The fourth single to be taken from the album The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four, is a new interpretation of “In the Ditch” by the brilliant American alternative rock band, Helmet.
Listen to the new single "In the Ditch" by Helmet HERE.
Pre-Order "The Problem of Leisure" HERE.
The Problem of Leisure is set for release on June 4th, 2021. It’s a double album of tracks written by Andy Gill and Gang of Four, all newly reinterpreted and recorded by artists whose own unique contributions to music were enriched by listening to Gang of Four. The album features songs from across Gang of Four’s 40-plus year career, each individually chosen by the artists’ who covered them.
Andy Gill was a fan of Helmet from their early days and had hoped to collaborate with them on a future music project. “In the Ditch” is the first new track from Helmet since 2016. Speaking about their involvement in The Problem of Leisure, Page Hamilton from Helmet explains:
“My old pal Henry Rollins reissued Entertainment! and Solid Gold back in the 90’s and asked me to do liner notes for Solid Gold. I don’t remember what I wrote but I know it was glowing, corny and fanboy. Their songs, feel, energy, inventiveness made an indelible imprint on my musical soul. All of our peers that formed bands in the late 80’s were influenced by Go4. I chose ‘In the Ditch’ for this tribute cause it’s a great song even though it was challenging (thank you to my band!). It feels improvised and random at times but holds together as a composition. The guitar part feels like spontaneous scratchy funk, the angular bass and drum groove grooves hard but sounds like there’s a spoke missing. The vocal is somehow beautiful but scary, urgent and dangerous. There’s no room for limp dick, mail-it-in, non-musical moments in any of these songs. How the hell did they put this together? We could only try to capture the intensity of the original. This band changed me. Thank you Andy, Dave, Hugo & Jon.”
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| Helmet by Jacob Blickenstaff |
Andy’s widow Catherine Mayer says:
“Helmet has recorded a superb version of “In the Ditch”, such a powerful song for these paranoid times. Andy and the other members of the original line-up came of age during an era of Public Information Films issued by the UK Government in case of nuclear attack. Even then it was clear that the instructions given in these films, such as taking shelter under tables or diving into ditches, were designed not to save lives but to quieten public nerves. It was propaganda, and as such grist to Gang of Four’s preoccupations. How eerily relevant the lyrics seem, recalling Prepper ideologies and also the claustrophobia of our locked-down world. Of course I also stumble over the lyrics about ‘beyond the cares of the world’ and ‘six feet under’, things that apply to Andy metaphorically if not, in the second case, literally. His ashes are at home with me, high on a shelf where he can observe, with pleasure, preparations for this wonderful album.”
After Andy’s death in February 2020, Catherine assembled a small team to complete The Problem of Leisure. The record had originally been conceived by Andy himself not as a post-mortem tribute, but to mark the 40th anniversary in 2019 of Gang Of Four’s extraordinary 1979 debut long player Entertainment! an album widely heralded as a classic (“the fifth best punk album of all time”: Rolling Stone magazine).
Andy had already revised that vision in the months before his death, after some artists chose tracks from different albums and periods. Every musician who committed to the project was given the freedom to create new versions of whichever Gang of Four songs they wanted to cover, with Andy overseeing some of the earlier productions but largely leaving artists to create their own interpretations.
When Andy died, obituarists struggled to sum up his profound impact on music. He had co-founded Gang of Four and remained at the time of his death its only original member. As co-writer or writer of all the band's songs and through his unmistakable and much emulated guitar style, Andy influenced generation after generation of musicians, and that effect was amplified by his work as a composer and producer. This album speaks to that impact and influence.
The final 20 track double album features an extraordinary roll call of global talent, with artists from seven different countries and four continents, and demonstrates the breadth and scale of Andy and Gang of Four’s influence.
The album’s brilliant artwork was created by Damien Hirst, a long-term Gang of Four aficionado. Andy chose the cover art from a selection of options provided by the artist.
The album campaign started with the release of a blistering new version of “Natural’s Not In It” by Tom Morello & Serj Tankian, on 8th January 2021. This was followed by 3D’s updated (Redux) version of “Where the Nightingale Sings” on 12th February, which featured vocals from alt rock duo Nova Twins and was co-produced by Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack (as 3D) and Andy Gill. Warpaint’s dreamy re-interpretation of “Paralysed”, released on 19th March, was the third single. Following the Helmet single release on 21st April, further singles will be released in May, ahead of the album release in June.
