NYC cult faves The Van Pelt have announced their first new studio LP in 25 years 'Artisans and Merchants' will be released on 17th March 2023.
It has been a quarter of a century but fans will be relieved to know we only have a couple of months to wait for the new The Van Pelt album to become available.
The influential band stands among a select few of the most revered second-wave emo bands of all time including their peers in The Promise Ring, Mineral and Christie Front Drive.
‘Artisans and Merchants’ was recorded and mixed in the Summer/Autumn of 2021 by Jeff Zeigler (The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile) at Uniform Recording Studios in Philadelphia and features guest appearances by Nate Kinsella and Ted Leo amongst others.
The first single from the album- ‘Punk House’– is out now with a brand new video.
Frontman Chris Leo says, “When a bunch of old VHS tapes were unearthed, the band had them digitized and they turned out to be from US tours of the mid-90s.
The footage is mainly of daily banalities: random purchases at rest stops, packing and unpacking the van, highway views that could be on the outskirts of Any Town USA. Yet there is a nostalgia to it that’s compelling.
The song mirrors the mood in both sound and text. Lines like “The floor is filled with resin on the place where you’re to sleep / if you have enough to drink you can pretend that it’s a sheet” bring any musician back to the rougher side of days on the road — yet again, the subtext here is that the spirit of it all is to be longed for.”
The Van Pelt has announced a series of UK, EU and Brooklyn shows in March and April.
Rediscover the Van Pelt back catalogue before the new album HERE.
Follow The Van Pelt on Their Socials
Need more Punk In Your Life?
EP review: Young Punks Trivia drop their debut – ‘Home’
On paper, Hannah Hays (14, guitar and vocals) and Lydia Stubbs (15, drums) are impossibly young to be turning out a record this assured. In
Live review: Wipes, Red Anger and Voodoo Radio at The Half Moon, Putney 19/7/26
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than in the company of live punk rock, a pint in hand and three bands determined to
Album review: Madball – ‘Not Your Kingdom’
For sure, Madball are a band on whom you can rely. At this stage, the New York hardcore veterans are highly unlikely to deviate much
Thorns, London Black Heart, 16th July 2026
Headliners Thorns, however, ultimately triumph by going for speed as their weapon of choice, and my goodness do they use it well. Vocalist/guitarist Luke sports
A sunny weekend in Brighton at Bright N Sleazy Festival 2, Daltons, 10th-12th July 2026
Here we are again, at Daltons, to witness a weekend of punk rock shenanigans at Bright N Sleazy 2. A stellar line-up gathered together by
Psychomosher, London New Cross Inn, 14th July 2026
We’ve been blasting Psychomosher’s excellent ‘Trapped Into The Madness Vortex’ debut album in anticipation of this evening, and my goodness, they do it justice –
I’m Molly Tie- I Love punk! I play drums (badly), write a lot about punk (not as badly) and I’m particularly interested in issues relating to women in the music scene.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
