The Michigan post-hardcore crew La Dispute have just treated us to the third instalment of their ambitious new project. No One Was Driving the Car is the band’s first full-length effort since 2019’s Panorama, and they’ve been drip-feeding it to us in acts. This latest drop, Act III, features five brand-new tracks that dive deeper into the record’s twisting, baroque narrative.
The timing couldn’t be better for fans on this side of the pond, as the guys are heading back to the UK this February for a run of headline dates. They’ll be joined by support acts Vs Self and Pijn, starting things off with a big night in Glasgow before hitting Manchester, Cardiff, and London. If you were lucky enough to snag a ticket for the sold-out spots, expect to hear some of this fresh material alongside the classics.
According to frontman Jordan Dreyer, this section of the album is a bit of a look back down the path for the narrator. It starts in a shared home before spiralling out into memories and imagined self-portraits. We get stories of teenage hunting trips involving deer carcasses and paramilitary compounds, which sounds exactly like the kind of heavy, metaphorical storytelling we’ve come to expect from the lads. There’s even a track centred on a family scrap at a 50th birthday party – something most of us can probably relate to after a few too many at the local.
Musically, it’s classic La Dispute: one minute it’s all soft and delicate, the next it’s absolutely crushing. The album itself was inspired by the thriller First Reformed and deals with that lovely sense of modern malaise and the looming apocalypse. The title actually comes from a quote about a Tesla crash, which Dreyer used to explore how much control we actually have over our lives. The full record arrived last September via Epitaph, and this tour marks the first real chance for UK punters to hear the whole thing in the flesh.
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Tickets for the remaining shows are shifting fast, but you can still grab spots for Glasgow and Cardiff via the links below.
Here are the UK dates for the February run:
- 18th February – Glasgow, SWG3 (Tickets)
- 19th February – Manchester, Club Academy [Sold Out]
- 20th February – Cardiff, Tramshed (Tickets)
- 21st February – London, Electric Ballroom [Sold Out]
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