UK Post-Punk Innovators Modern English, Release First New Album in Three Decades

Bands are like families, bound by something deeper than friendship - and liable to implode just as irrevocably. Yet that familial bond can equally draw you back, and so it is that four-fifths of the original Modern English (vocalist Robbie Grey; bassist Mick Conroy; guitarist Gary McDowell; and keyboardist Steven Walker) will be releasing their first album together in thirty years, "Take Me To The Trees", tomorrow, February 24th.

Funded by PledgeMusic and released via Kartel Music Group, "Take Me To The Trees" not only reconnects the band to their roots, in the fervent and fecund world of late 1970s/early 1980s post-punk Britain, but they have co-produced it with Martyn Young of Colourbox and M/A/R/R/S fame, whose last production job was 1986. In addition, the album's beautiful cover is by venerated art director Vaughan Oliver, whose very first sleeve design was Modern English's "Gathering Dust" single in 1980.

Grey, Conroy, McDowell and Walker first reunited in 2010, to tour the US, UK and Paris, before accepting an invitation to re-record their 1984 smash single "I Melt With You" for Mark Pellington's film of the same name. They hadn't seen each other in over twenty years, until they all started rehearsing for the tour. "It was like the intervening years hadn't happened," says Conroy, "and the old songs still sounded as good." After the tour, they started swapping new ideas, "some from jamming in a room, like we used to do," says Grey. "We looked at each other, just laughing. It was amazing."

The band's fired-up vitality is palpable in "Take Me To The Trees"'s pulsating opener, and first single, "You're Corrupt", laced with Grey's rant against corporate greed, "and the throwaway nature of modern culture. It's a time when even the truth is watered down."

On the track "I Feel Small", Robbie says, "We tried to recreate the '70s sound of a transistor radio. We made the drums sound quite small and concentrated on putting the song across from the vocals down. The lyrics are about being down and unhappy, which is quite unusual in that the song itself is upbeat and bright. 'I feel small like a blade of grass', says it all really. You couldn't feel any smaller."

Here's a link to stream "I Feel Small":

https://soundcloud.com/modernrnglishofficial/modern-english-i-feel-small/s-Tf23f

Modern English recently filmed a video for the song "Sweet Revenge". Directed by Gary Mortensen-Barker and co-produced by band, the live performance was recorded at Asylum Art Studios in the UK where bassist Mick has a studio. "We wanted to make it a little like Warhol's The Factory - all raw, exciting and colorful!!", says Robbie.

You can check out the video for "Sweet Revenge" here: