Back to work we go

Despite ML being violently sick into the Saône, followed by an emotional and spiritual low watching a dubbed version of Midsomer Murders in a budget hotel in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, the general consensus of our first tour in two years is overwhelmingly positive.

Thank you to everyone involved in putting us on, giving us a place to stay, or looking after us. You are heroes and saints whose reward is in heaven.

We're looking at returning in 2020, possibly for a tour, possibly for festivals. It is partly out of our hands.

Owing to a botched delivery there are a few tour 12" EPs available and we'll put them on sale soon. Once they're gone, they're gone. Everything else currently is out of print, apart from a handful of copies of the third pressing of National Service.

Next: we're going to finish recording demos for LP4 (current working title: The Very Best of Arthur Mullard) and then get to recording it properly (ie. not in our rehearsal space).

Also we're going to try and keep playing live rather than forgetting all of our songs the minute our suitcases hit the bedroom floor after tour. We hit a nice groove mid-tour and it would be nice to keep it alive.

See you in 2020.

LIVE IN TWENTY NINETEEN

On the road again
I just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again

~ Willie Nelson, 'On The Road Again'

We're back, gang, now as a sextet. That means you should get extra volume and hopefully a little extra of that sweet Total Victory melody in your ears. 

As promised, we have some UK dates ahead of leaving for the continent once more.

JULY 6 Horwich Music Festival @ Horwich RMI Club.
with Parma Violence, Bone Idols, Meal Deal + more

This already happened.

AUGUST 31 Rivington Music Festival @ Rivington Terraced Gardens
with Jeremiah Ferrari + more

Up in the hills, big thrills and spills. On at 6pm.

SEPTEMBER 15 Worcester Music Festival @ Marrs Barr, Worcester
with Evilwitch, Time of the Mouth, Hey You Guys!

OCTOBER 12 The Globe Inn, Glossop.
with The Maitlands + Bones Shake
 
OCTOBER 17 Paper Dress Vintage, Hackney
with Coeval

(only took us 12 years to play London, well done dickheads)
cancelled

AND THEN THE MADNESS BEGINS....

18 OCT PARIS ESPACE B

19 OCT LORIENT LE GALION

20 OCT RENNES MONDO BIZARRO
+ FORMICA

Early show, Formica on at 19hr.

21 OCT BREST L'AVENIR

22 OCT DAY OFF / ML BIRTHDAY / VOICE REST
 
23 OCT LYON LE SONIC
Oh shit Total Victory ON WATER. This can not end well.

24 OCT COLMAR LE GRILLEN

Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Le Grillen
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría why cosa buena
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Le Grillen
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy La Grillen!

(Los Del Rio unconfirmed)

25 OCT METZ LES TRINITAIRES
+ CUT CITY + AVALE
FB GROUP:

26 OCT TRIER LUCKY'S LUKE
+ CUT CITY

RELEASES 

Two things

- Set Controls For the Heart of the Pendle is nearing completion. This will be our tour merch special - 26 minutes of new music. People who come to the shows get first chance to buy.. Here's the tracklist:

01. Flowers in my hair
02. Rightward drift
03. Tongue in my eye
04. Oldham loop

You can call it an EP, a mini-album, an experimental release, or an indulgent flop, but it isn't LP4. It won't be going up on Spotify or any of that shit. 

- LP4 (current working title: Dance Floor Erodes At Midnight) is being demoed. We hope to start recording late in 2019 for a 2020 release. 6 songs demoed, 8 to come. We'll pick the best 35-40 minutes and put that out. Interesting mix of material so far.

VISION2020

A short and punchy news-based entry.

i. Matt has rejoined the band. LOOK:

 

His return was open-armed and open-hearted by all Total Victoryites.

ii. What is he working on? Something new for the estimable gentlefolk of Total Victory? (Yes). New album? No.

iii. Encouraged in most part by ML's touching advertorial feature, The Pyramid of Privilege gatefold is moving quite nicely over at our Bandcamp. Act now or pray for a repress.

iv. European tour 2019. We're very hopeful of getting this together soon enough. If it happens it will be after summer. A couple of minor details to sort out (work, dates, Brexit) but things look better than they did at the beginning of 2019.

v. UK shows. Statistics show that we are now more popular than ever in Britain. This could only happen to us in a year where did absolutely fuck-all. Anyway, we all decided that we need to play more UK shows and not just the usual spots. We may be coming to a city at least 60 miles from you, unless you live in Thurso or some shit.

vi. LP4. We have some songs.We need to get together and play the shit out of them. Make them sound like humans played them in the same room.

Pyramid of Privilege (re)issue

On January 29th 2019 (or at least "at some point in late January", I am very bad with dates) The Pyramid of Privilege, our first album originally released on some CD-Rs in 2011, is coming out on vinyl with a lovely gatefold sleeve. It's been remastered and a couple of annoying errors that were on the original release have been eliminated. The release is being helmed by our friends Florian and Jennie aka Specific Recordings, and our other friends David and Helene at Kerviniou are involved too. 

photos of the packaging beneath

I played the test pressing recently. I was both taken aback (the sound is good, we wrote some decent songs) and taken back in time. Not to the recording of the record, but all the bits before the album materialised where we were just floundering looking for a sound and direction and using the band as a kind of social club.