New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Sony
Music UK) - Celebrated Welsh rock band
Manic Street Preachers will release their latest album, Journal For Plague Lovers, on Columbia Records on
September 15th 2009. Produced by Steve Albini it's an incredible and arresting album, sure to floor both long-standing Manics fans as well as the uninitiated. It's a welcome return; it's been a decade since
Manic Street Preachers played in America. Since then, the Manics have continued to grow in stature on the other side of the Atlantic, releasing a string of critically acclaimed hits and selling out multiple arena tours. To date they've scored 8 Top Ten albums and 15 Top Ten singles in their native Britain. "It's been a decade since the Manics last set foot on American shores,' says the band. 'With the release of Journal For Plague Lovers, we felt the time was right to head back and play a series of gigs for our American fans both old and new.'
Journal For Plague Lovers, already a huge critical and commercial hit in the UK & Europe, is the first Manic Street Preachers' album since 1994's The Holy Bible to feature lyrics written entirely by their former guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards. Edwards disappeared in early 1995, just hours before the band were due to fly to America to begin touring. Days later his car was found abandoned on a bridge in England, but he has never been found. Singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield, bass player Nicky Wire and drummer Sean Moore had been left with several notebooks of lyrics and poems, given to them by Richey just weeks before his disappearance, and it's these lyrics which fill Journal For Plague Lovers with a searing sense of dissatisfaction and the crackling wit that fans of The Holy Bible will immediately recognize.
Following Richey's disappearance Manic Street Preachers continued to triumph artistically and scored a string of hits in the UK and Europe, including the multi platinum selling full-length Everything Must Go which won two BRIT Awards (GRAMMY equivalent) in 1997 for 'Best Album' and 'Best Group', two trophies the band picked up again in 1999 for their follow-up This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. By the end of the '90s the band were being hailed internationally as one of the most significant British rock bands of the decade.
Give them a heroes' welcome:
September
Mon -21 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
Tue- 22 Vancouver, Canada @ The Commodore Ballroom
Thu-24 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Fri- 25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Avalon
Mon-Sep-28 Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theatre
Wed-Sep-30 Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theatre
October
Thu-01 Chicago, IL @ The Metro
Fri- 02 Detroit, MI @ The Majestic Theatre
Sun- 04 Toronto, Canada @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
Tue- 06 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe' Live
Wed- 07 New York City, NY @ Webster Hall
Thu- 08 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
Check out the video for album track 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time':�
Critical Acclaim for Journal For Plague Lovers:
Mojo - 'A band aligning with its purest impulses - A triumph.' ****
Q Magazine - 'Simply a phenomenal rock record' *****
Uncut - 'A brave compelling record, stands shoulder to shoulder with The Manics' best.' ****
Sunday Times (UK) - 'Great riff follows great riff. A triumphant album' - CD OF THE WEEK ****
The Guardian - 'A passionate rock album that honours the past, yet is very much of the present.' ****
Independent On Sunday - 'The album of 2009 - hands down, no contest' *****
Observer Music Monthly -' Not just a dignified salute to an absent friend but a cracking album in its own right.' ****
Maxim (UK) - 'The Welsh legends have well and truly found their voice again - This is essential.' ALBUM OF THE MONTH
