Gang of Four have announced that they will be releasing a new EP on July 17th, featuring the final recordings of their late guitarist, Andy Gill. Gill, who was a founding member of the legendary post-punk band, passed away in February this year following a short respiratory illness.
The sad news was announced via the band’s social media channels with a statement saying: “This is so hard for us to write, but our great friend and Supreme Leader has died today. Andy’s final tour in November was the only way he was ever really going to bow out; with a Stratocaster around his neck, screaming with feedback and deafening the front row.”
Today, the surviving members of Gang of Four, along with Gill’s widow Catherine Mayer, have announced the upcoming Anti Hero EP with a punchy new song called, “Forever Starts Now,” that was co-written by Andy Gill. Singer, John Sterry told Rolling Stone that he and Gill co-wrote “Forever Starts Now” while wrapping up last year’s Happy Now album.
“We’d always seen something great in the track, been excited by it, and would bring up the fact we needed to finish it, after a glass of wine or midway through a game of pool on tour,” Sterry said. “Life kept intervening like that, and then, of course, the opposite of life, so we never did get to the final mix.”
Speaking to The Guardian, Catherine Mayer said that she and the rest of the band named the Anti Hero EP in recognition of Gill’s “very healthy scepticism of the lauding of so-called great men.”
“Andy talked about how it was becoming impossible for such populist figures to not intrude into his lyrics. He’d look at Trump’s tweets and go, ‘There’s a Gang of Four lyric right there.'”
The Anti Hero EP features a portrait of Gill on the cover designed by artist Shepard Fairey, who created Barack Obama’s Hope poster in 2008. All proceeds from the release will benefit Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, to “recognise, celebrate and support” those who cared for Gill during his hospitalisation.
Anti Hero is due out on July 17th.
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