Manchester punks Aerial Salad have today announced the release date for their long-awaited third album and shared a third track from it.
Big Business is the latest taste of R.O.I., which will be released on 12 April by their new label Venn Records.
It marks a step away from the snotty three-chord thrash which they made their name with on the DIY punk scene. They now describe their sound as ‘Madchester Punk’, just as influenced by Happy Mondays as it is by Carter U.S.M.
The trio formed in 2016 with the sole intention of playing legendary punk festival FEST in Gainesville, which they did as teenagers.
They could barely play, and it was an unmitigated disaster, but Jamie Munro (vocals/guitar), Mike ‘Wimbo’ Wimbleton (vocals/bass) and Mike Marshall (drums) still had the front to pull it off.
They cut their teeth in the DIY punk world, with their excellent 2017 debut album Roach and 2020’s Dirt Mall (reviewed here), both released on Alex Wonk of Wonk Unit’s Plasterer Records.
The latter was released just a month before the first Covid-19 lockdown, and, like all other bands who released new material around that time, they were robbed of the chance to tour it.
Undeterred, they worked on fresh songs, playing live when they were allowed to again, and the single John, released in April 2021, was the first taste of what would become their third album.
That was followed by Same 24 Hours (As Beyonce) in September 2022, and now they have released Big Business, a song which Munro says is about “a growing feeling that money is completely destroying entertainment”.
“In the same way that many feel football is all about money, it’s the same in music, film, TV,” he adds. “Just about everything in the age we live in is purely for money. The song poses two questions. Has it always been this way? And does it have to be like this?”
R.O.I. sees Aerial Salad finding space to explore new genres without losing touch with the DIY punk community which continues to be close to their heart. It is available to pre-order now HERE.
