Iconic 80s New Wave group, Modern English, known for their huge hit, 'I Melt With You,' will tour North America in Summer 2020. Photo provided by Clarion Call Media

80s music icons, Modern English, announce 40th anniversary North American summer appearances

Band to perform classic 1982 album, After The Snow, in its entirety along with songs from its catalog during June and July

Legendary post-punk band Modern English have announced their upcoming North American summer headline tour. The group will celebrate their 40th anniversary and perform their breakthrough 1982 album, After the Snow, in its entirety. The tour begins in San Diego, CA on Friday, June 12 and ends on Saturday, July 11. The tour will visit markets including Los Angeles, CA on June 14, Vancouver, BC on June 20, Denver, CO on June 23, New York, NY on July 2 and Atlanta, GA on July 8. A full listing of tour dates are found below.

Supporting Modern English are Vancouver and New York post-punk bands ACTORS and Bootblacks on select dates. More information on tickets can be found on the band’s Facebook page here. Lead singer Robbie Grey had the following to share about the upcoming run:

“Recording ‘After the Snow’ with Hugh Jones as Producer was an incredible experience.
To say it changed our lives forever would be an understatement. The band wants to bring
this experience to a live audience as we play the album in its entirety for the first time.
We want to bring a creative and memorable atmosphere to a tour which will be
very special for us.”

“I Melt With You” is an iconic song delivered from the New Wave era in the 80s. It achieved heavy rotation on the Modern Rock radio format, MTV and dance clubs across the globe. The song was also featured in the classic 1983 film Valley Girl, starring Nicolas Cage.

Watch the official music video for “I Melt With You”:

On 1982’s After the Snow, the band’s sound evolved from the dark, moody and challenging post-punk found on its debut, Mesh & Lace, to a more commercial and radio friendly mix of synthesizers, guitars, catchy drumbeats and singer Robbie Grey’s unmistakable vocals. As the title suggests, the icy sound featured on Mesh & Lace melted away on After the Snow to reveal more concise and potent songs, highlighted by “I Melt With You” which brought the band up from the underground to the mainstream. It’s a song so popular that the band was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 BMI Awards for five million plays on radio. After the Snow was produced by the acclaimed Hugh Jones whose production credits include albums by Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds, The Damned and many more, and the LP was released on the legendary 4AD Records in the UK and licensed to Sire Records in the U.S.

Formed in Colchester, England, the band self-released its first single on its own Limp Records label prior to signing to 4AD, home to such like-minded acts as Bauhaus, Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. Laying the foundation for future musical movements such as goth and industrial, Modern English would gain the attention of renowned BBC DJ John Peel, who featured the band twice on his program.

Modern English would record various records over the years, and most recently, the band released its latest album, 2017’s Take Me To The Trees, an album that reconnected the band to their youth, in the fervent and fecund world of late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk Britain. Given Modern English’s roots were post-punk icons Wire and Joy Division – dark and austere while still melodic and passionate – Take Me To The Trees is a return to the sound and vision of their very early work that even James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem has described as “a sneaky secret that everyone writes off, because they just think it’s going to be a ‘I Melt With You’ but it sounds way scarier than any Joy Division record [‘Mesh & Lace’].”

Modern English will be making the following North American appearances throughout June and July and release “I Melt With You” as an exclusive 12-inch as part of this year’s Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18 which will also include a B-side featuring “Trees” and “Moonbeam” from Take Me To The Trees.

Modern English Tour Dates:

June 12 – San Diego, CA – Casbah*
June 13 – Riverside, CA – Concert Loune*
June 14 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex*
June 16 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel*
June 18 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir*
June 19 – Seattle, WA – Triple Door*
June 20 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
June 23 – Denver, CO – Soiled Dove^
June 25 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
June 26 – Evanston, IL – Space^
June 28 – Three Oaks, MI – The Acorn^
June 30 – Pittsburgh, PA – Crafthouse^
July 1 – Pawling, NY – Daryl’s House^
July 2 – New York, NY – Sony Hall^
July 5 – Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes^
July 6 – Philadelphia, PA – Ardmore Music Hall^
July 8 – Atlanta, GA – Earl’s^
July 10 – Tampa, FL – Orpheum^
July 11 – West Palm Beach, FL – Respectable Street^