After almost 36 years, Irish rock outfit The Boomtown Rats have returned with a new single, sharing ‘Trash Glam, Baby’ from of their forthcoming album.
It was in 1979 that The Boomtown Rats became a household name. Thanks to the widespread success of their enduring, albeit somewhat controversial ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’, the Irish rockers found themselves at their commercial peak, with the future undoubtedly looking bright.
Sadly, while their music maintained the edge that made them famous to begin with, it never quite translated to the same chart success again.
Although frontman Bob Geldof’s involvement with Band Aid and the Live Aid concerts shone a spotlight on the band once again, the group split in 1986, leaving In The Long Grass from two years earlier to serve as their final release.
Check out ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’:
Back in 2013, the band revealed they were once again together, and in 2017 Geldof announced a new album was in the works.
“We’ve done 26 tracks,” he revealed to The Mirror. “We’re mixing them now, I’ve done the vocals on them. We’re getting really excited, we think they’re great. We did a lot of songs. We have a situation now where a song comes out and a day later it’s dead.”
Having originally noted that the plan was to unleash a series of EPs before they’re all shared as a record called Mega, it seems that the years changed plans, with the band today sharing the first single from their upcoming album, Citizens Of Boomtown.
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Titled ‘Trash Glam Baby’, the song is the opening track from the ten-song album, which is due on March 13th. With a number of lyrical references to the glam-rock scene, the new single sees The Boomtown Rats effectively pick up where they left off, just with a slightly updated sound.
Addressing the notion of releasing a new album after so many years, Geldof issued his response in a new statement. “Because that’s what bands do,” he explained. “They make records. Songwriters write songs.”
“There’s so much to respond to in this new and different febrile atmosphere that we live in. People forget we took our name from Woody Guthrie, the great musical activist. I think The Boomtown Rats have always shown that rock’n’roll is a form of musical activism.
“The music has intent and purpose even if that is just the sound, about boy/girl, nothing particularly at all, everything in general, or pointed polemical…. whatever.”
Citizens Of Boomtown is due for release on March 13th, with pre-orders available now.
Check out ‘Trash Glam Baby’ by The Boomtown Rats:
