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Jun 29, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Euan Robertson

Scotland’s We Were Promised Jetpacks have announced a new album, Enjoy the View, and shared a new song from it, “Fat Chance.” They have also announced some new North American tour dates. Enjoy the View is due out September 10 via Big Scary Monsters. Check out “Fat Chance” below, followed by the tour dates.

Enjoy the View is the follow-up to 2018’s The More I Sleep the Less I Dream. Since that album, they have amicably parted ways with founding member Michael Palmer, leaving them a trio featuring Adam Thompson, Sean Smith, and Darren Lackie.

Lead singer Thompson had this to say about the album and “Fat Chance” in a press release: “We started properly writing this album at the end of March 2020 when we realized that everything was going to be shut down and that touring wasn’t going to be a possibility any time soon. So from March to June we sent each other ideas remotely and collaborated that way. I was so glad to have had a project to focus on when proper lockdown hit. When we were finally able to get into our practice space in July and write together in one room like we normally do, this song appeared pretty quickly.”

He adds: “I was just messing about on guitar in our studio and got the verse chords and as soon as the other guys joined in, we had a song! We can sometimes spend weeks and months and years trying to get the right parts together but this one flowed. I finished the pre-chorus and chorus that day and sent the demo to the rest of the band and we were excited about it straight away.”

The album was written remotely during the pandemic. “Writing together this way meant we had to stay in near daily contact to talk about the songs and what we were individually and collectively trying to achieve with them,” Thompson says. “Even though we were unable to be in the same room, this way of working allowed us to continue to create together and communicate perhaps more directly and efficiently than normal. Having music to focus on during lockdown only reinforced how much we enjoy being in our band together and how important it is that we do it for as long as we can.”

Lackie adds: “Having had so much time off of touring has given us a renewed desire to get out there and play to as many people, in as many different places, as possible. We’re so appreciative of the people who listen to us; it’s because of them that we are constantly pushing ourselves to get better.”

The album also features “If It Happens,” a new song shared in April (listen to that below too).

Also read our 2014 interview with the band or the guest blog post former guitarist Michael Palmer wrote for us in 2014 on professional wrestling.

We Were Promised Jetpacks North American Tour Dates:

November 2021:

11.13 - Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
11.14 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
11.15 - Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall/The Camel
11.17 - Atlanta GA @ Terminal West
11.18 - Durham, NC @ Motorco
11.19 - Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat
11.20 - Brooklyn NY @ Elsewhere
11.21 - Cambridge, MA @ Sinclair

March / April 2022:

03.21 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge
03.22 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
03.24 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
03.25 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
03.28 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
03.29 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
03.31 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
04.01 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
04.02 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
04.03 - St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
04.04 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
04.06 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
04.07 - Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
04.08 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig
04.09 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
04.10 - Montreal, QC @ Bar le Ritz

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