July 2025 News Post: Radio features and a TONNE of Newgrounds awards for Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album, Announcing the bonus Instrumentals album (+ Early Access for Patrons) + Guitar and CD/Vinyl videos and more updates!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great summer so far! As I'm sure you're already well aware it's been a monumentally busy month gone by as Better Than The Book released its 3rd full-length album Side Character In My Own Life on June 13th, and what a splash it's made already in only the first 2 and a half weeks since its release! There's still a lot more to share on top of that this post but let's get started with that!

In case you haven't heard already, Side Character In My Own Life is Better Than The Book's 3rd full-length album: 10 tracks + 4 bonus tracks + 4 radio edits for your playlisting convenience! It really follows directly on from where the Hopes and Dreams album left off and takes a darker more aggressive tone reflective of the intense pandemic years during the writing process. Reaching even further across genres than BTTB's usual ska and pop punk tones and rock experimentation, Side Character In My Own Life is undoubtedly Better Than The Book's (and my own in general's) most ambitious release to date!

The first Single Plot Holes released on December 30th 2024 and was featured on BBC Introducing The South! The second single and title track released on March 28th and featured on the Ska Time show on Button Down Radio, The Warp Factor Radio Show, Tonic Ska Radio and Beefy's Ska Club in Australia (which also featured the bonus track Hearts Racing Backwards)! The final pre-release single Bump In The Night released on May 23rd and was also featured on BBC Introducing The South! EVERY track on the main album as well as 3 out of 4 bonus tracks and the full album stream received Front Page Feature awards (15 awards total) and have racked up a collective over 43,000 plays here on Newgrounds within the first 2 weeks of the album release! If you're wondering, the only track to not get the front page feature was the bonus track Plot Holes (Alternative Version). It's still racked up over a hundred listens though and interestingly, the regular version of Plot Holes received 2 front page features (one for the album version and one for the radio edit)! The album's up in full on Newgrounds now too, so check out the full playlist here:

or the full album stream here:

Along with the radio and Newgrounds features (including being finally scouted for the Art Portal for the album's cover art), the release has been shared on a few cool music sites and blogs including my good friend World Beyond's Blog, The Punk Site, Pete's Rock News and Views, and even the elasticStage Instagram (who are the people who make the CD and Vinyl releases for the album)! Check out some fantastic podcast replays of the radio shows and the blog features below:

June 21, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Hearts Racing Backwards featured on Beefy's Ska Club Podcast (with an album review!)​​

​June 20, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life (Single) featured on The Warp Factor Radio Show​​​​​​​

​June 14, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album featured on the World Beyond Blog

​June 13, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life album featured on ThePunkSite.com

June 9, 2025 - Better Than The Book's band feature page updated on Pete's Rock News and Views

​June 9, 2025 - Better Than The Book's Side Character In My Own Life CD and Vinyl releases featured on elasticStage's Instagram

And along with a tonne of nice encouragement and comments for the new album and Better Than The Book, I'd like to share 2 of my favourite comments I've heard since the release:

''​A huge milestone and a massive effort, Better Than The Book's new release is a heartfelt reflection on everything Nick’s been through since the last release. Yet, in true ska-punk fashion, it’s not just about struggle—it’s a celebration of the good stuff life throws your way between the chaos. Packed with irony, energy, and infectious optimism, this record reminds us that even if things go off the rails, they do get better'' - Vladimir Kuznetsov via Bandcamp on Side Character In My Own Life

''Not every track is a ska track... there’s a few ska tracks; there’s a few rock tracks; there’s all sorts; there’s something there for everyone! ... Well done, Nick! I am very VERY encouraged by this album... Compliments to the chef! ... Go and buy it, just buy the album people! Nick has put a hell of a lot of work into this one and it shows! It’s so good; so well produced as well! There’s not a bad track on it!'' - ​Beefy on the Side Character In My Own Life album | Beefy's Ska Club (#1 Ska Radio Show in the world)

What can I say? Thanks so much to everyone for the support and for sharing my music and I'm so happy that people are enjoying this new album (I think the above accolades and comments say it all)! Being super honest for a moment, I know that not many people are buying music these days, but if you really enjoyed Side Character In My Own Life (or Better Than The Book's music in general) and want to support the project, please consider picking up a copy on Bandcamp (or becoming a Patreon Supporter to download the album) or a CD / Vinyl from elasticStage. Remember that despite how it may seem, I'm still just one guy making these records with whatever equipment I can scrape together, no label, or financial backing or anything like that, just the kindness of people who want to help me out however they can, so anything you can do to help means the world to me to try and keep this project going and growing to new places (and there are some big plans in the pipeline if I can make it happen)! Thanks so much again everyone and if you STILL haven't listen to the album yet, check it out on Bandcamp and or pick up a CD / Vinyl below:

https://betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com/album/side-character-in-my-own-life

https://elasticstage.com/betterthanthebookuk/releases/side-character-in-my-own-life-album

With such a great few weeks since the album launch, I'd like to announce that to celebrate all the radio play and Newgrounds features (etc...) so far, I'll be releasing a bonus instrumental version of the album on July 23rd (in about 3 weeks)! I know I usually wait a full year to do this, but it seemed like a good a time as any to keep the hype train going as much as I can! Here's to officially announcing "Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals)" which will be available as a digital download on Bandcamp as well as in all the usual streaming places on July 23rd! Check out the edited album artwork below:

And if you're a Patreon supporter, you have a download of the full-sized artwork package to look forward to in your rewards this month! For the $10 Patrons you have full early access to the Side Character In My Own Life (Instrumentals) album today! Grab the rewards below and I hope you enjoy it:

$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132960623

$10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/132960630

Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842

Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding

Finally for this month, a quick round up of YouTube videos! It's the second month since slowing down from the 2 a week posting, so there's only a few new videos to share this time, 2 video previews of the CD / Vinyl release of the new album + a tappy guitar live performance which was my entry to the UK Guitar Icon 2025 Contest sponsored by Ibanez and Laney. Doesn't look like I made the cut so far but I was pleased with the way it turned out and I hope you enjoy it too! Check out the updated playlist below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

On top of that, I also released a rather silly video revealing that the bonus "Hearts Racing Backwards" from Side Character In My Own Life, is in fact really just "Hearts Racing" from the Two Years On album (2016) but reversed and with new words?! Check out the comparison below (yes I am really losing my mind...):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M75Mu1A3DPU

That about wraps things up for this post! On top of all this album release work, I've also been super busy with a super secret project I can't wait to share with you (hopefully soon), as well as working on finally setting up a mixer and patch bay for the studio (exciting but LOTS of planning)! On top of that, plans are also being made to get Better Than The Book back in the LIVE scene and on the stage (even if just for one night)! More updates next time and until then, thanks as always for supporting my music and Better Than The Book and hope you're enjoying all the new tunes! Take care, all the best, keep on skankin' and if you like the new album then you know what to do: pick it up pick it up pick it up!