Shame announce new album ‘Cutthroat’ with fiery title track and UK and European tour

Shame have shared details of a new album and UK/European tour. Check out the details below, along with the new single, ‘Cutthroat’.

• READ MORE: Shame – ‘Food For Worms’ review: Londoners expand their horizons

The upcoming fourth album marks the follow-up to 2023’s ‘Food For Worms’, and is set for release on September 5 via Dead Oceans.

To make the record, the band teamed up with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, and the five members – frontman Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist Josh Finerty and drummer Charlie Forbes – went in with the intention of creating a new Ground Zero.

“It’s about the cowards, the cunts, the hypocrites. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of them around right now,” said Steen. “This is about who we are. Our live shows aren’t performance art – they’re direct, confrontational and raw. That’s always been the root of us. We live in crazy times. But it’s not about ‘Poor me.’ It’s about ‘Fuck you’.”

The record is set to be rife with Shame’s trademark sense of humour, and tackle the big issues of today with a tongue-in-cheek approach. Musically, it is also set to see the band toy with visceral new approaches that wouldn’t have made the cut previously. “This time, anything could go if it sounded good and you got it right,” the frontman added.

Today (June 3), to celebrate the album announcement, Shame have dropped the title track as the lead single – take a listen to it below:

Capturing the same fiery attitude that first put them on the map, the song blends elements of punk with indie dancefloor hedonism, and lyrics explore how arrogance and insecurity are two sides of the same coin.

“I was reading a lot of Oscar Wilde plays where everything was about paradox,” Steen said. “In ‘Cutthroat’, it’s that whole idea from Lady Windermere’s Fan, ‘Life’s far too important to be taken seriously’.”

“Cutthroat is a joyride. It’s for the inexperienced driver. The one who wants to go fast for no reason other than it’s fun,” he added. “It’s driven by hunger. Hunger for something better. For something you’ve been told you don’t deserve.

“It’s primal. It’s raw. It’s unapologetic. It’s the person who turns up to the party uninvited. ’Cause when you’ve been pushed down, there’s nowhere to go but up. When you ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got nothing to lose.”

The ‘Cutthroat’ tracklist is:

1. ‘Cutthroat’
2. ‘Cowards Around’
3. ‘Quiet Life’
4. ‘Nothing Better’
5. ‘Plaster’
6. ‘Spartak’
7. ‘To and Fro’
8. ‘Lampião’
9. ‘After Party’
10. ‘Screwdriver’
11. ‘Packshot’
12. ‘Axis of Evil’

As well as announcing a new record, Shame have also shared details of a new UK and European tour taking place later this year. Dates kick off with a show in Paris on September 28, and other European shows take place between then and early November, including stops in Milan, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and more.

Nine UK and Ireland shows will follow, and include dates in Southampton, Leeds, Dublin, Cork, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol and Brighton between November 9 and 19. The tour wraps up with a closing show at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town on November 20.

Visit here for tickets, and visit here to pre-order the new album.

Shame 2025 tour dates are:

SEPTEMBER
28 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale
29 – Antwerp, BE @ TRIX
30 – Cologne, DE Gebäude 9

OCTOBER
2 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
3 – Nijmegen, NL @  Doornroosje 
4 – Hamburg, DE @ Knust
6 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumphuset
7- Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret AS
8 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan
10 – Helsinki, FI @ Korjaamo
11 – Tallinn, EE @ Paavli Kultuurivabrik
12 – Riga, LV @ Palladium
14 – Vilnius, LT @ Kablys
15 – Warsaw, PL @ NIEBO
16 – Berlin, DE @ SO36
18 – Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
19 – Bratislava Nova, SK @ Cvernovka
20 – Vienna, AU @ Chelsea
22 – Zagreb, HR @ Club Mochvara
23 – Belgrade, RS @ Zappa Baza
24 – Sofia, BG @ Mixtape 5
26 – Istanbul, TK @ Blind
28 – Bucharest, RO Control
29 – Cluj, RO @ Atelier
30 – Budapest, HU A38 
31 – Munich, DE @ Strom

NOVEMBER
2 – Zurich, CH @ Plaza
3 – Milan, IT @ Magazzini Generali 
5 – Lyon, FR @ L’Epicerie Moderne
6 – Reims, FR @ La Cartonnerie
7 – Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
9 – Southampton, UK @ 1865
10 – Leeds, UK @ Project House
12 – Dublin, IE @ National Stadium
13 – Cork, IE @ Cyprus Avenue
15 – Manchester, UK @ New Century
16 – Glasgow, UK @ The Garage
17 – Bristol, UK @ Electric Bristol
19 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
20 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town 

Shame’s last album, 2023’s ‘Food For Worms’, was given a glowing four-star review from NME and described as a record that “packs all the punk punches with sharp lyricism, high-octane playing, and smart production”.

The band has called ‘Food For Worms’ a celebration of life, and it accurately mirrors the weird, layered, loud, erratic, sometimes rapturous human experience, without too much pretence or over-dependence on polish,” it read.

“In an industry where plenty of acts are gunning for streams or TikTok fodder, Shame’s latest offering is a refreshing refuge for those thirsting for music that stirs you up live, and allows you to play witness to a band’s evolution of sound.”

The post Shame announce new album ‘Cutthroat’ with fiery title track and UK and European tour appeared first on NME.