Bear’s Den has announced a special 10th anniversary edition reissue of their debut “Islands” on 18th October 2024. “Islands” sold over 100,000 copies and reached the top 50 in the UK album charts. To commemorate the anniversary, Bear’s Den has teamed up with Dermot Kennedy to reimagine ‘Above the Clouds of Pompeii’, offering listeners an acoustic reworking that promises to be as emotive and stirring as the original.
The 10th-anniversary edition of “Islands” will be available in several exclusive formats including exclusive colour vinyl, limited edition double disc CD and vinyl which includes a disc of B-sides and rarities, as well as a box set for collectors which includes the double disc vinyl, a photobook, and a tiny 4-inch vinyl record. This ‘tiny vinyl’ features Kennedy’s version of ‘Above the Clouds of Pompeii’ and ‘Hard Life’, which were first issued on the band’s very first bootleg CD release, the “Cardigan” EP. All copies bought from the band’s store will come with a signed print.
Speaking about the original recording of ‘Above the Clouds of Pompeii’, lead singer and guitarist Andrew Davie said, “It’s about a trip I took with my dad, when I was a kid, to Pompeii. And my dad’s mum had just passed away and my parents were going through a divorce…it was a very sad time and I remember, as a young boy looking up to my dad and trying to make him happier, that was kinda the story of the song and the idea of the song came from that”.
Davie referred to Kennedy joining them, “Whilst it’s a song with a lot of emotions for us as a band, hearing Dermot sing it, you get to listen to the song in a whole new way again and it’s a really powerful feeling and that’s the thing that’s the most exciting about doing this to us, is getting to hear our song through the voice of Dermot but also through his perspective and his way of telling a story, through his incredible and it’s just kind of blowing my mind.”
You can see the video of the new version of ‘Above the Clouds of Pompeii’ below.
Bear’s Den have also announced a string of live shows in concert halls across Europe, set to start in March 2025.
The list of dates confirmed so far is:
9th March 2025 – Gateshead UK, The Glasshouse
10th March 2025 – Edinburgh UK, Queen’s Hall
11th March 2025 – Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
13th March 2025 – London UK, Royal Albert Hall
23rd March 2025 – Cologne Germany, Gloria
25th March 2025 – Amsterdam Netherlands, Carre
26th March 2025 – Brussels Belgium, Cirque Royal
Tickets go on sale 10:00am Friday 13th September 2024, with an exclusive pre-sale available on bearsdenmusic.co.uk from 10am tomorrow (Wednesday 11th September 2024.)
