Gruff Rhys shares the video for his latest single, “Bad Friend” – the third and final single released from the upcoming Sadness Sets Me Free (Rough Trade), out January 26. Remarkably, Sadness Sets Me Free is the 25th album in Gruff Rhys’ prolific 35-year recording career.

Gruff says of his new track: “People always refer to ‘good friends’. This song is toying with the idea of the ‘bad friend’. Maybe a bad friend is still better than not being a friend at all. Some friends function better than others, but they’re not enemies. Within the structures of 21st-century life, the pressure on people’s time – and what we are expected to be able to perform in daily life – is so kaleidoscopic. If I could shorten the sentiments to one line, it would be ‘all in good time’. It’s me reaching out to friends through song because maybe I haven’t had the chance to go to their house or talk to them on the phone.”

The video was directed by Gruff’s long-term co-creative visual mastermind Mark James, and filmed on location through Wales and at Hard Lines Coffee in Canton, Cardiff, Wales.

‘Bad Friend’ follows the huge success of the opening track ‘Celestial Candyfloss’, a cosmic earworm that has embedded itself across UK radio and in the hearts of people attending shows in the last month that have seen Gruff & his band tour with The Coral and headline their own sold out shows in Brighton and Sheffield. Today, Gruff announced a March US tour including a stop at SXSW in addition to a previously announced full UK tour. Gruff will also be heading up a sold-out in-store / out-store tour the week of release and has confirmed festival appearances for Summer 2024 (all tour dates below).

TOUR DATES

February 2nd  – Aberystwyth, Arts Centre

February 7th – London, Kings Place (Sold Out)

February 8th – London, Kings Place

February 10th – Manchester, New Century Hall (Sold Out)

February 14th – Belfast, Empire Music Hall

February 15th – Dublin, Sugar Club (Sold Out)

February 16th – Dublin, Sugar Club

February 17th – Liverpool, Hanger 34 

February 19th – Glasgow, St Lukes

February 22nd – Bristol, Strange Brew (Sold Out)

February 23rd – Bristol, Strange Brew (Sold Out)

February 24th – Narberth, Queens Hall.

February 28th – Berlin, Badehaus

February 29th – Hamburg, Nachtasyl

March 2nd – Koln,  Theater De Wogngemeinschaft

March 3rd – Amsterdam, Zonzij

March 5th– Paris, Solaris

March 8th – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool

March 9th – Washington, DC @ DC9

March 10th – Raleigh, NC @ Kings

March 11th – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

March 13th – Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 14th – Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 15th – Austin, TX @ SXSW

March 18th – Phoenix, AZ @ Dirty Drummer

March 19th – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room

March 20th – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon

March 23rd – Sacramento, CA @ Starlet Room

March 24th – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop

March 26th – Portland, OR @ Mission Theatre

March 27th – Seattle, WA @ Barboza