Photo Credit: Drew Scott

ABSOLVA’s new music video ‘Stand Your Ground’ is revealed today, featuring a tongue-in-cheek satirical look at the music business, filmed at the fabulous Eleven venue in Stoke-on-Trent. The audio, taken from the band’s ‘Fire In The Sky’ album, was recorded at Rocksector Records HQ in North Manchester and mastered by Ade Emsley, famous for his work with Iron Maiden, amongst others.

The narrative introduces the fictitious character by the name of Timothy Swindler. Frontman Chris Appleton comments “We decided it was about time we take a different approach. Apart from ‘Code Red’ from our debut album ‘Flames of Justice’, our videos have been almost entirely performance based, so we thought why not have a bit of fun with the next one? Gradually the ideas developed into this music business scenario and the Timothy Swindler character emerged. We had an absolute blast shooting the video, our guest actors did a great job, and the guys at Lion Island Media have done us proud.”

Watch the video below.

‘Stand Your Ground’ is from Absolva’s latest album ‘Fire in The Sky’ which is the band’s 6^th studio release, celebrating their 10^th anniversary in 2022. During that year the band toured extensively in Europe and UK, with a fitting climax in December at Planet Rockstock.

Guest actors in the music video…
Tom Atkinson (from Vice)
Stig Chell (from Quiet The Thief)
Gareth Harding (from Quiet The Thief)
Dean Cowen (from The Event)
Tim Cooper (as Timothy Swindler)

In January Absolva confirmed UK tour dates for March 2023, including their flagship show at Camden Underworld on the 11^th. See below for the full UK itinerary, plus European shows. The band plays this tour as special guests of Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden singer 1994-1999). Tickets are on-sale now and links are available at absolva.com

‘Stand Your Ground’ Tour 2023…
March
3^rd UK, Grimsby, Yardbirds Rock Club
4^th UK, Glasgow, Ivory Blacks
5^th UK, Newcastle, Trillians
9^th UK, Crumlin, The Patriot
10^th UK, Peterborough, The Met Lounge
11^th UK, London, Underworld
12^th UK, Cannock, The Station
16^th UK, Norwich, Brickmakers
17^th UK, Sheffield, Corporation
18^th UK, Blackpool, Waterloo
19^th UK, Stoke, Eleven
29^th Germany, Cham, LA
30^th Austria, Vienna, Viper Room
31^st Czech Republic, Brno, Melodka
April
1^st Czech Republic, Pilsen, Serikovka
2^nd Germany, Erfurt, From Hell
20^th France, Lille, Black Lab
21^st Belgium, Verviers, Spirit of 66
22^nd France, Nancy, Chez Paulette
24^th France, Lyon, Rock n Eat
26^th France, La Rochelle, Crossroad
27^th France, Toulouse, L’Usine A Musique
28^th France, Marseille, Jas Rod
29^th France, Clermont-Ferrand, Chorus

Band members…
Christopher Appleton – lead vocals, lead guitar
Luke Appleton – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Martin Mcnee – drums
Karl Schramm – bass, backing vocals

ABSOLVA get serious with their forthcoming album release ‘Fire in the Sky’ due out on Rocksector Records on 18^th February 2022. Songs such as ‘Addiction’ deals with alcohol and drug problems, whilst ‘Historic Year’ is about the all too familiar effects of the global pandemic.

The first music video, the title track, can be viewed now below.

Frontman Christopher Appleton expands… “Absolva is usually known for the positive themes in our lyrics, yet this time we’ve been drawn toward some darker issues. The pandemic was a rough ride for most people and I personally found it difficult to take, with a mix of effects on my life. Like so many people we suffered the pain of losing a very good friend to the virus and then more generally the negative effects on our music industry as a whole were obviously really bad.”

Nevertheless, the bulldog spirit prevails, not least with the positive energy of album closer ‘Refuse to Die’. Christopher continues… “In the end most of us have things to fall back on and Refuse to Die remembers frantic Friday nights in my hometown Manchester and the wildness of gigs played straight from our hearts. We always strive to savour that energy in our music and performances.”

Certainly, there was much evidence of that energy in Absolva’s live performances in the UK during the latter part of 2021, as special guests with Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden singer 1994-1999). Absolva also double up as Blaze’s backing band.
 
Guitarist Luke Appleton adds… “I don’t have words to describe just how good it was to actually get out on tour. The tour was not without mis-hap – both our manager and Blaze himself caught the virus part-way through, and we had a crash in the band van on the final weekend of the tour, yet ultimately across the tour we were grateful to only have to cancel one show due to Covid-19. The bulldog spirit shines through!”

‘Fire in the Sky’ bears all the hallmarks of classic British metal that Absolva are known for, plus an even greater level of intensity. Recorded at Rocksector HQ (Manchester, England) during 2021, production is handled by Christopher Appleton building on his experience co-producing Blaze Bayley’s successful ‘War Within Me’ album in 2021, and the album is mastered by Ade Emsley (London, England) who has worked with a host of bands, not least Iron Maiden. The familiar team is completed with a striking cover image, renewing the band’s collaboration with the talented Akirant Illustration (Spain).
 
Official release date for the album on CD and digital platforms is 18^th February 2022. The vinyl version is expected July/August 2022, subject to global pressing delays. All bundles are available to pre-order now. More details at http://www.absolva.com

Track listing…
1 Demon Tormentor
2 Burn Inside
3 Addiction
4 What Does God Know?
5 Stand Your Ground
6 Fire In the Sky
7 Man For All Seasons
8 Gall?glaigh
9 Historic Year
10 Refuse to Die

In terms of live shows the band plays in the UK at Hammerfest (Birmingham) on 12^th February, Pentre Fest (N.Wales) on 26^th February, plus Rockin’ The Bowl festival (Sheffield) on 11^th September. In Europe festival appearances are booked for Metal Magic (Denmark) on 7^th July and Mannried Open Air (Switzerland) on 12^th August. Around 40 club shows are also booked for Europe across March-May 2022 which are under review with promoters and venues, depending on travel and health restrictions.