Escape From Rubbish Island

Release date: 27th September

Label: IRL

September 2004 sees the release of the first studio album by The Wonder Stuff in eleven years. After some three & half years since reforming to play live shows only, they’ve managed to get their collective arse into gear & record some new tunes. The result is “Escape From Rubbish Island”.

“It’s taken a line up change, not our first admittedly, but when it comes to getting a record right, a band has gotta do what a band has gotta do”. Miles Hunt, Summer 2004.

Indeed, adding to their ranks former RDF (Radical Dance Faction) bass man, Mark McCarthy & LA punk rockers’, Amen, drummer, Luke Johnson, The Wonder Stuff 2004 is a mighty force.

Miles Hunt (vocals/guitar) & Malc Treece (guitar/vocals) are still front and centre and are still performing their job as one of the UK’s best guitar/vocal duos.

“Malc & I feed on playing live, that’s why, even during times that I haven’t had a full band line up, I’ve continued to do regular one man live shows. I rate all of the Wonder Stuff records, of course, but our real strength was, and still is, playing as a live band” Hunt 2004.

Not ‘alf…. only last December (2003) they managed to play to some 17,000 people in only three nights! But then it’s not only the appeal of The Wonder Stuff’s live performances that keep the fans ever loyal.

Twenty-two singles, seventeen of them Top 20, including a Number One. Four UK Top 20 albums, a five night run at Brixton Academy (they didn’t want to steal The Clash’s record, out of respect!) and another five night run at Kentish Town’s Forum in 2000, headline slots at both Reading & Phoenix festivals are just some of the things The Wonder Stuff & their fans alike can brag about.

“The support we’ve been shown by our audience over the years is phenomenal. Particularly these last three years. I think if we’d have carried on wheeling ourselves out every Christmas, like The Gary Glitter Gang Show, with no new releases, then we’d be taking the piss. This new record is as much a thank you to those people as it is a necessity for us to write, record & play.”

The Wonder Stuff began recording “Escape From Rubbish Island” in January 2004 in the heart of England, Stratford Upon Avon. Also the town that saw the band bow out at the Pheonix Festival in 1994.

“That wasn’t planned, a mere coincidence, but once that coincidence was pointed out to me it seemed somehow poignant. I’ve been trying to get out of England for a couple of years now, I’d rather be a guest in someone else’s country, than feel like I bare any of the responsibilities of how our government treats Britain’s population.”

“Just get me off this sinking ship…. Yeah I may be a rat, but I can live with that…. Only some place else….” From the album’s title track “Escape from Rubbish Island”(September 27th).

Hunt hasn’t lost his antagonistic edge, nor has he lost his willingness to tell it like he sees it.

“I’ve never been one for passivity. It makes no sense to me. I don’t assume that I speak for anyone other than myself, but I have always felt the need to get shit off my chest. Lyrically, this album is my “Dear John…”to the place I’ve called home for 37 years now, my desire to get away from here grows ever stronger, that sentiment is all over the record.”

“I might get beaten up, stolen from or laughed at…. For loving the thought of running away…” says the first Wonder Stuff single in a decade, “Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight” (September 20th).

The dukes are up, better get ready for a tour then…The Wonder Stuff play live @…

Sept 30 Leeds Metropolitan University
Oct 1 Glasgow Barrowlands
Oct 3 Manchester Academy
Oct 4 Nottingham, Rock City
Oct 6 Liverpool Academy 4
Oct 7 Keele University
Oct 8 Birmingham Academy
Oct 10 Norwich UEA
Oct 11 Bristol Academy
Oct 12 London Astoria

For further information on The Wonder Stuff please contact Louise on 01223 830111
or email Louise@quitegreat.co.uk