The Ordinary Boys are back with the new ska-inspired single ‘Peer Pressure’ to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
It has been two decades since the band’s early heyday with singles like ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ and ‘Nine2Five’.
Last year, they confirmed that they were back in the studio when they collaborated with Olly Murs on the festive single ‘Christmas Starts Tonight’, and since then, they have played their first show in over 10 years at London’s Strongroom.
Now, the indie vets are back with a brand new song titled ‘Peer Pressure’.
It is their first since they released their self-titled album in 2015, having reformed in 2011 after disbanding in 2008, and arrives via label Scruff Of The Neck.
The song captures the same energy and feel that first put Preston and co. on the map in the mid ‘00s, and the singer describes it as one that is set to come to life on the live stage.
“Peer Pressure is a song about the stories we tell ourselves to rationalise our excesses, and how we ignore the real problems of life in a post AI world with its billionaires and manosphere,” frontman Samuel Preston said.
“For our first song back we wanted to make something that sounded like an amalgamation of all the music we love and all The Ordinary Boys songs that we released in the 2000s. We wrote ‘Peer Pressure’ as a song that we wanted to hear the crowd singing back to us.”
The new single also comes two decades on from The Ordinary Boys playing a landmark Glastonbury performance, which included Phil Jupitus joining the band on stage, and joining Preston in the line-up is bassist James Gregory, drummer Charlie Stanley, and guitarist Matthew Powers.
Co-founding guitarist William J. Brown remained in the line-up until their 2008 split, and has not taken part in subsequent reunions. Charlie Stanley was in the band up until 2005, when he was replaced by Simon Goldring, but went on to rejoin in the 2011 reunion.
Since announcing their comeback, The Ordinary Boys have also unveiled dates supporting Madness, as well as slots at Victorious and Together Again Festival.
“It’s so fun to be back playing again and releasing songs,” the singer shared. Visit here for tickets.
The Ordinary Boys’ 2026 UK live shows are:
May
23 – The Ridings Recreational Area, Chipping Sodbury w/ Madness
24 – Darwen Music Live, Darwen
July
24 – Together Again Festival, Chester
August
9 – Outdoor, The Spitfire Ground, Canterbury w/ Madness
15 – Sausage and Cider Festival, Wrexham
28 – Big Feastival, The Cotswolds
29 – Chelmsford Park w/ McFly
29 – Victorious Festival
30 – Coast Fest, South Shields
September
5 – FOMO Fest, Stowmarket
Ahead of the new song being released, Preston looked back at famously walking off Never Mind The Buzzcocks, saying that the joke made by host Simon Amstell at the time was “cruel and classist”.
He also opened up about working with Liam Payne, and shared how they almost shared the same fate – with Payne dying after falling from a hotel balcony in 2024, and Preston being hospitalised and told he may never walk again after falling from a second-floor balcony in 2017.
In his time away from The Ordinary Boys, Preston has worked as a songwriter for huge names including Cher, Jessie Ware, Kylie Minogue and more.
