The Tubs Sign to Merge and Immediately Jangle Up Metallica — Yes, Really
The Tubs have signed to Merge Records, and they are celebrating the only way that makes sense for a Welsh janglepop quartet: by covering Metallica. Not just any Metallica either — “Fade to Black,” the seminal power ballad from 1984’s Ride the Lightning, gets the full jangle treatment here, emerging as the pastoral folk-rock epic Owen Williams has apparently always suspected it could be. He’s right.
The signing itself is a big deal. Merge is the kind of label where catalog matters — Neutral Milk Hotel, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Superchunk — and The Tubs fit the lineage perfectly. Owen Williams, Dan Lucas, Max Warren, and Taylor Stewart have been steadily building one of the more charming bodies of work in contemporary British indie, and having Merge behind them feels like the right next step.
The band kicks off a run of UK, EU, and festival dates this spring and fall. Full tour below.
Out now · Merge Records
Owen Williams, Dan Lucas, Max Warren, Taylor Stewart
The Fire Note is an independent-music website that mixes record-store culture with lively, opinionated music journalism. It publishes: Album reviews and features – Covering indie-rock, punk, folk, experimental music, and underground scenes.
- Fire Note Staffhttps://thefirenote.com/author/admin/
- Fire Note Staffhttps://thefirenote.com/author/admin/
- Fire Note Staffhttps://thefirenote.com/author/admin/
- Fire Note Staffhttps://thefirenote.com/author/admin/
