Pitchfork

Rhythm-heavy post-punk legends Gang of Four have lost their original rhythm section. Again. Bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham are choosing to focus their energies on pursuits other than the quartet, which reunited in its classic form in 2005. A post on Allen's blog, Pampelmoose (via an email from Allen), reveals the details of those other pursuits, and from its tone, there seems to be a healthy absence of hard feelings all around:

"The original and best-loved line-up of famed post-punk icons Gang of Four reunited in 2005 to great acclaim, but are no longer. Bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham are moving on, although singer Jon King and guitar player Andy Gill will continue, focusing on writing and recording new music as Gang of Four. Burnham last performed with the band at All Tomorrow's Parties in the UK in December 2006, while Allen played a few shows alongside a session drummer in 2007, and recently worked on new material with King and Gill.

"Allen says, 'At the beginning of April, I decided that I could no longer continue to be a member of Gang of Four. My ability to give 100% to the band is limited and I feel that if I can't do so, then I shouldn't continue. As I expand my research and thinking about contemporary music distribution on Pampelmoose.com, and as I focus on online technology and social networking at Nemo Design here in Portland [Oregon], I find myself conflicted about how the band's new music should be released. To retain any credibility for Pampelmoose.com about what the future of music distribution will look like, I have to move on and not hold back Jon and Andy's music plans. I have had a side project for a while now with John Askew of Tracker and Menomena's drummer Danny Stein [Seim--Ed.] called Faux Hoax (pronounced 'Folks'), and I look forward to fun times finding ways to get our music into peoples' hands in unique ways.'

"Burnham writes, 'It was a great couple of years of intermittently reminding people old and new, far and wide, just how powerful the original four of us were together. Age only increased our power and focus onstage, and it was a rare pleasure to work with the original band once again. Being in a band requires handling the business side of it too, and that became boring and the constant travel became debilitating. I am soon to start my doctorate, as well as broadening my teaching at more than one college here in Massachusetts, so my free time has become increasingly limited, making it difficult to be involved with them going forward. Musically, I am recording and writing with members of Boston noise-merchants the Bags and I have also been doing some recording lately with [former Minutemen/current Stooges bassist] Mike Watt. I wish Jon and Andy luck with their new musical endeavors; I am sure they will be interesting."

We wish the best to all parties involved, but it's hard to contain our surprise at the fact that Allen is quitting to focus on his blog. That is some serious dedication.

Gang of Four, minus Allen and Burnham, have a number of dates scheduled in the coming months, including an appearance at the Massive Attack-curated Meltdown festival in London on June 20.

Gang of Four:

05-09 Belgrade, Serbia - SKC-a
05-10 Zagreb, Croatia - PAUK
05-23 Ljubljana, Slovenia - Druga Godba Festival
05-24 Skopje, Macedonia - OFF-Fest @ Club Hard-Rock
06-20 London, England - Meltdown Festival
08-02 Pescara, Italy - Indie Rocket Festival