Roddy Woomble has rescheduled his upcoming solo tour, as well as revealing the ambitious plans for Idlewild‘s upcoming 25th anniversary shows.
Having shared the title track last month, today (March 27) sees the Idlewild frontman release his ‘experimental’ solo EP, ‘Everyday Sun’.
With shows previously lined up for March and April, now Woomble will be taking the EP on the road through the summer and into September – culminating with a show at London’s Moth Club.
Speaking to NME about his new release, Woomble explained how the collection was “not poems recited over music, or spoken word, but neither is it a straight forward collection of songs.”
“The EP is quite an interesting piece of work,” Woomble told NME. “What I’ve found over the years is that all the best things come accidentally. You stumble across them and you can’t really plan them – not just in music, but in life. The genesis of all these songs came from just having fun. It felt so strange to me to not sing and just to speak. It’s not like anything I’ve ever done before.
“What I tend to do is write bits and pieces every day. Whether that’s something random or whether that’s me sitting down and following a train of thought, I collect them over a couple of months. Time is the main influence. My lyrics are a collection of thoughts over time.”
Enjoying his new sonic direction, Woomble said that he’d been “enjoying freedom for years, since the spotlight shifted from Idlewild in 2005″.
“I knew that it was time to explore something different creatively so started making my solo records,” said Woomble. “I met lots of folk musicians and followed that muse. Then I brought that forward-thinking approach back to Idlewild and we made ‘Everything Ever Written’ [2014] and ‘Interview Music’ [2019]. I don’t feel constricted by ‘indie rock’, whatever that means. It’s quite a good time to create music.”
On his plans following the EP’s release, Woomble revealed: “My next project will be to make another solo record which I hope will be out next year. I’m working on an Idlewild book and we’ve got the anniversary tour coming out, so that will take up the second half of this year.”
Taking place in November, the anniversary tour will be “something really special for the fans” – with Woomble promising two and a half hour sets and some old faces returning to the stage.
“We did the 15th anniversary for ‘The Remote Part’ in 2017 and we got Bob [bassist from 1997–2002] back on stage for a few songs. It was really worthwhile on so many levels, so we thought that the next time we had a significant anniversary we should do something proper for it. The 25th anniversary seemed like the perfect time to put together a proper show. We’re going to get everyone who’s been in the band over the past 25 years.”
As for Idlewild’s next record, Woomble added: “We’re always working on something. We’re lifers now. We’ve done it for so long and it will happen when it happens.”
Roddy Woomble’s upcoming solo dates are:
May
28 – Strathaven, Frets Acoustic, Strathaven Hotel
June
5 – Dundee, Dundee University’s Chaplaincy Centre
6 – Wakefield, Long Division
July
23 – Chester, St Mary’s Creative Space
24 – Topcliffe, Deer Shed Festival
25 – Newcastle, Cumberland Arms
August
9 – Sunderland, Lamplight Festival
15 – Edinburgh, Summerhall, Edinburgh Fringe
September
10 – New Galloway, Castle Douglas, Catstrand Arts Centre
11 – Arbroath, Webster Memorial Theatre
12 – Coventry, The Tin Music & Acts
13 – Guilford, The Boiler Room
14 – Brighton, Komedia Studio
15 – Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
16 – Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough Town Hall
17 – Saltaire, The Salt Factory
18 – Reading, South Street Arts Centre
19 – Winchester, The Railway Inn
20 – Moth Club, London
Idlewild’s upcoming 25th anniversary tour dates are:
November
4 – Tramshed, Cardiff
5 – Electric Brixton, London
9 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
10 – Button Factory, Dublin
11 – The Empire, Belfast
14 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh