Artist: The Barracudas
Title:
The Barracudas
Cat. No.:
NDN 40
Format: CD and LP
Tracks:
15
tracks
Brand new studio album - out
Spring 2005 on LP and CD
"So what has been?
Thirteen years since the last
BARRACUDAS album? Can't be far away at that and in true
quality over quantity tradition they'll be back in the racks very soon."
Read Next Big Thing den father Lindsay Hutton's Sage Evaluation of the New Album!
Autumn 2003 and in a
moment of patent absurdity the unthinkable happens. Again. A telephone rings and
a venerable cult lead singer answers to hear the voice of his fellow founder
member and foil outlining an unlikely live show in Madrid. Considering the fact
that their last rehearsal is now over ten years in the past, the singer is for a
moment unnerved. Then instinct kicks in and, a few days later when the guitarist
has had a chance to perform an unreality check, the plotting begins.
The
band is The Barracudas and the story very much in step
with a career wayward at best. But this time it is different. A reformation a
decade before had come and gone accomplishing little more than bilious
nostalgia; this time, with egos subdued and music to the fore, a momentum
establishes itself and in little time produces a new single, THE glam turn
“Don't Ever Say It Can't Be So”, a showcase in Madrid, a documentary and,
finally, a new, eponymous album.
Their first in over ten years, The
Barracudas is no nostalgia trip. For one thing, the engine room has been
retooled, with new rhythm section Robert Coyne and Yan Quellien providing a
backbeat of magisterial proportions. Coyne, however, will not stop at bass
guitar, and also contributes a host of instruments, arranging and one
remarkable song to add to the others written by Robin Wills and Jeremy Gluck.
And fundamental to the resurrection, the return of former Flamin' Groovie and
Barracuda Chris Wilson, returning in a guest star role with stunning vocals and
a new song that nestles nicely in the 'cudas canon. Recorded largely at north
London's renowned Cowshed Studio and a veritable living museum of prize gear,
Berry Street Studios, and produced by Wills, this is the Barracudas album that
not only fans but also the band themselves have been waiting for since "Drop
Out", their legendary EMI debut launched them on a journey of sound that would
take them from snotty surf punks to the new Groovies in a few years, then
deposit them in no band's land until the CD surge and sundry attentions revived
their fortunes.
As a cursory look at radio playlists and cult whisperings
will attest, The Barracudas reappearance after so long could not be better
timed. Garage music is in fashion (again) and so is surf (well, Brian Wilson,
and let's face it they might as well be synonymous). Power pop, likewise, from a
45 grave, has risen to reassert its importance. Indeed, all the styles the band
have mastered and made their own are now current and selling. And another thing:
The Barracudas sounds younger than yesterday but with experience supplying an
edge that cuts across time to the heart of the band.
The Barracudas is
simply the sound of survivors with nothing to prove and their enjoyment audible
in your ears and guts. In twenty-five years they have changed only to go back to
where they started, with an irrepressible enthusiasm and unbending intent to
make their own kind of music. From the stunning “Poor White Trash” to the kooky
economy of “I Believe Everything”; from Groovie Chris Wilson's wonderful
“Mirror” to Coyne's crunchy instant classic “Something New”, this is an album
that will excite longtime fans and endear many more new listeners. It's the way
it's always been: The Barracudas, a band determined to make it real...one more
time.
The NEW Single
Hear 30 Precious Seconds
What You Want Is What You Get - Three minutes or more of squalling, screaming garage punk genius,
flipped by Somebody 05, The Barracudas reinvention of their timeless Drop Out classic.
For further info, interview requests, etc., contact Henrik at NDN
Records.
NDN RECORDS
P.O. BOX 131471
THE WOODLANDS, TX
77393-1471
USA
Send
an email to NDN Records
Send an email to The Barracudas
© NDN 2005