Gang of Four February 2019 Tour Dates; New Album HAPPY NOW Out March 29

New Album HAPPY NOW 

Out March 29

Released through Pledge Music

First Single "Paper Thin" Out Now

Released through AWAL

“We have short memories, maybe the world has not changed so much. Polarization is not new. We had an idea that we moved forward with; but now it’s crumbled and turned to dust. What was solid is now Paper Thin. Once, we could shut the door but we can no longer, the outside world will get to us, constantly, all the time.” - Andy Gill Gang of Four

Pioneering post-punk band, the GANG OF FOUR were formed by guitarist Andy Gill in the bricolage punk rock fallout culture of late seventies Leeds, UK – a place where art was a mirror and guitars were machine guns.

They redesigned rock in the punk aftermath, taking the incendiary energy of the form and crisscrossing it with funk, stripping away the baggage of rock excess and creating a new stripped-down music that was full of energy, heavy grooves, shrapnel guitars and politically charged lyrics matching the harshness of the times.

Gang of Four bounced around the music business releasing a series of albums including 1979’s universally lauded ENTERTAINMENT (which celebrates its 40th birthday in 2019) and they have been a direct inspiration to a diverse selection of bands, from the surrounding post-punk generation to the big bands that followed. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, INXS, R.E.M., U2, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana and Massive Attack have all spoken of their debt to Gang of Four.

More recently, the band’s influence has become almost universal — now everybody talks about Gang of Four. From Franz Ferdinand to St Vincent, from Sleater-Kinney and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem to Nine Inch Nails and IDLES, today's leading creators have GO4's influence and imprint all over them. The band is also reaching an urban audience with Frank Ocean sampling them on his latest album and Pharrell name-checking the band in his interviews.

Gang of Four have released a series of albums that emphatically demonstrate their capacity for invention and energy. The line-up now includes bassist Thomas McNeice — who joined in 2008 — and John ‘Gaoler’ Sterry whose fervent vocals sit perfectly alongside Gill’s six-string invention.

Urgent, dangerous and intense with their prolific bass sound, the Gang of Four are, somehow, one of the best young bands in Britain. Except this band is built around its founder and esteemed guitarist Andy Gill, whose pursuit of perfection has left him as the gang of one. Gill is as vital as ever at the heart of the project.



Happy Now
Track-listing 
Toreador
Alpha Male
One True Friend
Ivanka - My Name's On It
Don't Ask Me
Change the Locks
I'm A Liar
White Lies
Paper Thin
Lucky (Bonus Track)

The upcoming album Happy Now is the perfect synthesis between a modern take on the classic GO4 sound — a pop touch with those timeless angular guitar lines and fractured rhythms — with a fast forward vision. It’s this combination of electronics and the jagged guitar lines pursuing 21st century grooves that achieves a striking balance between the band’s fundamental sound and its restless embrace of the now and the new. Exemplified by the first single, the pulsating "Paper Thin," the result is a body of anthemic songs of modern confusion, and Happy Now a record for our times.

Listen to "Paper Thin" here. 

Standout cuts such as opener "Toreador," "Change The Locks," "Ivanka: My Name’s On It," "White Lies" and "I’m A Liar" capture the full energy of their live show which is seriously good. McNeice’s bass is fierce, sharp, full of post-punk grind. He looks sharp and lean, dangerous as well, with his suicide runs across the stage, all the while locking in tight with the dark energy groove provided by Jonny Finnigan and Tobias Humble. Meanwhile Gaoler is delivering his impassioned vocals, complemented by Gill’s steel-eyed resolve.

The 2019 Gang of Four are glorious. They sound enormous. They are exciting and have more than a whiff of danger and revolution about them. Gill radiates intensity and still plays the guitar like it’s sparking with electricity, and his band of young droogs add a youthful exuberance and energy that electrifies the songs and makes Gang of Four a thrilling exercise in reinvention.

Gang of Four’s new single ‘Paper Thin’ is released through AWAL on January 18, 2019 and is available on all major streaming platforms. The new studio album Happy Now is released on March 29, 2019 and is available now on pre-order in all formats from Pledge https://bit.ly/2QHMLXa     

Gang of Four embark on a tour of the USA in February, China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.  

