When a band stomp around their own region with more than a crackle of confidence you know they’ve got into the essence of the place… or are a little homesick. So it is that St Austell rock’n’roll quartet The Velvet Hands have a major South West showing in the autumn / winter mini-tour.

With new single Telephone Love not long out and second album Sucker Punch popping out in February 2023, this feels a bit like a victory lap, who are reportedly a fave of another South West star, Michael Eavis.

Loop

“Telephone Love is about being stuck in a loop you can’t get out of,” said The Velvet Hands. “It’s the moment that you realise you may no longer be in control. It’s also the moment that you realise you don’t care if you’re not. Inspired musically by ‘80s new wave and ‘00s indie, we wanted to make the chorus sound like a party and the verse to sound like the morning after.”

Garage rock

The Velvet Hands are Toby Mitchell, Dan Able, Louis Mitchell and Sam Hilder. Blending slacker story-telling with belting guitar riffs reminiscent of The Strokes or Parquet Courts with rousing punk choruses that recall The Clash, the band formed amidst Cornwall’s blistering garage-rock scene before relocating to London and making a name for themselves on the capital’s underground guitar circuit.

Fresh off the back of a triumphant festival run this summer, including a homecoming show at Cornwall’s Boardmasters, The Velvet Hands also put in an impressive performance at the Pilton Party Auditions Final, where Michael Eavis hand-picked them to support at this year’s instalment of the infamous Pilton Party.

THE VELVET HANDS – LIVE DATES

FEBRUARY

3 – The Junction – Plymouth
4 – Old Bakery Studios, Truro
22 – The Lexington, London

Tickets on sale here:

https://www.thevelvethands.co.uk