''Spitting Image'' is the third and final studio album by

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rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

The Strypes The Strypes were a four-piece rock band from Cavan, Ireland, formed in 2010 consisting of Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals), Peter O'Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica) and Evan Walsh (drums). The band played ...

, released on 16 June 2017. The folIow-up to the band's lukewarmly received second album, 2015's ''Little Victories'', ''Spitting Image'' was recorded In

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and produced by

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London, England) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, Ray LaMo ...

throughout November 2016. The album was released on the

Virgin EMI Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

label. It was proceeded by the ''Spitting Image Demos'' E.P and the ''Almost True'' E.P (both 2017). The band embarked on a world tour in support of the album. Despite this, the album became the band's least successful, failing to reach the top 3 of the Irish charts and failing to chart at all in the U.K,

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or the

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. Seven months following the conclusion of the tour on 14 November 2018, the band announced their break-up on

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, making ''Spitting Image'' their last album as an active band.

Background and production

The band began writing the follow-up to their 2015 sophomore album '' Little Victories'' at the beginning of 2016. The band had recently finished their tour in support of ''Little Victories'' and were spending time at home. While off the road, the band members wrote music which they planned to turn to songs for their then unannounced third album. During the summer, the band went to the U.K, where they recorded acoustic demos of some of the songs. While in the studio, the band met producer

whom they were big fans of. The band toured some small venues around Ireland in order to road test material for the album before they began the main recording sessions. These concerts were documented on the "Never Mind the Mocks" youtube series. The band reunited with Johns to produce the album and recorded it throughout November 2016 in

Rockfield studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was originally founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Facilities Rockfield is a two- ...

. It was the first time the band recorded an album in one go, rather than having to record in different studios or in sporadic sessions due to their touring commitments. The band cited

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,Squeeze as heavy influences on the album. Drummer Evan Walsh cited the

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...

and

Johnny Thunder Johnny Thunder is the name of three fictional superheroes appearing in comics published by DC Comics. A fourth character has the variant name Jonni Thunder. The character appeared in the second season of '' Stargirl'' on The CW network played ...

as influences for "Garden of Eden". Guitarist Josh McClorey cited

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

as an influence on "Heavenly Soul" from the subsequent ''Almost True'' e.p

Release

On April 25, 2017, the band released "Oh Cruel World" as the first single from the album, which was announced and named alongside the video. They followed it up with "Behind Closed Doors" on May 15. The album was released on June 16, 2017 alongside the single "Great Expectations". The bands first major live performances following the release of the album were in support of the Killers and

Elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

during the 2017 BST festival in July. On October 6, the band released the ''Spitting Image Demos'' E.P which contained acoustic versions of five of the album's tracks. Shortly before embarking on their U.K tour, they released the ''Almost True'' EP, composed of unreleased songs from the ''Spitting Image'' sessions.

Tour

The band embarked on a headline world tour on the 4th November in support of the album, which saw the band travel across Ireland, the U.K, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the Netherlands,

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Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, France and

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The band also supported

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

and

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...

on their respective headline tours on occasion. The band were forced to prematurely cancel their remaining U.S shows in early April 2018 after drummer Evan Walsh was ruled unfit to perform. Bassist Pete O' Hanlon, wanting to create a tour video-diary that wasn't "absolutely shite" created the "Surprisingly Dull Adventures" series. The series ran for 62 episodes, with the episodes typically being only a few minutes long, documenting the band's live performances and life on the road during the ''Spitting Image'' tour.

Fall-out

The band announced their break-up on

on 14 November 2018, seven months following the cancellation of the tour, making ''Spitting Image'' the band's last studio album to be released during the band's lifetime.

Critical reception

''Spitting Image'' received mostly positive reviews in comparison to their previous album ''Little Victories'' with many reviewers remarking on their musical maturity. Tony Clayton-Lea of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' gave the album 4/5 stars, stating that the band had matured nicely from their "teenage r&b habit" and "developed into a band full of the joys of adulthood". J.J Lee of University Express said that the band maintained their "vintage feel" on the album but stated that the album is also "an organic musical coming of age, and in spectacular fashion." Indie Buddy said that the band "have created an album rich with great tunes." and noting that "they really have grown immensely, creating an album that is a treasure trove of opulent sounds". Stephen White of

the Last Mixed Tape ''The Last Mixed Tape'' is an Irish-based daily music blog founded in February 2014 by critic and journalist Stephen White. The site is composed of reviews, interviews, and news features all written by White, specifically about the Dublin musi ...

rated the album 7/10, saying that it was "Solid" if "not a little unremarkable", noting their songwriting skill but being disappointed that they have released another "throwback" record, saying that it "leaves them sounding like just another by-the-numbers rock ‘n’ roll band (which they aren’t)".

Track listing

''Spitting Image''

''Spitting Image Demos'' E.P

''Almost True'' E.P

Charts and commercial success

''Spitting Image'' became the band's least commercially successful album, despite receiving more positive reviews than its predecessor. The album became their first and only not to reach the top 3 on the

Irish Album charts The Irish Albums Chart is the Republic of Ireland, Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have ...

(their debut, ''Snapshot'' and ''Little Victories'' both reached #2 and #1 respectively), reaching #8. It was their first and only album to not reach the top 25 on the Japanese Album charts (

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

), reaching #45 (''Snapshot'' and ''Little Victories'' reached #13 and #22 respectively.) It was also their only album to fail to chart in the U.K

or the

Personnel

The Strypes

* Ross Farrelly – Vocals * Josh McClorey – Guitar * Pete O' Hanlon – Bass * Evan Walsh – Drums

Other personnel

– Producer, Mixer * Dominik Monks – Recording engineer * Bob Ludwig – Mastering engineer

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums The Strypes albums Virgin EMI Records albums Albums produced by Ethan Johns