Gang of Four live in Bucharest photo by Andrei Musat

U.S. TOUR DATES

  Feb 4 Marty’s On Newport Tustin, CA
  Feb 5 The Casbah San Diego, CA
  Feb 6 Roxy Theatre W. Hollywood, CA
  Feb 8 Strummer’s Fresno, CA
  Feb 9 The Chapel San Francisco, CA
  Feb 11 Global Hall Denver, CO
  Feb 12 Slow Down Omaha, NE
       *Feb 13  Space    Evanston, IL
  Feb 14 Shank Hall Milwaukee, WI
  Feb 16 El Club Detroit, MI
  Feb 17 Club Café Pittsburgh, PA
  Feb 19 Once Ballroom Somerville, MA
  Feb 20 Space Ballroom Hamden, CT
  Feb 21 U Street Music Hall Washington, DC
  Feb 22 Underground Arts Philadelphia, PA
  Feb 23 Asbury Lanes Asbury Park, NJ
  Feb 24 The Colony Woodstock, NY
  Feb 25 Rough Trade NYC Brooklyn, NY

ROCK SHOWS ON OUR RADAR: Chicago’s Two Sets of Eyes Play Tonic Room 10/21/17

Chicago’s Two Sets of Eyes, featuring members of The Phantom Broadcast, Splor and Groove Cartel, offer up a progressive blend of post punk, hip hop, pop and jazz on their debut single “For the Last Time.”

“For the Last Time” streams at https://twosetsofeyes.bandcamp.com/releases and the band is playing The Tonic Room this Sat, Oct 21 as noted at http://tonicroom.ticketfly.com/event/1577647-faintlife-chicago/

https://www.facebook.com/twosetsofeyes/

REVIEW: Original Photo Recap Savages at Metro #OriginalPhotos #review

London alternative, post punk band, Savages, are a genuine stand out in a sea of mediocrity.   They have a fantastic look, talent to back it, and a stage presence that belies their youth.  Their debut, Silence Yourself, has been garnering all kinds of acclaim, but they truly shine live.  They've been around since 2011 but are now gaining an international following.  On 9 December 2012, the BBC announced that the band had been nominated for the Sound of 2013 poll.  Their debut album hit #19 on the UK charts in May of 2013.  
Highly recommended!   

Savages are:

• Jehnny Beth (vocals) - real name Camille Berthomier; previously part of the French indie rock duo John & Jehn.
• Gemma Thompson (guitar)
• Ayse Hassan (bass)
• Fay Milton (drums)

Fay goes nuts on the drums with energy and passion reminiscent of her early garage band days.   

We caught their recent appearance at The Metro in Chicago and they truly killed it.   Their lyrics are some of the deepest, most insightful truths I've heard in a long while.  Their vocals and music are reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Joy Division and Bauhaus, yet they retain a unique, new sound that keeps them from coming across as derivative. 

Not just boys fun.   This powerhouse band of women is androgynous, sexy and talented, with insight to spare.   We know the vibrato is not everyone's cup of tea, but we dig it!   Lead singer Jehnny Beth (given name: Camille Berthomier) is from France,  and the rest of the band is from England.  Their manager John Best also manages Sigur Ros.  



We highly recommend checking them out. Thousands of band, pitches and promos come across our screen every week, but it's been a long time since I was this jazzed about new talent.   They rocked Pitchfork and Coachella Music and Arts Fest 2013 and have been selling out venues throughout the US and Europe.


Check out a few of their videos here.






Their first release, Silence Yourself, is available now via Beth's own label Pop Noire and Matador Records (released on 6 May 2013),

We also think they're absolutely on track with Silence Your Phones and Silence Yourself.    There's no lack of information in society today, but people are losing the ability to be entirely, deeply in the moment, without the distractions of technology.

SILENCE YOUR PHONES

DEAR AUDIENCE
OUR GOAL IS TO ALWAYS DISCOVER BETTER WAYS OF LIVING AND EXPERIENCING MUSIC
WE BELIEVE THERE ARE STILL NEW WAYS TO BE FOUND
WE BELIEVE THE USE OF PHONES TO FILM AND TAKE PICTURES DURING A GIG PREVENTS ALL OF US FROM TOTALLY IMMERSING OURSELVES
ONLY WITH FULL EXPERIENCE WILL THE WORDS WE SPEAK BE TRUE
LET’S MAKE EACH EVENING SPECIAL
SILENCE YOUR PHONES

