With their new album VISIONS IN THE BOWLING ALLEY announced at the end of last year and set for release on Vinyl, CD and Streaming in late January, UK postpunk veterans THE JACK RUBIES offer up one more single to preview the record. “Be Good Or Be Gone,” a slice of groovy guitar pop as danceable and hook-heavy as anything from the band's four-decade history, is out January 9 on all digital platforms worldwide and up for preorder and pre-save now:
https://orcd.co/jackrubies-bgobg
With their new album VISIONS IN THE BOWLING ALLEY announced at the end of last year and set for release on Vinyl, CD and Streaming in late January, UK postpunk veterans THE JACK RUBIES offer up one more single to preview the record. “Be Good Or Be Gone,” a slice of groovy guitar pop as danceable and hook-heavy as anything from the band's four-decade history, is out January 9 on all digital platforms worldwide and up for preorder and pre-save now:
https://orcd.co/jackrubies-bgobg
Big Stir Records brought the THE JACK RUBIES back onto the global stage with their original lineup (Ian Wright on lead vocals and guitar, SD Ineson on backing vocals, guitar and harmonica, bassist Steve Brockway, percussionist Lawrence Giltnane, and Peter Maxted on drums) for their acclaimed 2023 comeback album CLOCKS ARE OUT OF TIME, accompanied by the streaming debut of the band's full back catalog from their beloved late '80s/early '90s run on TVT Records. The full body of work demonstrates a band whose unique, noir-tinged spin on the postpunk sound have always combined with sly, darkly humorous lyrics to create a sound that, while originally prophetic, is now eerily aligned with the dystopian present day. The songs on the new album VISIONS IN THE BOWLING ALLEY (out January 23 on Vinyl, CD and Streaming) bear out that urgent timeliness with delightful, albeit sometimes alarming, aplomb. Nowhere does their combination of grooves, hooks, and sardonic wit shine more brightly than on the album's closing track and the latest preview single “Be Good Or Be Gone.”
THE JACK RUBIES may have emerged from the British C86 scene and be more often thought amongst the likes of Shriekback or Nick Cave, but there's something about the groove and hooks of “Be Good Or Be Gone” that whispers “Madchester” – think “Fool's Gold,” “Step On” or “Groovy Train”. You can most certainly dance to it, and the vocal interplay between RUBIES frontman Wright and guest CAT HENRY (returning after the last album's hit single “I'll Give You More”) is thrilling. It sounds like a party, and while the words betray an underlying darkness, it's of an almost pop-classicist bent, as direct as a set of Johnny Cash lyrics: “You crucify me then you dance up and down on my grave/That’s what I say even though it isn’t true.” Taken together, it's the stuff of which enduring hit singles are made.
“It's based on an almost forgotten sketch from yesteryear and with a nod to our past,” the band offers, “a dance-flavored and nostalgic meditation on the closing of a chapter.” The Rubies' SD Ineson features on harmonica, adding to the rootsy flavor, and delivers signature guitar lines that complement Wright’s slide guitar and and tight postpunk funk rhythms. Drummer/producer Peter Maxted’s keyboard textures float, then punctuate, while bass and percussion hold the beat close until gradually letting go as the track wistfully concludes. “It’s time to move on. Two empty deck chairs are all that’s left on a deserted beach,” the band says in summary. And ever forward in step with the times, THE JACK RUBIES move toward the release of VISIONS IN THE BOWLING ALLEY, just weeks away. Join them at the lanes on January 23.