KNEECAP Release Bew Track off Forthcoming Album
By KNEECAP
release new track
‘Smugglers & Scholars’
LISTEN HERE / WATCH HERE
***
new album
FENIAN
out Friday 24 April 2026
on Heavenly Recordings
EU headline dates announced
+ Irish festivals including
29-30 May – AVA, Belfast
31Jul-2Aug – All Together Now, Waterford
Having recently announced details of their new album, FENIAN, out on Heavenly Recordings on 24th April, Belfast trio KNEECAP have today shared ‘Smugglers & Scholars’ , the latest track to be taken from the record following ‘Liars Tale’ here.
Premiered this evening, 24th February, on Zane Lowe’s Apple 1 Music Show here, ‘Smugglers & Scholars’, smashes open the doors of the album. Coming in on a low end three note bass riff that sounds like it’s lifted from the kind of Detroit hip hop record the band would have grown up listening to. It finds the band creating their own unique electricity over a steel heavy pulse.
This is a sonic balaclava, loaded with menace and fearlessness. Introducing a sonic universe that tells us we’ve firmly entered the underbelly of the riotous confrontation, sneaking down the alleyways with artists at their peak. Welcome to Kneecap’s world. It’s not the Ireland you think you know: “Ya think it’s all poetry and clovers, when it’s raincoats and police Land Rovers. Salt of the earth, looking over their shoulder. Someone shot in turn, chopper hovering over.
Talking about the track, Kneecap said: “A track that’s reminiscing on Revolutionary times in Ireland, driven by a hopefulness, when the working class, academics and good people everywhere united and took action in search of a better future.”
Artwork & tracklisting of the album, FENIAN, which features appearances
from Radie Peat, Kae Tempest and Fawzi, is as follows:
Éire go Deo
Smugglers & Scholars
Carnival
Palestine (ft. Fawzi)
Liars Tale
FENIAN
Big Bad Mo
Headcase
An Ra
Cold At The Top
Occupied 6
Gael Phonics
Cocaine Hill (ft. Radie Peat)
Irish Goodbye (ft. Kae Tempest)
Cat. Number: HVNLP232
The album is available on CD, cassette, DL, black vinyl, tri-colour splatter vinyl,
and exclusive editions via WhatsApp, Bandcamp and Rough Trade.
The album is available to pre-order here
Additionally, having completed a SOLD OUT U.K. and Irish tour at the end of last year, KNEECAP head out on a run of out-store shows for the week of album release and a number of EU festival appearances and recently announced EU headline shows over the summer. The full list of dates is as follows:
Out-store dates:
23.04.26 (evening) – Circuit, KINGSTON with Banquet Records
24.04.26 (evening) – Chalk, BRIGHTON with Resident Records
25.04.26 (matinee & evening) – Fleece, BRISTOL with Rough Trade
26.04.26 (matinee & evening) – Rescue Rooms, NOTTINGHAM with Rough Trade
28.04.26 (evening) – Live House, DUNDEE with Assai
29.04.26 (evening) – Liquid Rooms, EDINBURGH with Assai
30.04.26 (evening & matinee) – TBC, LONDON with Rough Trade East
Festival / headline dates:
29/30-05.05.26 – AVA, BELFAST, IE
06.06.26 – Primavera, BARCELONA, ES
08.06.26 – Santana 27 – BILBAO, ES
09.06.26 – La Riviera – MADRID, ES
11.06.26 – Primavera, PORTO, PT
13.06.26 – Festi’Neuch, NEUCHATEL, CH
15.06.26 – Magnolia, Unaltrofestival – MILAN, IT
16.06.26 – Sequoie Music Park – BOLOGNA, IT
17.06.26 – Cavea, Auditorium Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone – ROME IT
18.06.26 – Fiera del Levante – BARI, IT
20.06.26 – Terra Vibe Park, Rockwave – ATTICA, GR
24.06.26 – Allas Live – HELSINKI, FIN
27.06.26 – Crystal Palace Park, LONDON, UK
01.07.26 – Open’er Festival, GDYNIA, PL
02.07.26 – Roskilde Festival, ROSKILDE, DK
04.07.27 – Rock Werchter, WERCHTER, BE
18.07.26 – PhilGood Festival, PLOVDIV, BG
20.07.26 – KüçükÇiftlik Park – ISTANBUL, TR
30.07.26/02.08.26 – All Together Now, WATERFORD, IE
12-16.08.26 – Boomtown, WINCHESTER, UK
28-30.08.26 – Reading & Leeds Festivals, UK
06.11.26 – Rockhal – ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE, LU
09.11.26 – BK – STOCKHOLM, SE
10.11.26 – Oslo Spektrum – OSLO, NO
20.11.26 – Le Zénith – PARIS, FR
Tickets for headline shows available here