Canadian rock veterans are set to reappear with dates in the UK​:

Glass Tiger play the University of London Union on Friday 19th October 2018, followed Rockingham Festival at Nottingham Trent University on Sunday 21st October 2018. Tickets for the University of London concert can be booked from Eventbrite, Eventim, and Gigantic. Tickets for Glass Tiger’s Rockingham Festival performance are available from Ticketsource.

To celebrate their 30th Anniversary, earlier this year Glass Tiger released a new album entitled “31” which includes two new songs and re-imagined recordings of all their hit singles. The band includes original members Alan Frew on vocals and guitar, Sam Reid on keyboards, Al Connelly on guitar, and Wayne Parker on bass, plus longtime drummer Chris McNeill who joined in 2000.

The album’s numerical title refers to the years between the release of their 1986 international pop smash, “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)”, and the studio sessions for the new album, which was recorded in Nashville by fellow Canadian entertainer Johnny Reid.

Citing the band as one of his musical influences, Johnny Reid guided Glass Tiger back to the songs that made them stars in Canada and beyond. Their 1986 debut album, “The Thin Red Line”, reached quadruple-platinum sales in Canada and spawned consecutive Juno Award-winning singles “Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” and “Someday”. Both were Top 10 pop hits in the U.S. and the band earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

That momentum led to arena tours around the world with bands like Journey, as well as a massive 1987 tour of the UK supporting the legendary Tina Turner. In Canada, the band notched many more hits such as “I’m Still Searching”, “Animal Heart” and “Rescued (By the Arms of Love)” – which all make an encore appearance on their latest album “31”.

Glass Tiger continue to attract special guests, as the band has done on all their studio albums. “31” offers vocals from Julian Lennon on “Thin Red Line” and Alan Doyle on “My Song”. In alternate versions, Quebec vocalist Véronic DiCaire performs in French on “Someday” while Susan Aglukark sings in First Nations on “Diamond Sun”. Johnny Reid turns up on “Wae Yer Family”, one of the two new tracks on “31”. The other is a rendition of Johnny Reid’s song, “Fire It Up” (a song that Glass Tiger originally wrote for Joe Cocker).

Ultimately it was the producer’s idea to reimagine the band’s catalog. As he told the band, he considered these songs to be old friends, so he wanted to invite them into his house and provide them with new clothes.

Across “31”, there’s a stronger Celtic influence than on Glass Tiger’s previous albums, although that influence has always been present, says Sam Reid. He also credits Frew’s distinct vocal as one of the Glass Tiger’s most consistent threads across multiple decades.

The band got its break in the summer of 1984 while opening for Culture Club and Boy George at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. When they attracted attention from Capitol Records, the group changed its name from Tokyo to Glass Tiger, ushering in a long career of international touring.

Looking ahead, Sam Reid believes the new music will be able to combine the dazzling pop styles that solidified the band’s reputation as well as the more acoustic approach that listeners will discover on “31”.

“We had so much fun doing this album,” says Sam Reid. “We’re a rock band! Even if we’re getting a little older, we don’t want to mellow out. We still love cranking it up. The records will still have an edge to them, but they’ll always have a tinge of where we’re at right now.”

Pete Sargeant