Hartlepool band Marketplace have shared new romance single ‘Contact Sports’ ahead of their EP release

Marketplace are teasing their new EP ‘Marketplace Mean Business’, set for release on 6th June, with a new video for ‘Contact Sports’.

The Hartlepool five-piece’s latest single, produced by Chad Rodgers, follows support slots with Alfie Templeman, Swim Deep, The Lottery Winners and Abbie Ozard.

“‘Contact Sports’ is about budding romances, where everything is touch and go, and where you know you really like someone but you’re still trying to convince yourself it’s not that serious,” vocalist Evie Rhodes explains. “We took a lot of inspiration for this song from bands like The Beths and their style of scrappy love songs that are just so unapologetically sincere without being too serious. The song kind of reads like I’m just crashing out and riding through a train of thought, so I think that balance of lighthearted sincerity was something we tried to capture.”

The band, comprising Rhodes (vocals/guitar), Joel O’Beirne (vocals/bass), Jack Purcell (guitar), Matthew Short (synth/vocals), and Ross Dixon (drums), draw influence from artists including Alvvays, Declan McKenna, Pulp, and Talking Heads.

Their dates in full read:

APRIL
16 BBC Introducing @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead
19 Stockton Calling, Stockton

MAY
14 Kazimier Stockrooms, Liverpool
15 Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham
16 The Great Escape Festival (Matinee), Brighton
16 The Victoria, London
17 The Great Escape Festival, Brighton
23 McChuills, Glasgow
24 Independent, Sunderland

JULY
31 YNOT? Festival, Derbyshire