Gang of Four Announce New Disc (First w/o Jon King) 'What Happens Next' / Show at Irving Plaza on March 7th

UK's legendary post-punk Gang of Four will release a new album, What Happens Next, on February 24, 2015 on Metropolis Records in the USA and Canada, and Membran in Europe. The follow-up to the band's 2011 album Content, What Happens Next features collaborations with Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Robbie Furze from The Big Pink, Gail Ann Dorsey, German superstar Herbert Grönemeyer and Japanese superstar Hotei. Gang of Four's lineup for this album is Andy Gill (guitar), John "Gaoler" Sterry (vocals), Thomas McNiece (bass) and Jonny Finnegan (drums).

The first album without vocalist Jon King, What Happens Next refers to both the outside world and the band itself: an emphatic commitment to the future. "The focus is more on universal issues, like how individuals behave in certain ways or how our world is constructed, than local issues or current affairs," says founding guitarist and songwriter Andy Gill. "Gang of Four is anything but parochial." When King left the project, a reinvigorated Gill seized the opportunity to re-imagine Gang of Four from the ground up. The new album is an unexpected twist that still operates as the next logical step for the legendary post-punk band.



Sandwiched between Joy Division's landmark album Unknown Pleasures and Led Zeppelin's iconic IV, Gang of Four's debut Entertainment! sits at #8 on Pitchfork's Top 100 of the 1970s, proclaiming it "caustic and bursting with disgust for unethical capitalism, opportunist politicians and consumer society, among other things, but it's also crafted with amazing pop sensibility - and is, of course, remarkably danceable." Earlier this year, that same album was found on Kurt Cobain's handwritten list of favorite albums. Echoing the singular importance of the band's impact on music, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello told Rolling Stone this past July 2014 that "there's no one more influential on my guitar playing than Andy Gill." Having been named a massive influence by many artists including Bloc Party, R.E.M., The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand and LCD Soundsystem, among hundreds of others, Gang of Four's legacy continues not by being frozen in a moment in time, but by constant evolution while remaining true to the original spirit of the band.

The band will tour in North America in March 2015 - current tour dates follow:
03-03 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
03-04 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
03-06 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
03-07 New York, NY - Irving Plaza (Tickets are $35)
03-09 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
03-10 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
03-12 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
03-13 Chicago, IL - Park West
03-14 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
03-15 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse
03-17 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live Studio
03-18 Dallas, TX - Trees
03-23 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
03-24 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
03-25 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
03-28 Santa Ana, CA - Burgerama @ The Observatory

Links:
Gang of Four

Gang of Four Play David Letterman Show and Webster Hall Tomorrow Night (Feb. 8th)

2/11: Updated to include Letterman video

Gang of Four played their first US show since 2005's reunion tour on Feb. 4th at Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia. The band is making an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman tomorrow night to play "Never Pay for the Farm" prior to their headlining show at Webster Hall. There are still tickets available for the Webster Hall show which are $37 (DOS). Hollerado is opening the show and doors are at 7PM.

Below is the setlist from Saturday night's show in Philadelphia:
- Never Pay for the Farm
- Not Great Men
- Ether
- I Parade Myself
- Paralyzed
- A Fruitfly in the Beehive
- Anthrax
- What We All Want
- I Party All the Time
- Why Theory?
- You Don't Have to be Mad
- We Live as We Dream, Alone
- To Hell With Poverty
- Do As I Say

Encore:
- Return the Gift
- I Love a Man in a Uniform
- Damaged Goods

Encore 2:
- Natural's Not in It



Links:
Gang of Four

Gang of Four Post Free Three Track EP // Show at Webster Hall on Feb. 8th

Gang of Four is releasing Content on Jan. 24th next year which is their first disc of new material in sixteen years. It will be available in a standard CD release and on vinyl. It will also be available in a limited edition "Ultimate Content Can" which contains six booklets:

1. the first containing the new album on CD
2. the second featuring an art piece that Andy and Jon have created to depict the last 40 years of world history (composed of a series of twenty drawings and montages),
3. the third, a book of lyrics
4. the fourth, a book of Rotoscoped photographs of the band's emotions
5. the fifth, a book containing sachets of Jon and Andys' blood
6. lastly, a scratch and sniff booklet which reflects the key areas of human activity.

In the interim, the band just released a free three-track EP of unreleased material through the Guardian's website (download widget is in the right nav bar). The tracks consist of a reworked version of the classic "Glass" (from their debut album Entertainment), a brand new song ("Sleeper") and a remix of the Content track "I Party All the Time". Click over to the Guardian site as the band wrote a detailed overview/history of each of the three tracks.

Gang of Four is kicking off a North American tour in February and the local tour stop is at Webster Hall on Feb. 8th. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 DOS.

