Alt-rock heroes Dinosaur Pile-Up release their brand-new album after six years of pain and struggle – they’ve now reclaimed those hardships and turned them into 12 nuggets of pure gold. ‘I’ve Felt Better’ is out now on Mascot Records.
They are also gearing up to hit the road again with a five-date UK headline tour in September, as well as an extensive tour of the US with A Day to Remember and Yellowcard from 22 October to 22 November.
‘I’ve felt better…’ started as a makeshift mantra when Matt Bigland was hospitalised and unwilling to sift through the layers of trauma with every friend who checked-in to see how he was doing – indeed, often unable to speak through a mouth filled with centimetre-wide sores – Matt found himself defaulting to that wry, understated three-word response. After four years of repetition and rattling around his head, those words are reclaimed as the title to Dinosaur Pile-Up’s defiant fifth album: 12 songs to draw a line under a half-decade of sickness and struggle, a distillation of his agonising uncertainty and self-analysis.
A recurring shining light of DPU in 2025 is the word ’empowerment’. Channelling the worst of times into the new album has allowed them to release some of the most potent songs they have ever written.
“I’m so stoked that I’ve Felt Better is now out there in the world. That feels really good,” Bigland says. “The response to the songs so far has been so awesome and just so positive, which is a really great feeling after releasing music after such an extended period. I’m super proud of the songs and of the record as a whole, so it’s cool that people are so excited about it. And now we get to take these songs out on the road and see everyone’s response face to face!! It’s gonna be awesome.”
“This record is about triumph over adversity through perseverance and resilience,” he continues. “I’m so proud that it actually got made as its journey was a rough one, and I’m so proud that it’s going to be out there in the world. For me, I think it will serve as an epitaph to an intensely challenging and defining part of my adult life. But I’m just delighted that I’m on the other side of it, and it’s now memorialised in solid rock.”
Since their comeback single, ‘Bout to Lose It, was released, fans have rejoiced at their return. The barnstorming “My Way” is a hip-hop-inflected ode to staying true to oneself and staying angry at a twisted modern music industry. At the same time, “Big Dogs” is a gleeful takedown of ass-backwards celebrity freebie culture, and “Sick of Being Down” is essentially a post-traumatic existential breakdown articulated as a 3-minute garage punk rock song, all the way to the most recent single, the arena-ready pop-punk triumph of Love’s The Worst.
It’s great to have DPU back, and now they can let ‘I’ve Felt Better’ run free into the world in all of its awesomeness.
UK Tour Dates
5 Sep – XOYO, Birmingham – Tickets
6 Sep – Electric, Bristol – Tickets
9 Sep – Garage, Glasgow – Tickets
11 Sep – New Century Hall, Manchester – Tickets
13 Sep – Electric Ballroom, London – Tickets
Photo (c) Tom Brooker
