The Wedding Present Ready First LP in Eight Years

The way we see it, there are two basic ways this spate of reunions can end. Either it grinds to a halt, with each individual member of each respective band suddenly and simultaneously recognizing why their group ever went on hiatus, or bands that have never actually existed will start reuniting just to get a little publicity, like microtonal-garage forefathers Mmqli Trillweq. In any event, The Wedding Present have been away for seven years, and technically, it wasn't even a breakup-- bandleader David Gedge just put the group on hold to pursue a softer sound with Cinerama, a project he started with then-girlfriend Sally Murrell.

Now, after nearly a decade of extracirricular focus, Gedge is reviving his old band's name for an album and a tour. The first Wedding Present recording since 1996 has been entitled Take Fountain, and has been set for release on February 15th, 2005 on Manifesto Records-- and of course, one day earlier in Europe. The lineup as of now is Gedge, Terry de Castro, Kari Paavola and Simon Cleave, all of whom were in Cinerama. (Cleave was also in The Wedding Present when it went into suspended animation.) Tracks:

01 On Ramp
02 Interstate 5
03 Always The Quiet One
04 I'm From Further North Than You
05 Mars Sparkles Down On Me
06 Ringway To Seatac
07 Don't Touch That Dial
08 It's For You
09 Larry's
10 Queen Anne
11 Perfect Blue

A press release announcing the album states that the name change was inspired by the 2002 breakup with Sally Murrell that left David Gedge without his core Cinerama collaborator, depressed, and in Seattle (in that order). The song titles, at the very least, have the ring of a journey from England to America reverberating throughout; a track entitled "Edinburgh" underwent a name change (becoming "I'm Further North"), and "Queen Anne" might sound like a Brit thing, but it's also a fashionable neighborhood in Seattle. To be fair, that's not new-- Gedge's last Wedding Present album had a song called "Kansas", and he covered Pavement's ode to Box Elder, MO in 1990, before most people knew who Pavement was.

For fans in the UK (or who are, you know, on the internet), a teaser single for "Interstate 5" comes out November 15th, backed by non-album tracks "Bad Thing" and "Snapshots". European and American tours will follow in 2005, with dates for the former already laid out:

02-16 Belfast, Ireland - Spring & Airbrake
02-17 Galway, Ireland - Cuba
02-18 Cork, Ireland - Cypress Ave
02-19 Dublin, Ireland - Village
02-20 Liverpool, England - Academy
02-21 Stoke, England - Sugarmill
02-22 Colchester, England - Arts Centre
02-23 Portsmouth, England - Wedgewood Rooms
02-24 Brighton, England - Concorde 2
02-25 Oxford Zodiac, England - Club
02-26 Sheffield, England - Leadmill
02-27 Bristol, England - Fleece & Firkin
02-28 Birmingham, England - Academy 2
03-01 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
03-02 Newcastle, England - University
03-03 Dundee, Scotland - Reading Rooms
03-04 Glasgow, Scotland - King Tuts
03-05 Leeds, England - University
03-06 Manchester, England - University
03-07 Norwich, England - Arts Centre
03-08 Northampton, England - Roadmender
03-16 Paris, France - Marquoinere
03-17 Toulouse, France - LR
03-18 Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz 3
03-20 Bologna, Italy - Estragon Club
03-21 Basel, Switzerland - Hirscheneck
03-22 München, Germany - Atomic Cafe
03-23 Frankfurt, Germany - Nachtleben
03-24 Koln, Germany - Prime Club
03-25 Berlin, Germany - Maria am Ostbahnhof
03-26 Hamburg, Germany - Knust
03-28 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
03-29 Oslo, Norway - Garage
03-30 Kobenhavn, Denmark - Loppen
03-31 Bremen, Germany - Guterbahnhof Tor
04-01 Hannover, Germany - Cafe Clocksee
04-02 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotown
04-03 Groningen, Netherlands - Vera
04-04 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
04-05 Bruxelles, Belgium - AB Club
04-06 London, England - Forum