Gang Of Four are preparing to release their new album ‘Content’ on January 24th.
One of the most influential bands to emerge from the post-punk period, Gang Of Four have always refused to be filed away as a piece of nostalgia. The band’s reformation shows were imbued with a savage energy, while sessions recently got underway on a new album.
Now reduced to two original members, Gang Of Four embarked on an unusual scheme last year. Inviting fans to fund the sessions, gifts were prepared including a studio visit and even a vial of blood.
Deliberately exposing the studio process, Gang Of Four have returned to their roots in art theory. Naming the album ‘Content’ the group intend to remain as provocative as they were during their original incarnation.
“What we’re trying to do is keep it totally stripped down, where everyone in the band makes an equally intense contribution,” says frontman Jon King.
Continuing, guitarist Andy Gill explained that the album’s conceptual vantage point was thought out well in advance.
“When Jon and I talked about the album we were making, we looked back at some of the other records we had made and thought about how the visual context we created for the music was integral to each project” he said. “Bands usually hand over the artwork, the ‘packaging’, to other people but for us, it’s an intrinsic part of what we’re communicating.”
“The record is called ‘Content’, in recognition of the way every creative form has been reduced to just that: content, the obligatory filling for the advertising sandwich. So we decided to make a box with contents, or rather a metal can. It reminded us a little of Manzoni’s canning of his own excrement [Artist’s Shit 1961].”
Available on CD and vinyl, Gang Of Four will also release ‘Content’ in a limited edition Ultimate Content Can which contains six booklets – including a scratch and sniff.
Gang Of Four are due to release ‘Content’ on January 16th.
