{"id":11195,"date":"2019-05-25T05:43:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T05:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skylight.gr\/?p=11195"},"modified":"2019-05-25T05:56:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T05:56:17","slug":"britains-the-claim-release-the-new-industrial-ballads-first-lp-since-1992","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/2019\/05\/25\/britains-the-claim-release-the-new-industrial-ballads-first-lp-since-1992\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s The Claim release ‘The New Industrial Ballads’, first LP since 1992"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\nBritish indie rock stalwarts The Claim<\/strong><\/a> present their much-anticipated album ‘The New Industrial Ballads’<\/strong><\/a>, their first new recordings since 1992. Ahead of this, they teased the lead track ‘Journey’<\/a> <\/strong>with accompanying video, inspired by Britain’s Brexit conundrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Claim are David Read <\/strong>(vocals\/guitar\/keyboards), David Arnold <\/strong>(guitar), Stuart Ellis <\/strong>(bass), and Martin Bishop <\/strong>(drums).\n Hailing from Cliffe in Kent, The Claim were one of the major players in\n the thriving ‘Medway Scene’, producing mod-influenced pop that \nseriously influenced on the sound of Blur<\/strong>‘s earliest works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new album comes hot on the trail of a special reissue of their seminal album ‘Boomy Tella’<\/a><\/strong> album, availableon\n green vinyl and also CD for the first time. The album was remastered \nfor this limited edition of 300 copies, using the original 1\/4 inch \ntapes. A recent feature in El Pa\u00eds, Spain\u2019s biggest selling newspaper, \ndescribed ‘Boomy Tella’ as the missing link between The Kinks and Blur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n Claim makes beautiful and original hybrid music that channels the root \ningredients of classic English guitar music \u2013 a tasteful combination of \nfolk (Bert Jansch, Nick Drake), thoughtful, melodic pop (Michael Head, \nRay Davies), and angular politically-tinged pop (Paul Weller, Elvis \nCostello, The Wolfhounds) into something that is contemporary and \noriginal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘The New Industrial Ballads’ presents the group’s sound\n 30 odd years later if they had continued to play and develop, rather \nthan quit. It\u2019s different, it\u2019s interesting but it is still \ndistinctively in the mould that made the group the true pioneers of \nBritpop in the late 80s and early 90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The New Industrial \nBallads\u2019 celebrates the noble tradition (the lineage of which runs \nthrough folk, ballads, skiffle, the Kinks, to punk and beyond) of \nordinary people singing about everyday concerns and the issues of the \nday that impact on working lives. \u2018Journey\u2019 <\/strong>is about economic migration, the characters involved, the need to fight passionately for the right of all to move to work. In \u2018Estuary Greens and Blues\u2019<\/strong>, David Read reflects on the passing years and a changing industrial landscape as he walks the shore of the Thames estuary. \u201830 Years\u2019 <\/strong>is a collaboration with writer Vic Templar<\/strong>,\n who narrates a poignant and prescient tale contrasts mankind\u2019s \ninability to progress politically and spiritually with technological \nadvances (a follow-up to The Claim\u2019s cult classic \u2018Mike the Bike\u2019<\/strong>, released on Bob \u201cSaint Etienne\u201d Stanley\u2019s Caff label in 1990).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the lead track, David Arnold<\/strong>\n says, “Journey marks a welcome return of political pop. It\u2019s a song \nthat the Claim wrote following the European referendum. It was motivated\n by a deep unease about the way in which the political right dehumanised\n economic migrants during the campaign and afterwards. The lyrics \nreflect on the similarities between the journeys made by different \nmembers of all our families across the generations, to find a new life \nand a happy ending.  Empathy is something we have to fight for”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\n are The Claim? All four of them have day jobs. In a parallel world in \nwhich new industrial balladry and the English version of Americana \nrules, this would be a virtue \u2013 rather than something that makes them \nlook like part-timers. David Read <\/strong>is a fireman. David Arnold <\/strong>works for a trade union. Stuart Ellis <\/strong>is a policeman. Martin Bishop <\/strong>works\n for a kitchen and bathroom supplier. All band members spent their \nformative years in Kent, and the two Davids and Martin in a tiny village\n called Cliffe that was built up around a cement works. Stuart hails \nfrom the nearby market town of Maidstone. They learned their craft on \nthe Medway scene, alongside local heroes The Milkshakes, The Prisoners, Wipeout<\/strong>and The Dentists<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new album was recorded at Jim Riley\u2019s Ranscombe Studios <\/strong>in\n Rochester, which is the spiritual home of today\u2019s Medway sound with the\n studio being used by all local luminaries young and old, including \nTheatre Royal, Billy Childish, Graham Day, Treasures of Mexico and Glenn\n Prangnell\u2019s Groovy Uncle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the group\u2019s earlier period \n(1985-92) they secured Single of the Week in Melody Maker (Loser\u2019s \nCorner), got 8\/10 in NME for their album (Boomy Tella) and received \nregular airplay on John Peel and Andy Kershaw. The Manic Street \nPreachers, who used to write The Claim long love letters, performed \ntheir first ever London show supporting The Claim in 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of May 24 via A Turntable Friend Records<\/strong><\/a>,\n this 14-track record is available digitally, on gatefold CD (with \nlyrics) and on black vinyl (with lyric sheet), with a special blue-green\n vinyl edition also exclusive to Rough Trade<\/strong><\/a> and Bandcamp<\/strong><\/a>orders. Worldwide distribution is being handled via SRD (Southern Record Distributors)<\/strong><\/a> out of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRACK LIST<\/strong>
1. Johnny Kidd’s Right Hand Man
2. Journey
3. Smoke And Screens
4. The Haunted Pub
5. Light Bending
6. Hercules
7. When The Morning Comes
8. Music\/Pictures
9. Gamma Rays
10. Just Too Far
11. Mrs. Jones
12. Estuary Greens & Blues
13. 30 Years (featuring Vic Templar)
14. Under Canvas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note <\/strong>to listeners: <\/strong>Sure\n everybody says this, but this album really has a natural flow. As such \nit works best if you listen to it all in order. If you only have a few \nminutes though, the following in order will give you a sense of the \nalbum\u2019s breadth: ‘Johnny Kidd\u2019s Right Hand Man’, ‘Journey’, ‘Smoke and \nScreens’, ’30 Years’, ‘The Haunted Pub’, ‘Light Bending’ and ‘Under \nCanvas’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UPCOMING GIGS<\/strong>
June 7  Gravesend, Kent – LV21 Lightship<\/a> (with Treasures of Mexico, The High Span)
June 8  Cliffe – Cliffe Village Club<\/a>
June 9  Brighton – Brighton Electric<\/a> (with Treasures of Mexico, Clipper)
More dates to be added<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep up with The Claim<\/strong>
Store<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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