The Tubs — the London-based Celtic jangle boyband of Owen Williams (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Dan Lucas (guitar), Taylor Stewart (drums), and Max Warren (bass) — today release their new album, Hard Life. In addition to unleashing the album in full, The Tubs have also shared a new, self-directed music video for the title track, in which Owen, Dan, and Max help Taylor get ready for a date by giving him an emo makeover. Watch the video below and listen to one of the year’s most celebrated albums wherever you stream music. Hard Life is now shipping on CD, LP, and Peak Vinyl from the Merge store in the US or UK, or The Tubs' Bandcamp page! US Peak Vinyl orders will come with a FREE Merge logo koozie, while supplies last!

The Tubs persona familiar to listeners of Cotton Crown and Dead Meat — to quote Williams, “navel gazing about romantic abjection, London squalor, and the indignities of grief and OCD” — is still present on Hard Life, but so too is a second voice, steelier and more experienced. “The second persona doesn’t have much time for the first,” Williams explains, “often haranguing him for his self-indulgence and immaturity; sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly.”

On Hard Life, these voices argue, pester one another, merge into each other, and break apart, sometimes over the course of a single song. They’re two sides of the same coin, people who’ve experience grief, disappointment, regret, and shame, emerging from the wreckage as changed men. “I’m interested in the way sympathy and patience for someone suffering always runs out eventually,” Williams says. “How this can be a good and liberating thing as well as a sad and brutal thing. But mostly they’re just pop songs. “ Exquisite, irresistible pop songs. Spin them until the healing starts, then spin them again.

What critics are saying about Hard Life:

“Iridescent jangle nirvana.” —MOJO (***** Album of the Month)

“Tough times and introspection lead to gloriously incandescent songs on the London-based band’s best yet.” — Uncut (9/10 Album of the Month)

“Frontman Owen Williams gives himself a lovingly stern talking-to … set to hurtling powerpop, all ducking, diving guitars and twinkling festivity.” —The Guardian

“Confirms The Tubs’ position as one of the principal indie rock bands of the moment” —The Associated Press

“What pop songs they are—intricate, elegant, urgent and uproarious.” —Treble

The Tubs will embark on an extensive world tour this fall, including a run of North America, during which they’ll return to some of their favorite cities and fast food joints in the US and beyond. Tickets for all dates are now on sale.

The Tubs on tour: 
Sep 21 Bristol, UK – Exchange
Sep 22 Cardiff, UK – Clwb Ifor Bach
Sep 24 Liverpool, UK – District
Sep 25 Glasgow, UK – Stereo
Sep 26 Manchester, UK – The Deaf Institute
Sep 27 Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
Sep 29 Nottingham, UK – The Bodega
Sep 30 London, UK – Scala
Oct 01 Brighton, UK – Chalk
Oct 02 Southampton, UK – The Joiners
Oct 03 Norwich, UK – Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom
Oct 15 Kingston, NY – Tubby's *
Oct 16 Medford, MA – Deep Cuts *
Oct 17 Montreal, QC – L'Esco *
Oct 18 Toronto, ON – The Garrison *
Oct 19 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop *
Oct 21 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle *
Oct 22 Milwaukee, WI – X-Ray Arcade *
Oct 23 Minneapolis, MN – Cloudland Theater *
Oct 26 Seattle, WA – Baba Yaga ^
Oct 27 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios ^
Oct 29 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop ^
Oct 30 Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon ^
Oct 31 Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room ^
Nov 01 Phoenix, AZ – Linger Longer Lounge ^
Nov 03 Austin, TX – The 13th Floor &$
Nov 04 Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves &$
Nov 06 Atlanta, GA – The EARL $
Nov 08 Carrboro, NC – Cat's Cradle Back Room $
Nov 09 Washington, DC – Songbyrd + 
Nov 10 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda's +
Nov 11 New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge +
Dec 04 Paris, FR – Le Chinois
Dec 06 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso (Small Hall)
Dec 07 Bruges, BE – Cactus
Dec 08 Nijmegen, NL – Merleyn
Dec 09 Rotterdam, NL – V11
Dec 11 Cologne, DE – Artheater
Dec 12 Hamburg, DE – Nochtwache
Dec 13 Frankfurt, DE – Nachtleben
Dec 14 Munich, DE – Kranhalle
Dec 16 Berlin, DE – Kantine am Berghain

*= w/ Mopar Stars
^= w/ Touch Girl Apple Blossom
& = w/ Paper Jam
$= w/ Tanner York
+ = w/ Slippers