Will Varley & The Southern Rust

Will Varley returns with his seventh album, Machines Will Never Learn To Make Mistakes Like Me, to be released 30 May 2025 on MNRK Music Group, home to the likes of The Lumineers, Gregory Alan Isakov and Shakey Graves.

To celebrate, Will has announced even more UK dates to add to his World Tour including shows at the UK’s very best independent venues.

Inspired by his natural habitats of the East Kent Coast and the US Midwest, these songs are rich, lyrical tales that speak of hard touring, relationships on the rocks and the rebuilding of minds. Featuring some very special guest appearances including Billy Bragg, Eleni Drake and Bastille’s Dan Smith, the album continues Varley’s decade long exploration of the human condition, this time focusing on society’s ever-present threat of impending apocalypse, how we marry this with the mundane and the minutiae of our everyday lives and how we can find hope.

Produced at his ramshackle studio deep in the Kent swamps, alongside long-time friend and collaborator Tom Farrer, the album’s pallet marks a significant change in musicality, bringing a rich and luscious production to many of the songs and bringing Varley’s lyrical landscapes to life in full colour.

‘I wrote these songs in empty dive bars and hospital waiting rooms,’ Varley says. ‘I wrote them while sitting in maternity wards, hotel lobbies, motorway service stations and broken down tour buses in the dead of night.'

Presented by Hey! Manchester.

This is an 18+ event