The Futureheads to record a capella album

The Futureheads are recording an a capella album – and are inviting fans to help pick the material.

The new, instrument-free, record will be released later this year.

The band are currently inviting fans to nominate songs from their back catalogue that would work best as a four-part vocal harmony.

To nominate a track, post the band a Twitter message, including their tag @thefutureheads, and the track title.

The most popular suggestion will be re-recorded for the a capella album.

The Futureheads' Barry Hyde: 'Working on our a capella album is the hardest thing I've tried to do'

The Futureheads' Barry Hyde has admitted that their forthcoming a capella album is "the hardest thing I've tried to do".

Set for release later this year, the Sunderland group have already arranged the songs 'Meantime' and 'Heartbeat Song', and are currently working on renditions of 'Skip To The End', 'Fallout', 'Robot', 'Man Ray', 'Carnival Kids' and 'First Day'.

"It is a challenge," the singer told SpinnerMusic.co.uk. "It's the hardest thing I've ever tried to do."

He added: "There's only going to be four sounds heard on this album. Essentially, we're trying to make the most of what our voices can do and it's going to actually expand our abilities because we're going to have to work out ways to create different tones between us."

Currently on tour in the US, Hyde revealed that all four band members are combining well on the album.

"Between us we have the full [vocal] range, between us we make one complete man," the frontman said jokingly. "Me and Ross [Millard] are going to do bass and I can do mid and a bit higher, our Dave [Hyde] sings incredibly high falsetto, [David Craig] Jaff's got a very high voice. It works well, the four voices together."

The Futureheads announce instrument-free new album 'Rant' and UK tour

The Futureheads have announced that they will release a new album 'Rant' and that it features no instruments at all.

The album, which will be released on April 2 on the band's own Nul Records, is comprised entirely of a cappella versions of the band's tracks and a series of cover versions.

You can hear the 'Rant' version of 'Robot' by scrolling down to the bottom of your screen now and clicking.

'Rant' includes covers of Black Eyed Peas' 'Meet Me Halfway' and Kelis' 'Acapella' as well as renditions of three traditional folk songs.

Singer Barry Hyde said of the album: "A Futureheads fan who doesn’t get 'Rant' is not a Futureheads fan. This version of The Futureheads has always been there. We’re bringing to the fore what we’re really about: a unification, a gang mentality, which is in the balance between our voices and our personalities. And on 'Rant' we're pushing that right into your face."

The tracklisting for 'Rant' is as follows:

'Meantime'
'Meet Me Halfway'
'Robot'
'Beeswing'
'Thursday'
'Sumer Is Icumen In'
'The Keeper'
'The No. 1 Song in Heaven'
'The Old Dun Cow'
'Acapella'
'Man Ray'

The Futureheads will also embark a full UK tour in support of 'Rant', playing a set that will be entirely acoustic and a cappella.

The gigs begin at Bristol's Colston Hall on April 3 and run until April 13 when the band play Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music. The tour consists of nine dates in total.

The Futureheads will play:

Bristol Colston Hall (April 3)
London Union Chapel (4)
Leeds Wardrobe (5)
Stockton Georgian Theatre (6)
Gateshead Sage Theatre (8)
Glasgow Oran Mor (9)
Birmingham Glee Club (10)
Nottingham Glee Club (12)
Manchester Royal Northern College of Music (13)

Tickets go onsale on Tuesday (February 21) at 10am (GMT).

Audio: The Futureheads - Robot (A Cappella)

The Futureheads: 'Recording our new album 'Rant' was a nightmare'

The Futureheads have spoken about the difficulty they faced in recording their new album 'Rant', describing the process as "a nightmare".

The album, which will be released on April 2 on the band's own Nul Records, is comprised entirely of acappella versions of the band's tracks and a series of cover versions.

Speaking to NME about the album, the band's frontman Barry Hyde said that each song on the album includes over 100 vocal takes and each day the band would leave the studio after recording "in a state of ultimate exhaustion".

Asked about the process of recording 'Rant', Hyde replied:


Hyde also revealed that the band decided to record the album after they recorded an acapella Live Lounge session and absolutely loved doing it.

He said of this: "We did a live session for Jo Whiley in Spring 2010 and we did a four-part harmony version of Kelis' 'Acapella' and performing like that, live on the radio, was the most exciting thing we've ever done. So that was the seed for making the album, it took some time, we didn't start until 2011, but for the whole of 2011, we were gradually developed 'Rant'."

Hyde also said he thought having the ability to make an acapella album put The Futureheads in a "unique position" as there weren't many bands who could do it.

He said of this: "Harmonies are a key part of all music, but vocal harmonies are quite uncommon in the type of music we make. So when you take everything away and you're left with our vocals, it works really well, our voices are good together. That puts us in a unique position as they're aren't many bands, who enjoy or could make an acapella album."

'Rant' includes a cover of Black Eyed Peas' 'Meet Me Halfway' and Sparks' 'The Number One Song In Heaven' as well as renditions of three traditional folk songs.

Asked about why they picked 'Meet Me Halfway' and 'The Number One Song in Heaven', he replied: "Those two songs are very special to use. We used to drink cheap red wine, try to make pasta and sit and listen to music. If we were going out, we'd always listen to Sparks. A lot of people are surprised I like the Black Eyed Peas, I don't like everything they do, but I like the majority of things I've heard. 'Meet Me Halfway' is amazing, melodically speaking. We took the rap out though, that was a step too far."