JOHN Steele & The Rocket Surgeons officially launch their new single, Another You, Upstairs at Dolans this Saturday March 21.
The single – a driving punk-pop track described by Steele as a tongue-in-cheek broadside against the kind of person who greets you with enquiries about whether you’re “still at the oul music” – has been available exclusively on Bandcamp ahead of Saturday’s launch. It will be the band’s first official release ahead of a forthcoming full-length album.
Produced by Steele, Ian McNamara, and Barry Heaney, and mastered by Richard Dowling at WAV Mastering, Another You pairs an urgent, Sugar era Bob Mould energy with Steele’s characteristically direct songwriting. “No matter where I’ve travelled to, there’s always one of these guys,” Steele said of the song’s inspiration.
The road to release has not been without turbulence. The band parted ways with a record label over the past year. Significant interest from other labels remains, with the right partnership yet to be confirmed.
The Rocket Surgeons were formed by Steele after his two critically acclaimed lockdown solo albums, reuniting him with former Fall Dogs bandmates McNamara on drums and Heaney on guitar, alongside Sean Fox on bass. Saturday’s performance will also feature Eamonn Hehir of The Flag Listeners on guitar and backing vocals.
Talking about the record’s turbulent journey to release, John Steele says –
“This single was supposed to arrive with much more fanfare, but there’s been some very strange turns of events throughout the last twelve months.
“We were signed to a label, but we made the decision to part company with that label for a variety of reasons. I can’t really go into it in public at the moment, but I’m happy that we made the correct decision.
“The song has been mastered by the wonderful Richard Dowling at WAV Mastering. It’s been sitting on my drive for months. We have been concentrating more on being gig-ready, and we’re nearly there.”