It was a huge day for Sam Fender on Friday, with the release of third album People Watching. and it sounds like the celebrations over the new record started early, as some of his band arrived at HMV in Newcastle after a rather wild night on the tiles at the city's famous party bar Cosy Joes.Following in the footsteps of Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Under, both of which made number 1, Sam and his band are back with album number three, which has been preceded by the drop of three well received singles: Arm's Length, the incredibly moving Remember My Name and the anthemic title track.After sell out shows in the UK and Ireland before Christmas, it will soon be time for Sam and his band to head over seas for the European dates, after a performance at the Brits on March 1, where they are also frontrunners for the Alternative/Rock award. Many people flocked to a listening party for People Watching at Beyond Vinyl in the west of the city and, there was a surprise for fans who flocked to Eldon Square on Friday lunchtime to pick up a copy of the CD, vinyl or limited edition St James' Park picture disc, as band members Dean, Drew, Joe, Brooke and Johnny Bluehat were behind the counter ready to do some signing.Dean had a brief chat with ChronicleLive, when he admitted that they were slightly feeling the effects of the night before at Cosy Joes, as they were set to go straight from HMV to meet Sam, on his way up from London, at rehearsals. Loving hearing all of the great feedback about the album, a matter of hours after its official release, Dean commented: "We're going into rehearsals today, 'cos we've got a load of gigs coming up; so into rehearsals. We're going to the Brits and then, after the Brits, we're going straight on tour around Europe. "We come back from Europe, go to America, do a load of festivals. So, yeah a load of gigs now the album's out, we've been making it for four years I think it's been so it's nice to get it out. Excited to see what happens."