Johnny Foreigner Prep "Every Cloakroom Ever" Single, Tour, Write Songs, Drink Gin, And So Forth, Forever And Ever, Amen

We regret being too busy in recent months to provide the microscopic coverage of Birmingham, England-based noise pop titans Johnny Foreigner per our usual modus operandi, and we're going to start making up for it right now. For example, did you know that the trio will finally issue a vinyl single from its superlative sophomore full-length Grace And The Bigger Picture? The single -- the third from the latest collection after the freebie "Feels Like Summer" and "Criminals" -- is for the track "Every Cloakroom Ever," and just Monday night (when we actually started typing this) the band announced the b-sides. These are two (of allegedly "like, 100") newly penned numbers "Chains" and the amazingly tited "Things I Would Have Swapped For Heart Shaped Sunglasses, 2001-6." What is even cooler is that the single is being fan financed, and if you pre-order the platter by Feb. 11 Johnny Foreigner's top serious staff artiste Lewes Herriot will include your name in the single art. More than a little awesome, yeh?

Those who pre-order will also receive high quality digital files of the tunes. The actual release date is still to be determined. Of note is the fact that the band states in one message it will be manufacturing the singles themselves. While we don't expect this is literally true, we think it is interesting that the band has struck some accord with its label Best Before that allows Johnny Foreigner to effect the making of the single (to whit: "th lovely adults who are incharge of us have consented finally to release a 7" single. um, rather, they've consented to letting us do it oursleves..."). But that makes us wonder, will "Every Cloakroom Ever" bear the Best Before imprint? Will Johnny Foreigner create a vanity label of its own under whose banner the single will be issued? We suppose time will tell.

In the meantime (we're coming to a close here, we promise), Johnny Foreigner do have a couple tranches of live dates to deliver on, including an extended jaunt to South Africa. So we think it would be foolish to expect to see "Every Cloakrook Ever" in your mailbox before March, what with the live commitments, which we list below. Finally, longtime readers may recall that "Every Cloakroom Ever" first surfaced in recorded form as a demo titled "Rhapsidy/This Trapeze Ball Thought Out," as posted here by our illustrious sister site KeepingSomeDarkSecrets.net. In case you missed it, here's the recording.

Johnny Foreigner -- "Rhapsidy a/k/a This Trapeze Ball Thought Out (Every Cloakroom Ever demo)"
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[buy Johnny Foreigner merch and order the new single right here]

02.01 -- Cabaret Voltaire -- Edinburgh
02.02 -- Ruby Lounge -- Manchester
02.03 -- The Harley -- Sheffield
02.05 -- Hare and Hounds -- Birmingham
02.06 -- Clwb Ifor Bach -- Cardiff, Wales
02.09 -- King’s College -- London

02.12 -- To South Africa

02.13 -- The Assembly -- Cape Town
02.17 -- Klein Libertas Theatre -- Stellenbosch
02.19 -- Hotbox Studios -- Pretoria
02.20 -- Roxy’s -- Johannesburg
02.26 -- RAMFEST -- Worcester

(Whew, that was a long one, and we really only just scratched the surface of what the band is up to. Make sure to read this to learn about supporting acts for the UK dates, and read this to learn where you can get more free Johnny Foreigner tracks)