded in just two weeks at Vada Studios with producer and sound engineer George Perks (Enter Shikari, You Me At Six, Mogwai, Skindred). It will be released on 16th February 2024 (via Xtra Mile Recordings).
With the new album ready to go, PET NEEDS are already planting seeds for its world domination this year. Currently mounting a campaign to smash into the UK Official Top 40, an effort dubbed by the band as ‘Bottom of the Pops’, their masterplan includes a genius twelve-sleeve CD campaign (comprising a dozen collectible artworks that pay wry homage to Top of the Pops logo throughout history) poised to push them towards chart stardom. As Johnny adds:
“The newspapers say we’re in an age where plucky little indie bands with loyal fanbases can storm the charts for a week – like that’s a bad thing!… We are proud to be a plucky little indie band, and are throwing everything at infiltrating the mainstream for five minutes with our new album, Intermittent Fast Living!”
Completing a run of UK headline shows throughout November and December 2023 plus a huge homecoming show in Colchester, PET NEEDS will next be embarking on an extensive schedule of additional live fixtures throughout the first half of 2024, including UK & European dates, plus a limited run of intimate instore gigs. Listed below.
PET NEEDS UK LIVE DATES 2024
INSTORE DATES
FEBRUARY
15 – BURY Wax & Beans
16 – BRISTOL Rough Trade
18 – GLASGOW Assai
19 – PORTSMOUTH Pie & Vinyl
20 – KINGSTON Banquet
21 – COLCHESTER HMV
UK TOUR
FEBRUARY
17 – NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
APRIL
16 – STOCKTON ON TEES Georgian Theatre
17 – LEEDS Boom
18 – MANCHESTER Night & Day
19 – BRISTOL Exchange
20 – BRIGHTON Hope & Ruin
23 – CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
24 – OXFORD The Bullingdon
25 – LONDON The Underworld
26 – BIRMINGHAM Hare & Hounds
27 – SOUTHAMPTON The Joiners
EUROPEAN TOUR
MAY
28 HAARLEM, NL Patronaat
29 COLOGNE, DE Blue Shell
30 – HAMBURG, DE Nochtwache
31 – BERLIN, DE Cassiopeia
JUNE
02 – PARIS, FR La Boule Noire
Tickets for all shows are on sale now: https://petneedsband.com/live-dates.
More Pet Needs on Punkinfocus: PET NEEDS End the Year with Explosive Upgraded UK Tour (November 2025) · PET NEEDS RETURN WITH NEW SINGLE ‘PUNK ISN’T DEAD (IT’S JUST UP FOR SALE)’ (January 2022) · PET NEEDS RETURN WITH NEW SINGLE ‘OVERCOMPENSATING’ (June 2021) · Pet Needs ‘Fractured Party Music’: an art attack on the modern malaise (March 2021) · PET NEEDS PUT THE ART IN ‘FRACTURED PARTY MUSIC’ WITH NEW SINGLE “TRACEY EMIN’S BED” (February 2021)