Gang of Four: North American Tour Dates
Feb. 4: Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ON
Feb. 5: Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Feb. 7: Paradise, Boston, MA
Feb. 8: Webster Hall, New York, NY
Feb. 9: 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.
Feb. 11: Metro, Chicago, IL
Feb. 12: First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
Feb. 15: Venue, Vancouver, BC
Feb. 16: Showbox @ the Market, Seattle, WA
Feb. 17: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Feb. 19: The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
Feb. 20: House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
Feb. 21: Music Box, Los Angeles, CA

Links:
Gang of Four

Gang of Four Release First Single from "Content" // New Disc Out Jan. 25th on YepRoc

Gang of Four - "Never Pay for the Farm"

I am one of the die-hard GO4 fans who made a pledge earlier this year via PledgeMusic to help fund GO4's forthcoming disc Content. Not having the funds to afford a helicopter ride home to London from Glastonbury (£950), I opted for the "Ultimate Content Can" (£45). This can contains "the new album on CD, a book version, on paper, of an art piece that Jon and Andy have done on ceramic tiles depicting the last 40 years of world history, a book of lyrics, a book of drawings of our emotions, phials of our blood and a scratch and sniff book."

The "Content Can" has yet to ship and, due to the delayed street date for the album, is likely to be delayed until late in the year. Personally, I don't mind the delay but I'm anxious to get a sense of the album. The first new single from the reunited band, "Second Life", was released in 2008 and was written prior to Dave Allen and Hugo Burham's departure. This track has the classic GO4 sound without sounding like a re-tread of their past work. There is a snippet of another new song on PlegeMusic, "Do As I Say", which also follows the same sort of angular, staccato rhythms. On the other hand, "Never Pay for the Farm" (track streaming above), didn't move me as much as I would have liked.

It will be interesting to study the lineage of each of the songs on Content.

Over the last couple of years we have made a record of 11 new songs called ‘ content .‘ By now we thought it would be released, but it hasn’t panned out as we expected. What was to be an autumn release has turned into a New Year release.

We have tried to self fund this record from our gigs and money raised from our supporters on the Pledge site. We are really sorry about the delay.


This is why it’s delayed:

First, we had to find licensing deals for Europe and North America to get the music out online and physically. This has taken a lot of time to do as we wanted the right partner, an outfit that loved the album and got why we did it. We’re really pleased that we’ve now signed a deal with Europe’s leading independent, Gronland, and expect to close a deal in the US and Canada in the next couple of weeks. Now that we are in September, neither of these companies want to release the album before Christmas, and they both want the release to be simultaneous. So the album will now be released January 2011, tied to Gang of Four tours in Australia, the US and Europe.

The second thing that’s delayed the release has been the production of the metal boxed set. All who know Gang of Four know that the relationship between the music and the artwork surrounding it is crucial. This special edition will include a book of smells relating to human activities like work and sex, a book of the band's emotions [ rotoscoped photographs ], and a book of drawings and montages which illustrate our take on the last 40 years of world history. There is also a book of lyrics and a book containing our blood. And finally, a CD of music. The specialist production processes needed to make this happen are a bit left-field and it’s been a challenge to finish it up. But it’s almost done now, if late.

We know you must be as frustrated by the wait as we are. We’re going to make it good. We’ll keep our word and will deliver what we promised, although we missed our pre-Xmas release slot. So, we’ll send everyone who signed up for the album from our Pledge site a free re-mixed track before it is available anywhere else as a symbol of our gratitude and appreciation. This will be on it’s way to you very soon.

We’re working hard on this and hope you can forgive the delay and hang in with us. We’re almost there. It will be a fine thing.

Thanks

Andy Gill and Jon King
September, 2010

Links:
Gang of Four

Gang of Four Launch Pledgemusic Campaign for New CD 'Content'

Post-punk band Gang of Four are readying the release of their first set of new songs since 1995's Shrinkwrapped with a Pledgemusic campaign to support the release of their new album Content.

Pledge gifts range from signed CDs, limited edition white label LPs and hand-written lyrics to a private concert, copies of the band's first show (Leeds '77) and Andy Gill's mixing services.



Here is Andy & John's posting from the band's MySpace page:

"Making an album, you focus on the creative process, on exactly what you want to do and how to get there. Jon and I have been working on this new material for three years. It’s only as we came close to the end of the process that we began to think in practical terms, about how to make our music available. The traditional route, via the majors, doesn’t make sense any more. In fact, the whole architecture of the music industry doesn’t make sense any more. Record companies are taking more than ever before from artists and giving less than ever before to the people who want to listen to their music.

We decided to work with Pledge Music as a direct and innovative way to get our music out there. Towards the end of the summer, the album will be released and sold in record shops and as a download, but Pledge Music makes it possible for Gang of Four aficionados to get involved ahead of the release and to get a deeper insight into the making of the album and our ongoing work, through special pages on the site with daily updates of videos, gigs, conversations, demos, rough mixes, previously unreleased songs from the archives, and also words and photos.

We look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming gigs."

Andy and Jon

Links:
Gang of Four

Gang of Four Released First New Single in 13 Years, "Second Life", Yesterday

One of the best concerts that I caught in 2005 was the original Gang of Four at Irving Plaza.

It is somewhat bittersweet that it has taken now three years for new material to finally be released and, in the meantime, both Dave and Hugo have left the band. The band released the single "Second Life" yesterday, which is available on iTunes and as a limited edition CD single.

It is hard to get a sense of the band's future direction as "Second Life" was written while Dave was still in the band. Dave posted two rough mixes of the song to his blog a few months back (Second Life Demo #1, Second Life Demo #2). It is more than likely though that Go4 will return to the dance-sounds of their 1991 release "Mall" as Dave has been replaced with Gail Ann Dorsey who played and sang backup on this release.

Links:
Gang of Four's Website