Marlon Williams Announces 'My Boy' Aotearoa Tour + Shares Single / Video 'Don't Go Back'

Lyttelton superstar Marlon Williams thrills fans this chilly morning with the announcement of a four date tour of Aotearoa happening in January, celebrating the release of his third solo album My Boy — launching this coming Friday. Like some kind of golden-voiced songwriting Santa, that's not the only gift Williams bestows upon us today, as he's also unveiled new single and self-directed video combo 'Don't Go Back' for your immediate listening / viewing pleasure, made with support from NZ On Air.

Riding a supple disco-pop groove, Williams returns to decadent territory explored on 'Party Boy' from his previous 2018 album Make Way For Love, making stylish shapes and seeking to tempt a young man with the rhythm of the night in the song's accompanying clip. Recorded in his southern hometown "in a house surrounded by the native ruru," the reportedly very loud call of the ruru (which call may portend good or evil) encouraged Williams to find "a synth analogue to mirror their hoot" and croon in te reo "Tērā te tangi a te ruru” ("That’s the cry of the owl”) — which also partially explains the animalistic velour onesie he wears in the video.

Performing for the first time in the resplendent surrounds of Auckland's Civic Theatre and Wellington's The Michael Fowler Centre, the 2022 Silver Scroll finalist will make his triumphant return to Christchurch Town Hall and Dunedin's Regent Theatre in Dunedin this summer. Performing with bandmates The Yarra Benders for all four headline dates, scope out the details below and hit play on 'Don't Go Back'...

“There are a lot of New Romantic influences in ‘Don’t Go Back... I love the songwriting and over-the-topness of bands like Duran Duran. I was too young to have a sense of it the first time around, but at least to the modern ear there’s a silliness to the pathos in that music that definitely had an influence on the tone of the record.” — Marlon Williams

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

Marlon Williams 'My Boy' Aotearoa Tour

Friday 20th January - Civic Theatre, Auckland
Wednesday 25th January – Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
Friday 27th January — Town Hall, Christchurch*
Saturday 28th January - Regent Theatre, Dunedin∞

Auckland and Wellington tickets at www.ticketmaster.co.nz
*Christchurch tickets at www.ticketek.co.nz
∞Dunedin tickets at www.regenttheatre.co.nz

Marlon Williams' third solo album 'My Boy' is out on Friday 9th September via Universal Music NZ / Dead Oceans.

Press release:

Just two days before the release of his hotly anticipated third solo album My Boy (out globally this Friday), Marlon Williams has delivered brand-new single ‘Don’t Go Back’ and announced a 4-date tour of Aotearoa.

2021 saw Marlon play solo across 30 shows in 16 regions on ‘An Evening with Marlon Williams’ the tour of Aotearoa. This time, long-time bandmates The Yarra Benders re-join him to play 4 of our most beautiful performance and theatre venues, both the Civic Theatre in Auckland and the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington for the very first time and returning to stages at the Christchurch Town Hall and Regent Theatre in Dunedin. Fittingly regal rooms that ensure a special, memorable audience experience.

These shows will be the first time most fans will hear songs from My Boy performed live.

My Boy sees Williams firmly having fun, even while interrogating the behaviours of himself and those around him. This is clear in new party anthem “Don’t Go Back,” the album’s sultry, dance floor pop centrepiece. The song and its accompanying, self-directed video calls back to Williams’ debauched ‘party boy’ character of 2018’s Make Way For Love as we see a young man being dissuaded from the lure of the party by a bizarre character in the form of Williams, dressed in an animal onesie.