Here’s a rock album recorded in hallowed spaces with legendary collaborators: Professor and the Madman have announced details for the August 7, 2026, release of their fifth studio album Dreamworld, available on LP, CD, and download from FullerTone Records. The musical group featuring veterans from both the American and UK rock scenes ventured to Abbey Road Studio 2 in London for the first time, recording with The Damned’s rhythm section of Rat Scabies and Paul Gray in the same room where The Beatles and Pink Floyd created their most ambitious work. The first digital single “12 Strings and Tambourines” is out now, with the full album expanding the baroque pop foundation of their critically acclaimed 2020 release Séance into territory encompassing cocktail jazz interludes, classical flourishes, backwards guitar, and playful psychedelia alongside punk-pop and alternative rock.
The Concept
Dreamworld continues exploring themes established on Séance while addressing contemporary anxieties.
“Séance was about re-establishing contact with an era, a way of life, that seems to be making a comeback,” explains co-frontman Sean Elliott. “Like many people, the ritual of bringing home a vinyl record and immersing yourself in its journey was crucial to Alfie and me.”
The new album expands that concept toward escape and refuge. “With Dreamworld, we’ve expanded that concept to include the idea that a song cycle can still provide escape—even if briefly—from the daily chaos,” Elliott continues. “Modern life is fueled by anxiety, and most of these new songs express that.”
The album apparently functions as both acknowledgment of contemporary unease and temporary shelter from it, the immersive album experience offering what fragmented streaming consumption cannot.
The Abbey Road Sessions
For the first time, Elliott and co-frontman Alfie Agnew left their Hollydale home studio in Fullerton, California, to record at one of music’s most storied facilities.
“In August 2024, we spent a day recording at Abbey Road Studio 2 in London,” recalls Agnew. “It was profound on many levels. It was the first time that Sean and I had recorded in the same room with Rat and Paul.”
The experience exceeded mere technical improvement. “Then, of course, there was the gear, the staff, the physical space, and working with engineer Paul Pritchard—everything was world class,” Agnew adds. “Sean and I were deeply moved at having the opportunity to work in the same hallowed spaces as our biggest influences, The Beatles and Pink Floyd.”
The studio’s legacy presumably informed the ambitious arrangements that Dreamworld pursues, the space where baroque pop and psychedelia were pioneered now hosting musicians continuing those traditions.
The Damned Connection
The Damned’s rhythm section brings UK punk royalty to the Professor and the Madman lineup.
“12 Strings and Tambourines” and “Temple of Madness” feature virtuoso performances from Rat Scabies and Paul Gray, the drummer and bassist whose work with The Damned helped define UK punk and its subsequent evolution into gothic rock and beyond.
The collaboration extends back to the band’s origins. Elliott and Agnew recruited Scabies to play drums on their self-released debut album Good Evening, Sir! (2016) after discovering their mutual admiration. By the group’s third album Disintegrate Me (2018), Gray had become a fully-fledged member.
The Abbey Road sessions marked the first time all four musicians recorded together in the same room, the transatlantic collaboration finally achieving physical unity.
The Musical Approach
Dreamworld builds from ’60s baroque pop foundation while incorporating diverse influences.
Cocktail jazz interludes provide atmospheric contrast. Classical flourishes add compositional sophistication. Backwards guitar and playful psychedelia nod to the era the band celebrates. Yet the tempest of punk-pop and alternative rock sits comfortably alongside these elements, the musicians’ hardcore roots never entirely abandoned.
Elliott and Agnew trade lead vocals throughout the album, with one exception: the rare duet on “Songs in My Head,” to which Agnew also contributes trumpet. Both handle lead and rhythm guitar parts alongside keyboards, the home studio approach allowing compositional control that session musician reliance might compromise.
The Southern California Punk Roots
Elliott and Agnew emerged from Southern California’s punk scene before pursuing more expansive sounds.
Elliott learned surf guitar from Dick Dale himself before joining Mind Over Four in the 1980s. Agnew played guitar in the Adolescents, a group closely associated with his six-string slinging brothers Rikk and Frank Agnew.
By the early ’90s, the pair played guitar together in punk group D.I. The adrenalin rush of live shows satisfied one appetite, but they felt boxed in by punk’s strict orthodoxy. They toyed with more expansive collaboration, but Agnew’s academic pursuits took him out of state for years.
In 2014, reconnection at a local show finally provided the opportunity they’d discussed decades earlier. The result became Professor and the Madman, punk credibility informing baroque ambition.
The Tracklist
Dreamworld spans eleven tracks exploring its thematic territory:
- Dreamworld
- Tolerant World
- Brand New World
- Mental Tape
- The Light
- 12 Strings and Tambourines
- Adams Street
- Nuclear Boy
- Songs in My Head
- Temple of Madness
- Dreamworld (Reprise)
The album is produced by Professor and the Madman, recorded at Hollydale Studios in Fullerton, California, and Abbey Road Studios in London. All songs by Professor and the Madman except “Nuclear Boy” by R. Flynt & S. Allen, originally recorded by 20/20.
Who Should Listen August 7
If baroque pop with punk energy appeals: The combination of ’60s sophistication and hardcore roots creates distinctive hybrid.
If The Damned’s rhythm section excites you: Rat Scabies and Paul Gray’s virtuoso performances anchor key tracks.
If Abbey Road’s legacy resonates: Recording where The Beatles and Pink Floyd worked connects Dreamworld to the traditions it celebrates.
If album-as-journey matters to you: The song cycle approach provides the immersive experience that singles consumption fragments.
If Southern California punk history interests you: Elliott and Agnew’s roots in Dick Dale, Mind Over Four, the Adolescents, and D.I. inform everything they create.
August 7 Opens the Dreamworld
Dreamworld releases August 7, 2026, on LP, CD, and download from FullerTone Records. The first single “12 Strings and Tambourines” is out now. Shop at Bandcamp.
Sean Elliott and Alfie Agnew. Rat Scabies and Paul Gray. Abbey Road Studio 2. Baroque pop meets punk-pop meets psychedelia meets cocktail jazz.
Modern life is fueled by anxiety. A song cycle can still provide escape.
Class is back in session. August 7.
