Spear of Destiny extend "Janus" tour into 2026

Kirk Brandon’s legendary post-punk guise - Spear of Destiny - have announced they will extend their “Janus” tour into 2026 with a run of UK dates this May.

Having spent the tail end of 2024 revisiting classic 80s works on tour with The Skids; 2025 & 2026 are the years of “Janus” for Spear of Destiny.

The follow-up to 2022’s “Ghost Population” album, “Janus” was a project two years in the making and features re-recorded and rejuvenated versions of choice cuts from the band’s two biggest selling albums: 1987’s “Outland” and 1988’s “The Price You Pay”. 24 tracks re-recorded, re-imagined, and partnered for the first time last year; they were beautifully packaged and presented together on Double Vinyl, Extended Double CD and Download. The new album is available to order now HERE.

“Janus” owes its name to the Ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings, of transitions and time, passages and dualities. And aptly for this project, Janus is usually depicted as having two faces.

“Janus, as I’m sure you all know, is the Roman god who looked in two directions…” Kirk Brandon explains. “At the time of making, ‘The Price You Pay’ often in its lyrics, had a backwards looking take on my previous life experiences, several being very personal. Whereas ‘Outland' with its dystopian lyrics, looked forward. Being done on what was at the time state-of-the-art programming, Fairlight 3. Lyrically it faced the ever increasing out of phase reality we are now firmly in.

Despite both “Outland” and “The Price You Pay” proving to be Top 40 UK hits (No.16 and No.37 respectively) at the time of their release in the 80s, Kirk was never fully satisfied with the finished products.

As Kirk explains:

“Some may say why re-record, and in a definite sense that is a good question, the reason is that I wanted them to sound as close to what I originally thought they should have sounded like. Which is way different from what both albums did in fact end up sounding like. In particular ‘Outland’ which was principally recorded on a Fairlight 3 program. In fact some of the ‘Outland’ songs like “Land of Shame” were originally scheduled to have been in contention for the earlier ‘World Service’ album but never made it to the selection. Criminal in reality. Record companies shy away from controversial lyrics…”

Having spent much of the interim years performing with a tight band of musicians (Steve Allen Jones, Phil Martini, Craig Adams, Adrian Portas, and Clive Osborne), who have become like brothers and toured doggedly together, Kirk now feels bolstered in confidence to correct the missteps of the past. As he adds:

“I have to gratefully thank, as ever, my band for bringing these songs back to life from a major record company cemetery… With the musicians I have largely been playing with for the last 20+ years, we went back, as we have done with ‘Grapes of Wrath’ ‘One Eyed Jacks’ and ‘World Service’, and done an interesting, I hope, re-interpretation of my original ideas. ”

After a run of hugely successful gigs showcasing the work last year, Kirk and the band will present ‘Janus The Tour’, where they will pull a set list from these fantastic new recordings nightly at these upcoming venues as follows:

Spear of Destiny - “Janus” UK Tour Dates

Monday, 18 May 2026 LONDON 100 club

Tuesday, 19 May 2026 WINCHESTER Railway Live

Wednesday, 20 May 2026 BRISTOL Fleece

Friday, 22 May 2026 STOCKTON-ON-TEES Georgian Theatre

Saturday, 23 May 2026 HITCHIN Club 85

Sunday, 24 May 2026 MILTON KEYNES Craufurd Arms

Monday, 25 May 2026 CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms

Wednesday, 27 May 2026 NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms

Thursday, 28 May 2026 ABERDEEN Drummonds

Friday, 29 May 2026 DUNFERMLINE PJ Molloys

Saturday, 30 May 2026 GALASHIELS Mac Arts