Krooked Tongue unveil new single 'Blood Shark', announce debut album and embark on their first trip to America

Bristol rock trio Krooked Tongue are proud to announce that their debut studio album ‘I Know A Place’ will be arriving on April 24th 2026 to limited edition vinyl. The album’s latest single ‘Blood Shark’ is released today, February 13th 2026.

The album’s previous singles ‘Marigold’, ‘Let ‘Em Loose’, ‘Ember Mile’, ‘Nothing Ever Grows’, ‘Dog Days’ and ‘You Don’t Need A Sun Tan’ saw support from Apple editorial’s ‘Breaking Hard Rock’, ‘New In Rock’, New Noise Magazine, HEAVY Magazine, CLOUT, Fab UK, Bristol 24/7, Sirius XM, Total Rock, Primordial Radio and Boogaloo Radio, with ‘Nothing Ever Grows’ being used throughout the Bivol vs Beterbiev boxing fight on DAZN Sports and ‘Let ‘Em Loose’ being used to soundtrack Progress Wrestling’s live show at London’s Electric Ballroom.

Produced by long-time collaborator Josh Gallop (Sergeant Thunderhoof, Mother Vulture) at Stage 2 Studios in Bath, ‘Blood Shark’ rides a heady wave of guitar fuzz and vocal distortion from the opening note, to the very last. Racing percussion, shape-shifting textures and sledgehammer choruses collide chaotically with vocalist Oli Rainsford’s raspy, snarling vocals and lyrical barb to shine a light on life’s times of turbulence and unfulfillment.

On the single’s lyrical inspirations, vocalist and lyricist Oli Rainsford explains, “‘Blood Shark’ is a jumper cable to the lazy and uninspired aspects of ourselves. A fat uppercut to our excuses for why we can’t, or don’t do the things we want to do. Everyone experiences nodus tollens at some point in their existence. Where it seems the vicissitudes of life are too turbulent to navigate. The walls are closing in and there’s not a ladder in sight. But we often need change to inspire the solution, taking a step back and approaching our inescapable slump from a different angle.

“‘Blood Shark’ is a plea to find a will so strong that it becomes in itself, unstoppable. The metaphor of the ‘Blood Shark’ encapsulates the foibles of our decisions. When it’s all said and done, when we’re being lowered into the ground, the ‘Blood Shark waits at the bottom of your grave’. It feasts on a life left unfulfilled, reassuring you with a beguiling grin that it's OK that you didn’t follow your dreams. It’s a villainous reminder that there’s still time to fight back and give the big fish an inedible final judgement.

“There’s a ton of lyrical nuggets throughout this tune; ‘You can run and get back to the river, back until you’re scaled’ is a play on evolution, or devolution I suppose; the idea that we need to keep moving forward and doing new things in order to grow. And if we aren’t willing to take a risk, we are perpetually moving in retrograde. The lyrics were a lot of fun to write, the track offered a chance to be playful within the parameters of such an ‘aggy’ sounding tune. Like, I really wanted to see if I could squeeze ‘Appaloosa’ into a song, and I sure as hell did.

“Blood Shark is taken from our upcoming debut album ‘I Know A Place’ which is out on April 24th. We’ve been dying to get this body of work out into the world and give fans something to cherish forever.”

Alongside the news of the album, Krooked Tongue are excited to announce that they will be embarking on their first trip to America for New York City’s New Colossus showcase festival in March, which sees the band playing several slots across Manhattan’s Lower East Side.