With their 30th anniversary next year The Men They Couldn’t Hang are planning a new album and suitable celebratory tour. Funded through a Pledge Music campaign, the band plan to hit the studio in January. You have the chance to sign your allegiance and secure signed CDs or one of a very limited vinyl run of the new LP. You can even grab a chance to contribute backing vocals, perform at one of TMTCH’s forthcoming live shows, or have a curry with them afterwards!
As an extra incentive every Pledger will also be entered into a raffle to win a unique prize dubbed ‘The Bundle’, specially created during the recording sessions, which the band claim “will include the original studio track notes, lyric sheets, rough mix discs, CD’s that we’ve been listening to, half finished bottles of Oban whiskey, a mandolin signed by the band and any other studio detritus we decide to throw in.”
Although already 90% of their way to achieving ther target, there is still time to get involved. True to their enduring spirit and political commitment 10% of any further monies raised will be donated to CISWO, a charity that provides community and personal welfare services within mining and former mining communities.
Pledge Page can be found here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/tmtch
We will of course bring you further news as the project develops, so stand by for further bulletins..
For those unfamiliar, or who need a reminder, the band made an immediate splash, emerging fully formed 30 years ago. Here’s a short bio that adds a bit of context to the current campaign.
The Men They Couldn’t Hang came together in 1984 to perform at a festival in Camden alongside the Pogues and The Boothill Foot-Tappers. Championed by John Peel, their debut single ‘Green Fields of France’ was a huge hit on the UK Indie chart and was no. 3 in Peel’s Festive Fifty for 1984 (behind The Smiiths and Cocteau Twins). The song subsequently appeared on their first album, ‘Night of a Thousand Candles’ [1985]. The following year, they recorded ‘How Green Is The Valley’ with producer Mick Glossop, while by 1988 and their third album ‘Waiting for Bonaparte’, TMTCH had also achieved recognition in mainland Europe for their political comment and raucous live shows. Touring in support of 1989’s ‘Silvertown’, the band played to a crowd of more than 250,000 in Estonia as communism started to crumble, prior to an unforgettable appearance at Reading Festival. At the height of their career, they recorded the acclaimed ‘Domino Club’ [1990] with producer Pat Collier, but then went on hiatus in 1991 following a ‘farewell tour’.
Performing sporadically for the next few years, TMTCH reunited permanently in 1996 and released a new album, ‘Never Born To Follow’ and the ‘Six Pack EP’ [1997] that delighted their fans by displaying a fresh power and vitality to their music. Two ‘Best Of’ collections, ‘Majestic Grill’ and ‘The Mud, The Blood And The Beer’ [both 1998] were eventually followed by the well received albums ‘The Cherry Red Jukebox’ [2003] and the Pat Collier produced ‘Devil On The Wind’ in 2009.
TMTCH have spent the last few years touring regularly throughout Europe and playing at numerous festivals alongside the likes of The Levellers, Billy Bragg and Nick Lowe. They also headlined the 10th anniversary commemoration of Joe Strummer’s Acton Town Hall show in November 2012, toured the UK with Stiff Little Fingers in the spring of 2013 and then hit the festival circuit once again in the summer.
Tour Dates
The Men They Couldn’t Hang will also play three regional UK dates next month at:
12.12.13 MANCHESTER Academy
13.12.13 GLASGOW King Tut’s
14.12.13 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
PLEDGE:
Pledge Page can be found here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/tmtch