UK band University recently released their debut album, McCartney, It’ll Be OK, via Transgressive. Recorded with producer Kwes Darko (Sampa The Great, Denzel Curry) at Damon Albarn’s Studio 13 in London, McCartney.

University humour melds into their music. After signing to a label and taking the ‘business side of their operation’ more seriously, they decided to offset this grown-up attitude by pushing their music to more extreme and more absurdist places. “It’s a side effect of taking the rest of it more seriously,” Bowker says, with the band determined to trust their weirdest, funniest impulses.

While the music can be brutally heavy at times, it’s all cut through with the absurdist humour that is also present at the band’s live shows. On stage, they’re joined by balaclava-clad best friend Eddie, whose entire job is to play video games and hold up signs indicating the (often ridiculous and lengthy) title to the next song his mates will play. Of his role in creating the album, Smith says, with however many pinches of salt you’d like to take: “He laid everything down and told us what to record. He’d whip us if we weren’t doing it quickly enough and was pretty horrible to work with to be honest. He was like Frank Zappa, dragging us by the hair back into the studio when we were out having a fag.”

Following their shows at The Great Escape, Green Man, End of The Road, Pitchfork Festival Paris, SXSW, and Outbreak. The band will play a run of UK instores with appearances at Rough Trade Liverpool and London next week, followed by a headline show in London, UK.

University
McCartney, It’ll Be OK
Tracklisting
Transgressive

Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo
Curwen
Gorilla Panic
Hustler’s Metamorphosis
GTA Online
Diamond Song
History Of Iron Maiden Pt. 1
History Of Iron Maiden Pt. 0.5

University 2025 Tour Dates

Mon 23/06/2025 INSTORE – Rough Trade Liverpool
Wed 25/06/2025 INSTORE – Rough Trade East, London
Fri 05/09/2025 Paradiso (Upstairs), Amsterdam Netherlands
Sat 06/09/2025 Misty Fields Festival, Asten-Heusden (NL) Netherlands
Mon 08/09/2025 La Mécanique Ondulatoire, Paris France
Tue 09/09/2025 Aéronef, Lille, France
Thu 11/09/2025 Schokoladen, Berlin Germany
Sat 13/09/2025 Botanique, Brussels Belgium
Mon 15/09/2025 Louisiana, Bristol United Kingdom
Tue 16/09/2025 Where Else?, Margate United Kingdom
Wed 17/09/2025 George Tavern, London United Kingdom
Fri 19/09/2025 The Castle, Manchester United Kingdom
Sun 21/09/2025 Hug & Pint, Glasgow United Kingdom
Mon 22/09/2025 Brudenell Social Club (Community Room), Leeds United Kingdom
Tue 23/09/2025 Hare & Hounds 2, Birmingham United Kingdom

order McCartney, It’ll Be OK HERE