“they lurch with satisfying abandoned through funereal Slint-like post-rock to unashamedly slovenly Pixies-ish riffs to splenetic blasts of screaming hardcore and staccato math-rock scrapes, as Zak Bowker intermittently makes his strangled screams heard above the maelstrom” – Uncut

“an explosion of energy unlike anything you’ve heard this year” – NME

“‘Title Track’ is a riotous earworm from noise punk’s most promising new band.” – Dork

“a band trying to pummel their way out of a cage” – DIY Mag

“glorious desolation” – So Young

UNIVERSITY, the explosive Crewe-based four-piece formed of Zak Bowker (vocals/guitar), Ewan Barton (bass), drummer Joel Smith and Eddie (mascot), today share their new single and video, “GTA Online”, following a premiere on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show.  “GTA Online” is the third reveal from their upcoming debut album, McCartney, It’ll Be OK, out 20 June 2025 via Transgressive.

Nearly four minutes of gargantuan rock akin to the cult early Biffy Clyro records, “GTA Online” features mountainous guitar riffs atop layers of amplified fuzz, while still maintaining a softer and more harmonious edge in parts. Speaking of the new track, the band said: “I tire an old, sick man, tedious dreams of Bosch, oh do not ask what is it. I do not want to know.“

The accompanying video was directed by Nina Dellow who said: “My process for this video was to work very quickly, using tight creative restrictions, with a focus on pushing analogue technology to its limits, in order to capture the aliveness and energy of this incredible band. I shaped the piece around three structured shots, but at the heart of it is the band as they really are; their passion for what they do and the joy and risks in playfulness that occur when artists and musicians truly collaborate.”

Recorded with producer Kwes Darko (Sampa The Great, Denzel Curry) at Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 in London, McCartney, It’ll Be OK furthers the extremely exciting beginnings of UNIVERSITY’s 2023 debut EP, Title Track, with the hooks now brighter and more melodic, the breakdowns heavier and the lyrics more refined. The band recorded McCartney, It’ll Be OK totally live, and it retains the delightfully unhinged energy that’s defined their work so far, with everything thrillingly close to falling apart at any minute.

The third single from their new album, “GTA Online” cuts up moments of softer musical clarity with sprawling and incendiary punk rock. The track follows the releases of the absurdist humour and scything punk on “Curwen”, and the sardonic “Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo”, named after the answer to a game of “what would be the worst tattoo in the world?”.

Listen to “GTA Online” here and watch the music video below.

UNIVERSITY’s sardonic humour melds into their music. After signing to a label and taking the ‘business side of their operation’ more seriously, they decided to offset this grown-up attitude by pushing their music to more extreme and more absurdist places. “It’s a side effect of taking the rest of it more seriously,” Bowker says, with the band determined to trust their weirdest, funniest impulses.

While the music can be brutally heavy at times, it’s all cut through with the absurdist humour that is also present at the band’s live shows. On stage, they’re joined by balaclava-clad best friend Eddie, whose entire job is to play video games and hold up signs indicating the (often ridiculous and lengthy) title to the next song his mates will play. Of his role in creating the album, Smith says, with however many pinches of salt you’d like to take: “He laid everything down and told us what to record. He’d whip us if we weren’t doing it quickly enough and was pretty horrible to work with to be honest. He was like Frank Zappa, dragging us by the hair back into the studio when we were out having a fag.”

While Beatles references pepper the band’s conversations around the album as well as its title – a misheard lyric from one of its songs – Lennon and McCartney never made anything nearly as weird or energetic as this. Across the album, UNIVERSITY make scything yet catchy punk, gargantuan rock and blackened ten-minute monsters (“History of Iron Maiden pt.1”, a sequel to a track from the EP in nothing but name).

While they might be throwing out gags and urban myths out in all directions, the only thing truly undeniable is the remarkable energy of UNIVERSITY’s music, and the strength of their songwriting. Across its eight tracks, McCartney, It’ll Be OK  travels to a superb amount of sonic landscapes, and is the heaviest album you’ll hear this year that is also this much fun.

Following standout shows at The Great Escape, Green Man, End of The Road, Mutations Festival, Pitchfork Festival Paris and more recently multiple appearances at this year’s SXSW, UNIVERSITY now gear up for a run of UK dates including an appearance at Manchester’s Outbreak Festival and a headline show at London’s George Tavern (tickets here).

UNIVERSITY also today announce a run of UK instores with appearances at Rough Trade in Liverpool, London and Bristol in June. See the full list of dates below.

Fri 16/05/2025 London Calling @ Paradiso, Amsterdam Netherlands
Sat 14/06/2025 Outbreak Festival, Manchester United Kingdom
Mon 23/06/2025 INSTORE – Rough Trade Liverpool
Wed 25/06/2025 INSTORE – Rough Trade East, London
Thu 26/06/2025 INSTORE – Rough Trade Bristol
Fri 05/09/2025 Paradiso (Upstairs), Amsterdam Netherlands
Sat 06/09/2025 Misty Fields Festival, Asten-Heusden (NL) Netherlands
Mon 08/09/2025 La Mécanique Ondulatoire, Paris France
Tue 09/09/2025 Aéronef, Lille, France
Thu 11/09/2025 Schokoladen, Berlin Germany
Sat 13/09/2025 Botanique, Brussels Belgium
Mon 15/09/2025 Louisiana, Bristol United Kingdom
Tue 16/09/2025 Where Else?, Margate United Kingdom
Wed 17/09/2025 George Tavern, London United Kingdom
Fri 19/09/2025 The Castle, Manchester United Kingdom
Sun 21/09/2025 Hug & Pint, Glasgow United Kingdom
Mon 22/09/2025 Brudenell Social Club (Community Room), Leeds United Kingdom
Tue 23/09/2025 Hare & Hounds 2, Birmingham United Kingdom
Fri 07/11/2025 Mutations Festival at Patterns, Brighton United Kingdom

Tracklisting

Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo

Curwen

Gorilla Panic

Hustler’s Metamorphosis

GTA Online

Diamond Song

History Of Iron Maiden Pt. 1

History Of Iron Maiden Pt. 0.5