Personal Trainer Share Video For Former Puppy

Amsterdam seven-piece Personal Trainer return today with a brand new single, the irresistible power-pop of “Former Puppy”. It’s the last single before the release of their much-anticipated debut album, “Big Love Blanket” (Pre-order HERE), landing on November 4th. It follows a string of hotly-received singles this year, and a debut EP “Gazebo” that landed mid-pandemic on tastemaker label Holm Front (Walt Disco, Krush Puppies, Sports Team).

The band, already known for their memorable live shows, have also announced their most extensive UK tour yet for 2023, following a small clutch of UK and EU dates in November, and then a tour support to De Staat in the Netherlands across December, to promote the record.

Front-man Willem Smit says of the themes behind “Former Puppy”: “I think “Former Puppy” is partly about making music when you’re not really thinking about it or when you’re just following your instinct. I always try to do that in some way, it could be false nostalgia, but I’m finding it harder to do now than I did before.

While working on this song, I was kind of trying to mimic the way I made songs when I was a bit younger. During a big chunk of it there’s two drum tracks with a lot of fills playing simultaneously, which I think gives it kind of an over-eager sound, if that makes sense. There’s a lot of guitar overdubs on this one. It’s hard to judge whether we got close, but I said “I want them to sound like Oasis!” a lot during the process.” 

“Former Puppy” and the other nine tracks ten of “Big Love Blanket” display a playful diversity of sounds and influences, landing on one all of their own that has been championed as “rapturously fun” by Ones To Watch, “incredibly catchy indie-led pop” by Record Of The Day, “curious and endearing” by Steve Lamacq, “remarkable” by CLASH and even compared to LCD Soundsystem by Marc Riley. The first song to be released ahead of the album, “Key Of Ego”, was named one of NME’s New Bangers too, and rightly so.

“Former Puppy”, as with the rest of “Big Love Blanket”, was co-produced by regular collaborator Casper van der Lans and WIllem himself.

Personal Trainer are the brainchild of Willem Smit, the band’s front man and a multi-instrumentalist whose early talents saw his last band, Canshaker Pi, record with Stephen Malkmus while still teenagers. Personal Trainer began as an attempt to bottle the fervent energy of Amsterdam’s indie scene and to allow for something entirely unpredictable on stage and in the studio – an ever-shifting line-up of friends and peers playing together with only one rule: there are no rules.

Catch Personal Trainer headlining on the following dates:

2022

Nov

2 The Crescent, York
3 The Windmill, London
4 Mutations Festival, Brighton
16 L’International, Paris
17 Botanique, Brussels *
24 Hedon, Zwolle *
26 Ooterpoort, Groningen *
30 Maassilo, Rotterdam *

Dec

2 Paard, Den Haag *
8 Tivolivredenburg, Utrecht *
10 :013, Tilburg *
13 Muziekgieterij, Maastricht *
16 Doornroosje, Nijmegen *
17 Doornroosje, Nijmegen *
18 Doornroosje, Nijmegen *

2023

Feb

28 Portland Arms, Cambridge

Mar

1 Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich
4 The Loft, Portsmouth
5 Modern Art Oxford, Oxford
7 Hare And Hounds 2, Birmingham
9 The Castle Hotel, Manchester
10 Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
11 Broadcast, Glasgow
12 Mash House, Edinburgh
13 Cluny 2, Newcastle

* w/De Staat