Harder, grittier and more malevolent than anything previously heard from Kill It Kid, new single 'Pray On Me' marries a punishing blues riff a la Black Keys to Chris Turpin's dust bowl howl and Stephanie Ward's softer but no less strident vocal. The strange, electrifying scream that opens the song (and is reprised to spectacular effect at 2.03) is the righteous - not to say blood-curdling - voice of a certain Reverend J.H. Terrell in full evangelical flight, culled from a 1920's Alan Lomax field recording of a tent revival.

Mistakenly lumped in with the crop of neo-folk acts on the release of their eponymous 2009 debut, Kill It Kid have been toughened up by relentless touring ever since, and, freshly inspired by old recordings like 'I Had a Dream' by Pops Staples, the band have fulfilled their identity as a blues band at heart. 'Pray On Me' is a positive affirmation of the path the band are now following, and indeed of the album that will follow in the autumn. "Throughout this whole album process we have endeavoured to really retain a sense of honesty and Britishness - of the blues boom of the 1960s - in what we do," says Chris.

February:

• 14th - London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
• 16th - Sheffield Raynor Lounge (Live Wire at Sheffield Uni)
• 17th - Edinburgh Electric Circus
• 18th - Aberdeen Drummonds
• 19th - Dundee Hulsters
• 20th - Glasgow King Tuts
• 21st - Nottingham Bodega 
• 22nd - York Fibbers
• 23rd - Manchester Deaf Institute
• 25th - Leicester Lock 42
• 26th - Coventry Kasbah - Club Night
• 27th - Peterborough Met Lounge
• 28th - Oxford Jericho Tavern

March:

• 1st - Bristol Fleece
• 3rd - Exeter Cavern 
• 4th - Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
• 5th - Brighton Freebutt
• 6th - Southampton Joiners
• 9th - Bath, Komedia