This morning You Tube recommended the following video to me, and it's a beaut! At some point in 1987 Suzanne Somer stopped peddling Thighmasters long enough to fill in as a guest host for Joan Rivers on her late night show (this video is NOT from Somers' own show in the 90s). Whoever was in charge of obtaining musical acts for the show deserves a gold star for deciding to book Wire for a live appearance. Watch Wire's performance of "Drill" below, and be sure to watch through to the very end to check out Somer's Madonna-licious outfit, and her even more awkwardly clueless mini-interview with the band ("you're sort of a far out group"). Good times.
Screenshots/photos from Wire's appearance on the program are posted here. One wonders how Joan Rivers would have handled the appearance had she been hosting the show instead of Suzanne...
At any rate, all of this is a good enough reason to discuss Wire, because they're about to release a new album titled Change Becomes Us later this month. The album features newly finished songs from previously unreleased ideas/song sketches created in 1979-1980, so in a sense it's both an old and new album. Take a listen to the lead track "Doubles & Trebles" below and head over to Stereogum to grab a free download of another song, "Love Bends." Change Becomes Us will be released on cd and digital download on March 26th. A vinyl version will be released for Record Store Day on April 20th. Order here.
Wire are preparing for a few live shows: they've teamed up with the Quietus to curate a series of concerts--titled Drill:Wire--taking place March 21st through March 24th. Wire will play two of these concerts: on March 24th they'll perform Change Becomes Us in full, and the night before they'll open for the awesomely cool London band Toy. An obvious question might be, why would the legendary Wire serve as warm up for a new band? Colin Newman explained to the Quietus that they thought it would be cool to open for a younger band in a small venue, and they were highly impressed with the London newcomers:
"Some bands just have it. Obviously rhythmically they are quite different to Wire, Rob is a propulsive drummer but his core beats are different. Toy have the krautrock thing going which in a way is more Githead than Wire. They also have a touch of psychedelia but it's the marriage between that and the rhythm that makes it deadly."
Read Colin Newman's discussion about Toy here, and find out more about the Drill:Wire concerts here.
For anyone who hasn't checked out Toy, stop what you're doing and take a listen to their song "Kopter" below. The track is from their self-titled 2012 full length debut, which was one of last year's best records.