Dead Dads Club Announce May 2026 UK Headline Tour

Dead Dads Club has announced a series of headline tour dates across the United Kingdom scheduled for May 2026. The project is led by Chilli Jesson, the former frontman of Palma Violets, and is touring in support of a self-titled debut album released in January 2026 via Fiction Records.

The eight-show run will begin on May 12 at the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham and conclude on May 22 at Zerox in Southampton. The tour includes stops in Cardiff, Brighton, Norwich, London, Bedford, and Liverpool.

2026 UK Tour Dates

• May 12: Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge
• May 13: Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach
• May 14: Brighton, The Great Escape
• May 15: Norwich, Voodoo Daddy’s
• May 19: London, Camden Assembly
• May 20: Bedford, Esquires
• May 21: Liverpool, Rough Trade
• May 22: Southampton, Zerox

Tickets for the tour are currently on sale.

Album Production and Background

The self-titled debut album was produced by Carlos O’Connell, a guitarist for Fontaines D.C. Jesson connected with O’Connell in 2023 while serving as a live multi-instrumentalist for Fontaines D.C.

This release marks a significant point in Jesson’s career, arriving 13 years after the first Palma Violets album. Between those projects, Jesson was involved in a short-lived second project called Crewel Intentions and a third project under his own name.

The debut album is co-written with Rupert Greaves and features singles such as That’s Life, Don’t Blame The Son For The Sins Of The Father, Goosebumps, and Volatile Child.

Themes of Grief and Loss

Lyrically, the project serves as a personal exploration of grief. Jesson uses the record to process the emotions surrounding the loss of his father to drug addiction when Jesson was 14 years old.

This record can be interpreted, lyrically, as a very specific time for me, or it can be loss in general. This was an album that I’d wanted to write since I was 15, but I didn’t have the capability to get it out. I never used to really speak about it – at all. I used to be a fucking closed book with this subject.

Chilli Jesson to NME

Jesson noted that he was inspired to address these themes after his sister, Georgie Jesson, released a book of poetry focusing on the same subject.

Critical Reception

The album has received positive critical attention. NME awarded the record four stars, suggesting that Jesson’s decision to examine his bleakest moments helped steer him musically back on course.

Live4ever Media described the album as sounding like someone emptying an entire record collection onto the floor and somehow assembling it into something coherent. Their review highlighted the track Goosebumps for its danceable pulse and Hospital Pillow for its stripped-back, borderline spoken-word delivery.