- Towards The Sinister, the new project fronted by former My Dying Bride singer Aaron Stainthorpe, has signed with The Kirby Organization (TKO) for live music/touring representation, handled by agent Ian Shaw.
- The seven-piece reunites four of My Dying Bride's earliest members and performs material exclusively from that band's first four albums (1992–1996).
Towards The Sinister, the new project fronted by former My Dying Bride vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe, has signed with The Kirby Organization (TKO) for live music and touring representation, with UK agent Ian Shaw handling the account, according to the band’s official site.
Announced in July 2026, the band reunites four of My Dying Bride’s earliest members: Stainthorpe, guitarist Calvin Robertshaw, drummer Rick Miah and original bassist Adrian “Ade” Jackson. They’re joined by second guitarist Chris Revett, keyboardist Mark Deeks, and violinist Emma Allington.
The name is a deliberate callback: “Towards the Sinister” was the title of My Dying Bride’s own 1990 debut demo. The new band’s setlist draws exclusively from the four albums that the lineup wrote together: As the Flower Withers (1992), Turn Loose the Swans (1993), The Angel and the Dark River (1995), and Like Gods of the Sun (1996), songs Stainthorpe says the others “aren’t interested in performing” beyond.
Stainthorpe was dismissed from My Dying Bride in October 2025 after 35 years fronting the band, which brought in Swallow the Sun‘s Mikko Kotamäki as his replacement. He’s called watching the band continue without him “heartbreaking,” but says Towards The Sinister came together organically after an old-bandmates pub reunion went viral online.
He also currently fronts High Parasite, whose 2024 debut Forever We Burn was produced by Paradise Lost‘s Gregor Mackintosh and led to UK/Ireland dates supporting Cradle of Filth.
Stainthorpe says the band’s agent has already lined up interest from European festival promoters for summer 2027, alongside a handful of UK warm-up shows this year, with new original material also in the works.
The signing adds to a busy stretch for TKO, whose UK/metal roster under Shaw includes acts like KK’s Priest and Heriot. It also fits a broader 2026 pattern of acts locking down fresh touring representation: TOPS’ recent move to Ground Control Touring, Denise Julia’s signing with UTA for North and South American dates, and Slayr’s worldwide UTA deal off the back of a viral mixtape run.
Takeaways
This one’s less about chasing a hot streaming number and more about betting on nostalgia done right.
TKO isn’t signing a debut act; it’s signing four guys who already wrote the songs the doom-metal world reveres, reunited under a name that’s basically an inside joke for anyone who’s owned a My Dying Bride demo tape.
That’s a low-risk, high-goodwill booking play, and putting Ian Shaw (who already knows the UK heavy scene inside out) on it makes the fit obvious.
Does a “legacy lineup” reunion band draw better festival money than the “official” version of the band still touring under the original name? Will European festival bookers treat this as a one-off nostalgia slot or build multi-year relationships with the act?
