Following last year’s Bored Animal, Psychonaut Sounds/PIAS will release His Lordship’s tribute to Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer Chuck Berry, Promised Land, on 13th November 2026, to celebrate what would’ve been his 100th birthday. His Lordship will also present their All Cranked Up show at London’s 100 Club on 17th and 18th November 2026 with special guests Chris Robinson (Black Crowes), Bobby Gillespie & Andrew Innes (Primal Scream), Nick Lowe, Spider Stacey (The Pogues), Kathy Valentine (Go-Go’s), and Charles Berry and Charlie Berry III.
A lifelong fan of Chuck Berry, at just six years of age, His Lordship’s frontman and guitarist James Walbourne saw Berry perform at Hammersmith Odeon; last year, Walbourne was asked to play at the annual celebration of Berry’s music in his hometown of St. Louis. Thereafter, His Lordship hit upon the idea of attempting to record a varied selection of Berry’s songs, to see if, whilst paying tribute to these monuments of American music, they could put their own personal stamp on the material, injecting it with 21st-century urgency and passion.
Recorded in early 2026 at London’s Karma Studios, Promised Land features mostly adrenalised reworkings of 13 extraordinary songs, with many of the tracks recorded without rehearsal.
Knowing it was important to include several of Berry’s most influential songs, the album also features takes on Maybelline, a funkier version of Roll Over Beethoven, a fuzzy groove on Memphis, Tennessee, Brown Eyed Handsome Man with a new infectious riff, and an indifferent, throwaway treatment of Too Much Monkey Business to reflect the protagonist of the song’s story. The band also recorded versions of some of his lesser-known tracks. Right Off Rampart Street is turned from a simple, stripped 12-bar blues into something gritty and sinister. I Want Be You Driver is a heavy and ferocious garage number, and Jaguar and Thunderbird’s narrator ends up sounding like a frantic racecourse announcer.
Promised Land will be available on vinyl and CD, digital and streaming platforms, and is available to pre-order here.
Details of the two 100 Club shows are as follows:
17th November – His Lordship and Friends, featuring: Chris Robinson of Black Crowes, Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes of Primal Scream, Nick Lowe, Spider Stacey of The Pogues, and Dave Hill (comedian).
18th November – His Lordship plays Chuck Berry and Rock ‘n’ Roll, featuring: Charles Berry and Charlie Berry III, Chris Robinson, Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go’s.
You can find details of tickets via this link.
The album will be preceded on 30th October by the band’s high-speed version of Nadine, in which the song is deconstructed with a circular riff – a one-off Chiswick Records 7-inch vinyl single b/w the Chuck Berry original. You can get a flavour of this below.
