Out now: Sleaford Mods – The Demise of Planet X (Deluxe)

Sleaford Mods share the expanded version of their acclaimed recent album, The Demise Of Planet X, released digitally today with nine previously unheard tracks.

A video for lead single ‘Cato’, a collaboration with Life Without Buildings front woman and acclaimed visual artist Sue Tompkins, is also out today.  The songs are available via streaming services ahead of the band’s European tour this autumn. In addition, Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson are announcing a series of new shows in the US next spring.

Reaching the UK Top Ten on release at the start of 2026, The Demise Of Planet X saw Sleaford Mods collaborate with the likes of Aldous Harding, Big Special, actress Gwendoline Christie, rapper Snowy, soul singer Liam Bailey and Life Without Building’s Tompkins as they produced one of their most ambitious records to date, undeniably one of the albums of the year.

Adding new depths to Fearn and Williamson’s visceral electronics and incisive words, the band’s 13th studio release explored a new range of sonic horizons and melodic landscapes, while asking what if, rather than going out with a bang, society collapses in a ratioed whimper? Enthusiastically taken up by fans – its songs contributing to the duo’s biggest live shows to date around the globe this year – and speedily acclaimed by critics, The Demise Of Planet X heralded a new chapter for the band, in part thanks to Sleaford Mods changing up their approach in the studio.

Not only did the pair work in a range of new locations in addition to their Nottingham base, but they adopted a more holistic approach to the recording process, rather than compartmentalising their individual contributions.Reflecting this experimentation, Fearn and Williamson found themselves covering a broad range of ideas as they arrived at the finished album, and The Demise Of Planet X’s demos offer insight into this process, as several of these tracks helped to illuminate the creative path towards the finished record, while others that came later in the process but did not quite chime with the final record’s arc are being released from the band’s vaults for the first time.

“When Andrew and I get together to work on an album, it’s not unheard of for us to produce a decent batch of tracks during each session because we have a creative understanding that allows us to move quickly,” explains Jason Williamson. “That was definitely the case for Planet X, although it took a while, and a few different avenues, to find the idea and aesthetic we wanted to explore across the album. That’s how we ended up with loads of demos that are good and virtually finished, that we didn’t take forward for the record. They give you a good idea of the process behind the album, though they all possess something in their own right too. In a way, everything we do is a demo; there’s that scratchy, raw feel to our music so it’s great to share these extra Sleaford Mods songs rather than leave them gathering dust on the shelf.”

While demos might suggest musical sketches or hints of ideas, Fearn and Williamson’s collaborative process often sees them quickly arrive at fully fleshed out results, so it is no false modesty that while the duo consider the nine tracks released as ‘demos’, these songs represent complete creations that at another time or for another project might have featured prominently.

A case in point is single ‘Cato’, a further collaboration with Sue Tompkins, who also featured on previous single ‘No Touch’. Made just after the album was largely completed, it did not quite fit with the rest of Planet X but nonetheless demonstrates the creative rapport the pair have built with the Life Without Buildings singer, leading Williamson to declare: “she could join the band.”

“It was so brilliant to be asked to do another song with Jason and Andrew. We recorded it about a month after doing “No Touch” in Bristol, and this time we recorded in Nottingham,” explains Tompkins. “I thought the song was very catchy – and throbby! It’s got a pace and a relentlessness about it, and singing opposite Jason almost feels like a duet. He sings, then I sing. It goes back and forth, all the while with Andrew’s throbby music underneath. The panic of Cato about to spring out!”

“When I first heard ‘Cato’, had this vivid thought of the character Cato from the Inspector Clouseau films, about to jump out and play fight, or really fight, and wrestle with Peter Sellers,” she says of her inspiration. “I used to love those films when I was younger! Cato lying in wait for Clouseau in his flat, I loved those bits. I think the song has that sense of anticipation and chaos and playfulness and silliness in it somewhere, so I wanted the video to have that too. A relentless, vivid, colourful, threat that keeps coming back around. Help! ‘C-c-c-cato! He’s always waiting for you…’”

The variety reflected by the demos reflects not only Sleaford Mods’ search for an artistic core for their album, but also the different atmospheres and environments of the cities and studios they worked in.

The alternative version of ‘The Good Life’ offers a clear contrast from the version the duo would eventually release as a single, and sheds light on the evolution of Sleaford Mods’ lyrics in the studio. While the guest vocals from Big Special, who were always the duo’s first choice for the chorus, are recognisable, with this take dating a year before Gwendoline Christie added her explosive vocals, it features a different set of lyrics and a slower delivery than the one Williamson would later conjure up for the final version.

‘The Return Of The Bin White Dukes’ too offers insight into Fearn and Williamson’s creative relationship. A precursor to Don Draper from the finished album, the Bowie-punning track was built over one of Fearn’s early ideas for the album, which was later replaced, though this initial loop created the launchpad for Williamson’s words.

Like ‘Cato’, ‘Give Em What They Want’, was fellow latecomer the duo “loved” but didn’t feel could displace anything from the album’s final track listing, although with the pair referencing Danzig and The Smiths as touchstones during its creation it reveals tantalising new pathways through the Sleaford Mods universe.

“I guess it’s like a curry, it always tastes better the next day,” muses Williamson of the songs that made the album and the ones that didn’t. “You listen to these tracks in the studio, and you don’t think it fits. Then you come back to them again six months later, and you realise you were on to something, so I am really pleased we can now put all these songs out into the world for people to hear. I also hope the demos give everyone who dug The Demise Of Planet X a better idea of what we put into making that record because it was quite a ride for both of us.”    

The Demise Of Planet X demos are available through all music streaming services, while fans are encouraged to sign up to the band’s mailing list via their website for further information around their release.               

Stream / download The Demos Of Planet X here.