Wang Chung - 'Tazer Up!'
RELEASE DATE: 3RD JUNE 2013
RECORD LABEL: DIGITALLY SOUND RECORDS
FORMAT 1CD & DOWNLOAD
CAT # 1055
WANG CHUNG RETURN WITH NEW ALBUM AND ANNOUNCE FIRST LONDON SHOW IN 25 YEARS
80s pop legends Wang Chung will return with their first album of new material since 1989’s ‘The Warmer Side of Cool’ when they release ‘Tazer Up!’ on 3rd June, 2013. In addition, to precede the album’s release the band will perform their first live date in the UK for twenty-five years at London’s Bush Hall on Saturday, 25th May 2013.
Having formed out of the post-punk/ new wave scene, Wang Chung’s core duo of Jack Hues (vocals/guitar) and Nick Feldman (bassist/guitarist) were very much part of the 80’s British Invasion, selling millions of albums and enjoying numerous hit singles, including ‘Dance Hall Days’ and ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’ (a US #1) .
‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’ unintentionally became part of the contemporary culture of North America, with its now famous line ‘Everybody Wang Chung Tonight’ becoming a new US verb, ‘to Wang Chung’, which has beennamechecked by everyone from Homer Simpson to Frasier Crane (http://youtu.be/4kS_RdjLpZM) and is evenestablished in the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=to+wang+chung).
The band also undertook extensive movie soundtrack work, including the score of William Friedkin’s ‘To Live and Die in LA’. More recently, Wang Chung’s music has featured in contemporary TV shows and movies like The Fighter, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Glee, amongst others.
‘Tazer Up!’ (co-produced by Adam Wren of Leftfield) was released digitally in North America to widespread acclaim at the end of 2012. “It’s taken a while,” admits Wang Chung’s singer & guitarist Jack Hues. “Most of the tracks were written more recently, but the track ‘Stargazing’ was started as far back as the late-90s.”
Wang Chung bassist Nick Feldman added, “With ‘Tazer Up!’ we wanted to cut across contemporary limitations of genre and explore all the styles of music we love, from electro-pop, dance and piano ballads to Pink Floyd-esque rock. It's all there; partly looking back to the synth-pop of the 80's, but also looking forward with contemporary production. This is Wang Chung for the 21st Century."
Speaking of the band’s first London show in twenty-five years, Feldman said, “This is a unique gig for Wang Chung. Not only is it our first London show for 25 years, we will be reunited with our original drummer Darren Costin for the first time since 1985.”
Making a special guest appearance will be Heaven 17 front man Glen Gregory, a former member of an early incarnation of the band.
Also appearing at the Bush Hall date are the audio-visual electronic maestros Addictive TV, who recently collaborated with Wang Chung for a drum & bass remix of ‘Dance Hall Days’. “We may well attempt to play this version live,” says Hues, adding, “But don’t hold us to that!”
Trailer for ‘Tazer Up!’: http://youtu.be/Df_zGfEXW2I
Video for the track ‘Stargazing’: http://youtu.be/cbkDGIjQ4lI
www.facebook.com/wangchungband
@wangchungband
WANG CHUNG
‘Tazer Up!’
Track-by-track synopsis
City of Light – “We always loved the way "Back in the USSR" opened The Beatles White Album and from the moment we worked on this track I felt it had a similar temperature. The bv's are like us spoofing The Beatles who in turn were spoofing The Beach Boys.”
Let’s Get Along – “I wrote the guitar riff and got the chorus idea with Ollie J from Arkana. Over time it evolved to its current form, influenced in its arrangement by Blur's Song 2. Lyrics are a necessary reminder in these troubled times.”
Rent Free – “An ode to moving on after a relationship has become toxic. Musically it’s a nod to our quirkier 80’s pop and dance sensibilities but with some more modern touches thrown in too. Recorded on a laptop in Nick’s front room.
Justify Your Tone – “This is a cover of a song by Will Bates. Nick played it to me when he was working in A&R and I loved the lyric. Working a lot in America, I could totally relate to the long dial-up code and those microscopic changes in tones of voice.”
Driving You – “The opening lyric is from a book by Alain De Botton! The verse and chorus are based on a complete descending C major scale in the bass part. Need I say more?”
Why? – “A dancefloor party track moment. Wang Chung have always been enamoured with funk and dance (both classic and modern), from the likes of Chic, Sly and the Family Stone to Daft Punk and Skrillex.”
London Orbital – “An affectionate nod to the synth-pop we loved back in the early 80's. Another driving song inspired by Friday nights on the M25 driving to Oxford to see my daughter Violet when she was at university.”
Abducted by the 80's – “Violet introduced me to Rob Gee's poem of the same name. I worked on the whole six-minute poem initially (available on our Abducted by the 80's EP) but Nick and I then worked it into this song version. The lyrics try to capture our sense of being musicians in the 80's: "You listen and you get it somehow..."
Overwhelming Feeling – “In the 80's, Nick and I used to get together and work on each other’s ideas. We wrote this song in that old-school way; Nick supplying the opening lines, me elaborating (probably over-elaborating!). the live piano was recorded in my front room.
Stargazing – “In the good old days, the best albums followed the familiar path of breezy opener, a bit of a journey and an epic closing track. Tazer Up! aspires to that form. This is our homage to Pink Floyd, written after moving from London and living in the country with no light pollution. I bought an old telescope and spent many evenings stargazing.”
Dance Hall Days (Psychemagik remix) – “Even though we were inactive for 20 years as Wang Chung, over that time there was still so much activity online around Wang Chung with younger (as well as older) people. Nick happened upon a remix of ‘Dancehall Days’ by Psychemagik that they had posted online and he really liked it. Jack approached them and sent them the masters of the track and they finished-off an updated mix, a short edit of which is on Tazer Up!”
For further information please contact Dave Clarke at:
Tel:+44 (0) 7966 557774 or E-Mail: dave@planetearthpublicity.com
www.planetearthpublicity.com