Ace City Racers – A Battle Royale (Track Premiere)

Glaswegian art-rock trio Ace City Racers are set to release their long-gestating debut LP Take It, It's Yours later this month, and we're delighted to be sharing A Battle Royale from the album ahead of its release. Comprised of guitarist James Barker, bassist Mark Daniels and drummer Andrew Campbell, the band have taken a somewhat circuitous route to this point. Barker and Daniels first teamed up in electro-pop outfit Juno in the late 2000s, before their new project attracted the attention of producer Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths). 

Campbell joined the band in 2014, and the band released their debut single Different Angle/Wilko in the same year, before recording their debut LP in 2015. After the release of Take It, It's Yours was cancelled at the last minute, the band decided to release the record via their own 7A-sides label, with the LP finally set to see the light of day this September. Listen to A Battle Royale in the player below.

Describing the track, Daniels and Barker say: "A Battle Royale is a slightly tongue-in-cheek story song about the breakdown of a fictional relationship, and how the closer the relationship (and the better people know each other) the worse the fall out can be when they push each other's buttons.

"It is quite strongly influenced by several of our favourite art-rock bands – Gang of Four, Franz [Ferdinand], Wire, Talking Heads, Blondie – and maybe even a little bit of Blur in there. We also like the song because it is very energetic, and our drummer Andy pulled some remarkable faces whilst recording it!"

Ace City Racers' debut album Take It, It’s Yours is out on 15 Sep via 7A-sides; the band play an album launch at The Poetry Club in Glasgow on 15 Sep, tickets available here.