Idles Preview New Album With ‘The Beachland Ballroom’

Idles have announced their upcoming album, Crawler, and dropped the video for its first single, “The Beachland Ballroom.” The follow-up to last year’s Ultra Mono, Crawler arrives on November 12th via Partisan.

Co-produced by Kenny Beats and Idles guitarist Mark Bowen, Idles recorded the album during the pandemic at Real World Studios in Bath, England. The LP’s first single is named after the Cleveland, Ohio venue.

The clip features a closeup of frontman Joe Talbot’s face as he soulfully sings that he’s “not praying baby/I’m not begging, darling” before he emotively belts “damage” repeatedly on the chorus.

“It’s the most important song on the album, really. There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms,” Talbot said in a statement. “Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, fuck — we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got. The song is an allegory of feeling lost and getting through it. It’s one that I really love singing.”

“I didn’t know Joe could sing like that,” Bowen added in a statement. “He’s been trying to write ‘Be My Baby’ since the very beginning, but he didn’t want to be the punk guy wearing the Motown clothes. He wanted it to feel natural, and this song is.”

Crawler Tracklist

1. “MTT 420 RR”
2. “The Wheel”
3. “When the Lights Come On”
4. “Car Crash”
5. “The New Sensation”
6. “Stockholm Syndrome”
7. “The Beachland Ballroom”
8. “Crawl!”
9. “Meds”
10. “Kelechi”
11. “Progress”
12. “Wizz”
13. “King Snake”
14. “The End”