One of indie rock’s most accomplished shapeshifters will bring one of 2025’s top albums to Milwaukee this summer — and bring some serious support along with them.
Black Country, New Road released Forever Howlong last April and took it around their native U.K. as part of a touring cycle that includes a just-announced North American leg. Wisconsin gets two bites of the apple, as the band hits Madison and Milwaukee on consecutive nights: June 27 at The Sylvee and June 28 at Turner Hall Ballroom.
Horsegirl will serve as opener for all 15 North American dates, which gives music lovers the chance to hear two of last year’s best indie albums. Horsegirl’s Phonetics On and On landed on plenty of those 2025 lists, with the Chicago trio earning shouts for their creatively simple approach and NYU-fueled wordplay.
Black Country, New Road’s current six-member lineup allows them to get complex with their compositions, yet they manage to keep their music accessible. They’ve also shown the ability to navigate choppy waters while keeping their quality on course. Lead vocalist and guitarist amicably left the band just four days before the release of their second album, resulting in the cancellation of their first planned U.S. tour.
They regrouped nicely, however, and will play Milwaukee for the first time June 28. Tickets for the Turner Hall Ballroom show go on sale at 10 a.m. this Friday, Feb. 6, online via AXS and at the Pabst/Riverside box offices.
Artist bio: Black Country, New Road
There are few contemporary bands who can do musical reinvention quite as consistently as Black Country, New Road. Their Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut For the First Time touched upon everything from jazz to post-rock via klezmer music, while follow-up Ants From Up There took an “art rock meets chamber pop” approach.
When singer Isaac Wood amicably left shortly after the band’s sophomore release, they wrote an entire set of new songs to tour, which ended up on Live at Bush Hall, an album The Guardian claimed was a “magical resurgence” in a triumphant five-star review. Black Country, New Road continued the magic on studio album three, Forever Howlong, which saw the band once again build from the ground up in yet another musical transformation.
“Bush Hall was a really fun project to find our feet in,” drummer Charlie Wayne said. “But we toured it to death and we were done with those songs. This album is a new statement of intent for us as a six-piece.”
The band have settled into a new shape in which vocal duties — and most of the songwriting — is split between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw. “It created a real through line for the album, having three girls singing," Ellery said. "It's definitely very different to Ants From Up There because of the female perspective, and the music we've made also compliments that."
The band’s ability to respond to changing circumstances is not only down to their close-knit friendship but due to their talent, adaptability and long-standing relationship as musicians. A mix of classically trained and self-taught, the multi-instrumentalists gathered steam as a band in the late 2010s, regularly playing The Windmill in Brixton alongside friends and peers such as Squid and Black Midi, and soon found themselves being labelled "the best band in the world" by The Quietus.
