The Samurai Seven have released their new single, Duck and Cover, continuing the band’s long-awaited return after a 25-year break.
The track follows Punching Down, the group’s first new music since the turn of the century, and offers another preview of their forthcoming EP, Make It Real, which is due for release on 11 September.
While Punching Down marked an energetic return, Duck and Cover takes a different approach. Built around brooding guitars and a slower, more atmospheric sound, the song reflects on living in the present at a time when global uncertainty once again feels close to home.
“A few years ago, the idea of Armageddon felt quite distant, and the concepts of Nuclear Paranoia and The Political Strongman seemed consigned to the dustbin of the twentieth century. All that has changed over recent years. That makes a pretty depressing subject for a song on its own, so Duck and Cover talks about the importance of enjoying every moment, especially as it may be our last. True to that message, it’s a great song to play live, and audiences really love it like there’s no tomorrow”
Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Hugo Nicolson, whose credits include Primal Scream, Radiohead and Björk, the single also retains the vocal harmonies and melodic hooks that first brought the band to the attention of John Peel and Steve Lamacq during the late 1990s.
The Samurai Seven’s original rise was unexpectedly interrupted in 1999 when frontman Simon Williams was seriously injured in a drive-by shooting in Oxford. Although he recovered, the band’s momentum stalled and, after releasing an album in 2002, the members gradually moved on to other projects and family life.
It wasn’t until 2025, when the original line-up reunited for what was intended to be a casual rehearsal, that the spark returned. Playing together again reminded the band why they started making music in the first place and ultimately led to their return.
Following the release of Make It Real, The Samurai Seven will head out on tour across the UK this November in support of The Boo Radleys.
For a band whose story once looked like it had come to an abrupt end, Duck and Cover feels less like a nostalgic reunion and more like the continuation of something that was left unfinished.
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