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

Appomattox - "Appmttx" EP Review

I'm still scratching my head over a pre-CMJ review that I read that likened Appomattox to the Rolling Stones. After listening to the band's 5-song EP "Appmttx" (which was released last month), I'm hearing moody, atmospheric post-punk so I'd suggest that a closer point of comparison would be Gene Love Jezebel.

Appomattox are a three-piece band out of Brooklyn with a seemingly proletariat political agenda. Where some of their "political punk" contemporaries will pummel the listener with the intensity of their music and/or vocal delivery, Appomattox's music is refreshingly clean and precise. Vocalist/guitarist Nick Gaynier sings in a warble/wail similar to Gene Loves Jezebel's Michael Ashton and his guitar lines are reverb-drenched and sound similar to some of the 80's post-punk British bands like The Church and The Chameleons. Bassist Dave Nurmi keeps a steady rolling bass-line beneath the guitars and James Mello's drumming is extremely crisp. In a recent interview, the band described their music as "sweaty distorted political pop hooks echo".

Appomattox recently played an invite-only show at The Bunker Studio in Williamsburg and here is a live video of "Speculators" from the new EP.



In a recent interview with Ascap.Com, the band were asked "How does a Brooklyn band set themselves apart from all the myriad other bands in the most band-filled borough of New York?" Nick answered "One thing that makes us different is we sing about things that we think matter to people right now, [political content]. I just don't think many Brooklyn bands really address that stuff, and the ones that do tend to be 'all message, no hooks'." I have to have to give the band credit as I listened to the band's song "Olympia Snowe" which contains the lyrics "If I let go / Would you keep taking money from every lobby in town? / If I let go / Would you keep making money for everybody who keeps us down?" and spent some time tonight reading about Ms. Snowe's voting record.

Appomattox's post-punk, guitar-driven sound gives the band's music a distinctive ring and, based on the energy of their live videos, the band sounds like they would be a lot of fun to see live.

Links:
Appomattox

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 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