SILENCE YOURSELF

THE WOLRD USED TO BE SILENT
NOW IT HAS TOO MANY VOICES
AND THE NOISE IS A CONSTANT DISTRACTION
THEY MULTIPLY, INTENSIFY
THEY WILL DIVERT YOUR ATTENTION TO WHAT’S CONVENIENT
AND FORGET TO TELL YOU ABOUT YOURSELF
WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF MANY STIMULATIONS
IF YOU ARE FOCUSED YOU ARE HARDER TO REACH
IF YOU ARE DISTRACTED YOU ARE AVAILABLE
YOU ARE DISTRACTED
YOU ARE AVAILABLE
YOU WANT FLATTERY
ALWAYS LOOKING TO WHERE IT’S AT
YOU WANT TO TAKE PART IN EVERYTHING AND EVERYTHING TO BE A PART OF YOU
YOUR HEAD IS SPINNING FAST AT THE END OF YOUR SPINE UNTIL YOU HAVE NO FACEAT ALL
AND YET
IF THE WORLD WOULD SHUT UP
EVEN FOR A WHILE
PERHAPS
WE WOULD START HEARING THE DISTANT RHYTHM OF AN ANGRY YOUNG TUNE – AND RECOMPOSE OURSELVES
PERHAPS
HAVING DECONSTRUCTED EVERYTHING
WE SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT PUTTING EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER
SILENCE YOURSELF

What They're about:

SAVAGES is not trying to give you something you didn’t have already, it is calling within yourself something you buried ages ago, it is an attempt to reveal and reconnect yourPHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL self and give you the urge to experience your life differently, your girlfriends, your husbands, your jobs, your erotic life and the place music occupies in your life. Because we must teach ourselves new ways of POSITIVE MANIPULATIONS, music and words are aiming to strike like lightning, like a punch in the face, a determination to understand the WILL and DESIRES of the self.

Check out Savages "manifestos" from their web site.

SAVAGES MANIFESTO #1

SAVAGES’ INTENTION IS TO CREATE A SOUND, INDESTRUCTIBLE, MUSICALLY SOLID,WRITTEN FOR THE STAGE AND DESIGNED WITH ENOUGH NUANCES TO PROVIDE AWIDE RANGE OF EMOTIONS. SAVAGES ARE A SELF-AFFIRMING VOICE TO HELP EXPERIENCE OUR GIRLFRIENDS DIFFERENTLY, OUR HUSBANDS, OUR JOBS, OUR EROTIC LIFE, AND THE PLACE MUSIC OCCUPIES INTO OUR LIVES. SAVAGES’ SONGS AIM TO REMIND US THAT HUMAN BEINGS HAVEN’T EVOLVED SO MUCH, THAT MUSIC CAN STILL BE STRAIGHT TO THE POINT, EFFICIENT AND EXCITING.

SAVAGES MANIFESTO #2

SAVAGES is not trying to give you something you didn’t have already, it is calling within yourself something you buried ages ago, it is an attempt to reveal and reconnect yourPHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL self and give you the urge to experience your life differently, your girlfriends, your husbands, your jobs, your erotic life and the place music occupies in your life. Because we must teach ourselves new ways of POSITIVE MANIPULATIONS, music and words are aiming to strike like lightning, like a punch in the face, a determination to understand the WILL and DESIRES of the self.
This album is to be played loud in the foreground.

I AM HERE MANIFESTO

IN OUR MODERN WORLD, MAN ASSIDUOUSLY ABANDONS HIS LIFE TO PRACTICAL NECESSITIES AND HIS IMAGINATION TO SLAVERY. MANIPULATIONS AND FEARS –MANIPULATION BY FEAR – ARE METED OUT TO YOUNG, INTELLIGENT AND RADICAL PEOPLE WHO YIELD TO THE PRESSURE OF ACCEPTED PRACTICES AND MANY AGE-OLD SERVITUDES. THE ELDER GENERATION HASN’T COME TO WARN THEM: EACH OF THEM CAME TO TELL ABOUT THEMSELVES. EACH ONE TO TELL HOW THEY HAD EATEN, HOW THEY HAD SLEPT, HOW THEY HAD IMPORTANT ORGASMS, IMPORTANT CHILDHOODS AND DREAMS. BECAUSE AN HONEST LIFE IS ADVERTISED AS A LIFE OF SILENCE, NORMALITY AND DULL CONCEIT. ART IS STULTIFIED. LOVE A PRIVILEGE. AND IN THE VICINITY OF OUR MOST SPLENDID CREATIVE YOUTH, IT IS STRONGLY ADVICE TO KEEP OUR MOUTH SHUT IF WE WANT TO SUCCEED.

Check out Savages main site here for more.