Young Knives Tickets

About Young Knives

Young Knives formed in 1996 in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, founded by brothers Henry Dartnall and Thomas Bonsu-Dartnall (aka The House of Lords) alongside school friend Oliver Askew. Post-college, the band relocated to Oxford, where local record label Shifty Disco released their early material as the mini-LP The Young Knives… Are Dead, prompting the NME to describe them as “an enigmatic concern.”

 As momentum grew, the Young Knives signed to the then-fledgling Transgressive Records, who as a subsidiary of Warner Music meant they suddenly found themselves receiving major-label backing. For a time, it worked, with the band’s awkward outsider image, explosive live shows and deliberately odd, often hilarious videos receiving heavy rotation on MTV2, earned them a devoted following of geeks and misfits.

 Across two albums (Voices of Animals and Men and 2008’s Superabundance) they scored Top 40 singles, sold out tours, and received a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2007. Tracks such as The Decision, She’s Attracted To, Hot Summer, Terra Firma and Turn Tail were playlisted at BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, alongside appearances on Later… with Jools Holland.

 In 2010, Young Knives formed their own record label, Gadzook, and built their own recording studio so they could continue to make music on their own terms, or not at all. They have since released the albums Ornaments From the Silver Arcade (2011), Sick Octave (2013), Barbarians (2020) and Landfill (2025), all of which testify to the band’s creative freedom.