THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN TO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM IN 19 YEARS – NEW TRACK “AMPUTATION” OUT NOW
LONG-AWAITED NEW ALBUM DAMAGE AND JOY TO BE RELEASED MARCH 24TH ON ADA/WARNER MUSIC
The Jesus And Mary Chain are set to release their long-awaited new album Damage And Joy on March 24th on ADA / Warner Music. The album is their first since βMunkiβ was released backed in the summer of 1998.
Fronted by the Reid brothers Jim and William, The Jesus And Mary Chain first reformed to play the Coachella festival back in 2007. Despite regular touring β most notably a 2015 world tour which revisited their landmark album βPsychocandyβ β it took some time before they could agree on a plan to record a much-mooted seventh album.
βWe started to β can you believe? β listen to each other a bit more,β explains Jim. βIn the last couple of years, weβve buried the hatchet to some degree, and thankfully not into each other. Most people who know us would say that we havenβt mellowed that much. I think it was to do with the fact, dare I say it, that wisdom comes with age. Letβs live and let live, and letβs take each otherβs opinions into account.β
Work on Damage And Joy (a reference to the English translation of schadenfreude) began in September 2015, with producer Youth also contributing bass and diplomacy to proceedings during sessions in London, Dublin and Granada, Spain. Alan McGee first confirmed that a new JAMC album was on the way by telling Canadaβs CBC Music: βThey’ve made another album! It’s a big deal! It’s kinda enormous.”
The album commences with βAmputationβ, in which waves of distorted guitar and Jimβs insouciant vocal delivery collide to create a hypnotic track which addresses his feelings of βbeing edited out of the whole music businessβ¦ I felt like a rock βnβ roll amputation.β
Other highlights include a refined and re-energised new version of βAll Things Must Passβ which previously featured in the TV show βHeroesβ and then on βUpside Down: The Best of The Jesus and Mary Chainβ; and the raw garage-rock of βFacing Up To The Factsβ which offers the revealing lyric: βI hate my brother and he hates me / Thatβs the way itβs supposed to beβ.
The album also features performances from the bandβs touring drummer Brian Young as well as former Lush bassist Phil King.
βThe interesting thing about this record is what comes out of the speakers,β declares Jim. βTo make a good record is an achievement if youβre twenty-two, but to do it in your fifties, the way we are, I think is a minor miracle.β
Damage And Joy will be released on digital, CD, vinyl and Cassette formats, and pre-orders are currently open. All pre-orders receive an immediate download of βAmputationβ.
The Jesus and Mary Chain will embark upon a UK tour to coincide with the albumβs release. The touring line-up is completed by Scott Von Ryper (guitar), Mark Crozer (bass) and Brian Young (drums). The dates are listed below
The Jesus and Mary Chain are also about to commence a short North American tour which culminates at the Day For NightFestival in Houston on December 17th.
Tour Dates
MARCHΒ
23rd β Newcastle, Northumbria University
25th β Manchester, Academy
27th β Leeds, Church
28th β Leicester, O2 Academy
29th β Bristol, O2 Academy
31st β Birmingham, O2 Institute
APRIL
1st β Bournemouth, O2 Academy
2nd β Oxford, O2 Academy
3rd β Cambridge, Junction
5th β London, O2 Shepherdβs Bush Empire
6th β Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion
ArtistΒ Links
(Main Photo Credit: Steve Gullick)
