The Clockworks Tickets

When Galway-born, London-based alternative quartet The Clockworks wrapped up touring for their debut album, 2023’s Exit Strategy, they concluded a game-changing period of their lives that was buoyed by a greater sense of community than ever. That record had cemented the importance of their move to the capital. Not only had it led to them working with Bernard Butler on the album, but it had also set off a domino chain of pinch-me events that saw them tick off support tours with some of their heroes. In 2022, they were taken on the road in the US by Pixies; last year, they wrapped up a string of dates with Johnny Marr. 

In stark contrast to their debut, which had been laid down with Butler in a flurry of activity, running on snap decisions with no time to look back, The Entertainment was produced by Sean Connelly, recorded over a period of months and using almost meta techniques to mirror the jarring conceits inside. 

On the record’s artwork, the band are seated in a cinema screen, replicating an old LIFE Magazine cover featuring the first theatre to show 3D films. Back then, the technology seemed fantastical; now, we can see people putting a blinker around their vision - the start of many to come. With their second, The Clockworks are highlighting that duality but they’re also offering a tangible reason to support the alternative: a group of mates, making music to get you off a screen and into the world. That, after all, is really entertainment.