A UK No.1 album made independently, a home-city arena headline, Download and Steelhouse, and a Shinedown arena run across Europe and the UK this autumn. The fifth record is recorded.

Those Damn Crows are a five-piece from Bridgend, South Wales. Their fourth album, God Shaped Hole, went in at No.1 on the Official UK Albums Chart in April 2025, the first No.1 for the band and the first in the history of Earache Records, the independent label that has released every one of their albums to date.

It was a No.1 built the slow way. Four albums, each charting higher than the last, a touring record that goes back through every size of room in the UK, and a fanbase that turns up: 98% sold across a twelve-date underplay in release week, then 14,620 tickets across the twenty-date headline run that followed.

The band are now out of contract and have just finished recording the fifth album with producer Dan Weller, who made the last two records with them. Booking is with The Team for the UK, Europe and the rest of the world and Nick Storch at Independent Artist Group in North America, publishing is with Notting Hill Music, and the next twelve months already hold a Shinedown arena run across Europe and the UK, a return to European festivals and a 2027 UK headline tour in routing.

What a label partner is stepping into:

• A proven chart act with a physical and D2C audience. Week one for God Shaped Hole was 6,376 CDs, 3,400 vinyl LPs, 184 cassettes and 5,895 downloads, plus 358 on the KiT format, per Music Week.
• A live business that stands on its own. A 5,248-capacity arena headline in Cardiff, a 98% sold release-week underplay, four sold-out shows in Germany in 2025 and festival headline slots.
• A press and radio profile already in place. Classic Rock, Kerrang!, Planet Rock and BBC Radio 1 support across the last two campaigns, UK press through Kirsten Sprinks and Jazmin L'Amy at Cosa Nostra PR.
• A band at full strength. Same five members since 2014, same work ethic, and the fifth record already recorded.

Those Damn Crows formed in Bridgend, South Wales in 2014. Shane Greenhall on vocals, Ian "Shiner" Thomas and David Winchurch on guitars, Lloyd Wood on bass and Ronnie Huxford on drums. That line-up hasn't changed, which tells you most of what you need to know about how the band work.

The debut, Murder and the Motive (2018), reached No.5 on the Official Rock and Metal Albums Chart and got them noticed by Planet Rock and Metal Hammer. Point of No Return (2020) crashed into the UK Top 20 at No.14, with support from BBC Radio 1, Planet Rock and Kerrang! Radio. Inhale/Exhale (2023) went in at No.3. God Shaped Hole (2025) went to No.1.

The live side has grown in step. The band have opened for The Wildhearts, Black Label Society, Monster Truck, The Hollywood Vampires, ZZ Top at OVO Arena Wembley, Takida across Sweden and Germany, and Böhse Onkelz on a fourteen-show German and Austrian run that included the Berlin Waldbühne twice. They've played Download main stage twice, headlined Steelhouse Festival, Call of the Wild, Planet Rockstock and Maid of Stone's second stage, and in December 2024 headlined Utilita Arena Cardiff with 5,248 people in the room.

Huge songs from a band with the potential to be huge.

Classic Rock, 4/5

Fronted by Shane Greenhall, the sound is contemporary rock with classic hooks and lyrics that deal in resilience, loss and getting back up. God Shaped Hole is the heaviest and most open record they've made, with themes of disillusionment, hope and finding meaning when things fall apart. The reviews landed it as their best to date, and the fans made it a No.1.

Through 2026 the band have played Download's Opus stage and, from 31 October, join Shinedown as special guests across fifteen arena and theatre shows in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Czechia, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK and Ireland.

Utilita Arena Cardiff, 14 December 2024. Their first arena headline, in their own city, with Himalayas and Sophie Lloyd in support and 5,248 people in the room. The biggest show of their career so far, and the night the band proved they can carry a room that size on their own name.

God Shaped Hole release week, March 2025. A twelve-date UK underplay into small rooms to launch the album, ten of them sold out, including Bournemouth, Frome, Norwich, Exeter, Sheffield, Lincoln, Morecambe, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Liverpool and the 100 Club in London. 98% of every ticket sold across the run.

God Shaped Hole tour, October to November 2025. Twenty headline shows across the UK, Ireland and Europe with Takida and James Bruner in support, 14,620 tickets sold. O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, Albert Hall in Manchester, Galvanizers in Glasgow, O2 Institute in Birmingham, and sell-outs in Leicester and Southampton.

Germany. The fastest growing market in the band's world. Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Bochum all sold out in October 2025, with Berlin and Dresden close behind, on the back of fourteen stadium shows with Böhse Onkelz in 2024 and fourteen more dates with Takida in summer 2025.

An all-welcoming, no-bullshit tonic.

Classic Rock, live at Shepherd's Bush Empire

Festivals. Download main stage in 2022 and 2024 and the Opus stage in 2026. Headliners at Steelhouse Festival 2025, closing the whole weekend two years after playing special guest under Airbourne. Headline slots at Call of the Wild, Planet Rockstock, Planet Rock's Winter's End, Maid of Stone and the European HOG Rally in Croatia, and sold-out headline nights at Cardiff Castle, Chepstow Castle and De Valence in Tenby.

Support runs. The Wildhearts, Black Label Society, Monster Truck, The Hollywood Vampires, ZZ Top with Rival Sons at OVO Arena Wembley, Takida across Germany, Austria and Sweden, and Böhse Onkelz at the Berlin Waldbühne, Loreley and the Rudolf Weber-Arena.

Next. Fifteen arena and theatre shows as special guests to Shinedown from 31 October to 23 November 2026, listed below, and a 2027 UK headline tour now in routing.