Sam Fender reveals when he'll release his second album

19 August 2020, 10:18 | Updated: 19 August 2020, 11:30

Sam Fender Performs At Virgin Money Unity Arena on Tuesday 11 August. Picture: Thomas M Jackson/Redferns)

The Geordie singer-songwriter told Radio X we can probably expect the follow-up to his Hypersonic Missiles debut next year.

Sam Fender won't release his second studio album until 2021.

The North Shields singer-songwriter caught up with Radio X and said that although he's written plenty of material, the follow-up to 2019's Hypersonic Missiles probably won't come out till next year.

He revealed: “It’ll probably be next year that we bring out another album, because I’ll probably bring another album out when there’s nothing to do. So I’ll bring an album out when we can do something.”

“I think we’ll be drip-feeding some tracks, that’s for sure," he teased. "But I’ve got loads of material. I’m recording through about 30, 40 tracks at the moment but I’ve just got to pick the right tracks, so we’ll see what happens.”

Sam Fender plays Will We Talk? at the Virgin Unity Arena

Asked how lockdown has been for him as an artist, he replied: "I was having the best time of my life until this happened. I was just about to start the arena tour. We finished the tour in Europe and that went absolutely amazing.

“Voice was on top form and I felt like we were all in the place to go up to that next level… and then coronavirus happened and stifled everything."

However, Fender has revealed that it has encouraged creativity and informed his new music.

“I think I’ve been like everyone else. It’s been absolutely shite, but I have got some songs out of it," he mused.

"They’re fitting for the time. They’re pretty melancholy to say the least, but they’re decent. I’m happy with them.”

PHOTOS: Inside the UK's first socially distanced venue

Sam Fender plays new song The Kitchen at the Virgin Money Unity Arena

Fender opened the Virgin Money Unity Arena last week, - the UK's first ever socially distanced venue, but also shared his fears for indie bands if grassroots venues don't survive.

Speaking ahead of the shows if he thinks the closure of small venues would effect how artists are discovered, he told Radio X: "There’s loads of different ways to do it these days with the internet… I used the internet and that obviously, but if you’re in a band and you do indie music, you still need to do that grassroots gigging.

"We kind of did it the old fashioned way and just gigged and gigged and gigged until it just started working."

He added: "I think if you take away that it’s going to be hard for that type of music to break through. I think it’s going to be particularly bad for Indie music to break through because we rely so much on live... It’s a live thing I think. Guitar music should be heard live”.