Jazz act Knats, led by Trinity Laban students Stan Woodward, King David Ike-Elechi, and Ferg Kilsby, have signed to the historic label Fontana Records, which has recently been revived by Universal Music.
Knats will release their new album A Great Day In Newcastle via Fontana on Friday 1 May. Produced by Geordie Greep (black midi), the record also features poet Cooper Robson and dozens of musicians playing various brass, woodwind, and string instruments, including Greep himself on electric guitar. It follows the band’s debut LP and arrives during a UK headline tour. It will be their first release on Fontana, UK home of AURORA, Jacob Collier, Jon Batiste, and Madison Cunningham.
The new album was mixed by Hugh Padgham and executive produced and mastered by Gearbox Studios. The band have just dropped their new single “Never Gonna Be a Boxer”. The track takes inspiration from toxic masculinity in working class areas, with Knats describing it as a tongue-in-cheek story about “a young lad who’s been scrapping on the estate and boxing in the gym. Everyone around him does the same and he feels like he should; when really, it’s not in his nature.”
As well as headline touring, Knats have played as the live band for both Greep and Eddie Chacon on their respective European and UK dates, including two sold-out nights at London’s Koko.
Since releasing their critically acclaimed debut album last year, Knats have been nominated for Best Breakthrough Artist at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, played sold-out headline shows across the UK and Europe, and performed at The Great Escape, We Out Here, Love Supreme, and more. They have also recently collaborated with Mike Keat of The Cuban Brothers and Simon Bartholomew of The Brand New Heavies.
Tom Lewis, president of Fontana, said: “Knats have hit the UK jazz scene like a bolt of lightning! They are technically breathtaking and musically exhilarating and you can feel the lifelong friendship, ambition and graft in every note they play. Their spirit is extraordinary and infectious.”
Knats’ Stan Woodward said: “A Great Day in Newcastle is an exploration through happy, sad and angry stories from Newcastle and the beginning of a new sound for Knats.”