The album is available to pre-order now in a variety of double vinyl, two CD and cassette formats from all usual retail outlets worldwide. The deluxe vinyl format, “Dogluxe” is only available from the Gang of Four website, gangoffour.uk/store. All formats feature different versions of the artwork from Damien Hirst. The album will be released on the Gill Music label on 4TH June and is distributed by Ingrooves.
The complete track listing is as follows:
The Problem of Leisure: CD One
Vinyl One, Side A
1. IDLES - Damaged Goods (UK)
2. Tom Morello & Serj Tankian - Natural’s Not in It (USA)
3. Helmet - In the Ditch (USA)
4. 3D* x Gang of Four feat. Nova Twins - Where the Nightingale Sings (Redux) (UK)
5. Hotei - To Hell With Poverty (Japan)
Vinyl One, Side B
1. Gary Numan - Love Like Anthrax (UK)
2. Gail Ann Dorsey - We Live as We Dream, Alone (USA)
3. Herbert Grönemeyer feat. Alex Silva - I Love a Man in a Uniform (Germany) 4. LoneLady - Not Great Men (UK)
5. JJ Sterry - 5.45 (UK)
The Problem of Leisure: CD Two
Vinyl Two, Side C
1. La Roux - Damaged Goods (UK)
2. Everything Everything - Natural’s Not in It (UK)
3. Dado Villa-Lobos - Return the Gift (Brazil)
4. The Dandy Warhols - What We All Want (USA)
5. Warpaint - Paralysed (USA)
Vinyl Two, Side D
1. Flea & John Frusciante – Not Great Men (USA)
2. The Sounds - I Love a Man in a Uniform (Sweden)
3. Hardcore Raver in Tears - Last Mile** (China)
4. Killing Joke x Gang of Four - Forever Starts Now (Killing Joke Dub) (UK) 5. Sekar Melati - Not Great Men (live version) (Japan)
* 3D is the remix and production name of Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack ** “Last Mile” is the new title for this cover of “Broken Talk”, reflecting new lyrics sung in Mandarin by Hardcore Raver in Tears
Gang of Four’s Socials
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gangoffourofficial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gangoffourofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gangof4official
Helmet’s Socials
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelmetMusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helmet_music/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/helmetmusic
Notes to editors:
Andy Gill was a songwriter, guitarist, music producer, visual artist and the co-founder of Gang of Four. Formed in Leeds in 1976, the pioneering post-punk band Gang of Four released the groundbreaking debut album Entertainment! in 1979. The album spawned two of the most memorable singles of the era, Damaged Goods and At Home He’s A Tourist and, together with several subsequent releases, would go on to influence a huge array of musicians and bands including REM, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, INXS, Franz Ferdinand, Rage Against The Machine, Bloc Party and LCD Soundsystem.
Gang of Four has always been recognised for its artwork as well as its music – the original nucleus of the band, co-founders Gill and Jon King, met in the art room at school and went on to study Fine Art at Leeds University. Political art theory informs every Gang of Four record from Entertainment! to the ninth and final album, Happy Now, released in 2019.
Andy Gill produced or co-produced the majority of Gang of Four’s music and also acted as music producer for other artists, famously producing the debut album from the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1984. Subsequently he went on to produce over 50 artists, including The Stranglers, Killing Joke, Michael Hutchence, The Futureheads and Therapy. He also created music for movie soundtracks including Derek Jarman’s Last of England. Andy was born in Manchester on 1st January 1956 and died in London on 1st February 2020.
Helmet is an American alternative rock band from New York City formed in 1989 by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton. Since 2010, the band has consisted of Hamilton, drummer Kyle Stevenson, guitarist Dan Beeman and bassist Dave Case. Helmet has released eight studio albums and two compilation albums. After releasing their debut album, Strap It On (1990), on Amphetamine Reptile, Helmet signed to Interscope Records and released three albums for the label, including the highly successful Meantime (1992), Betty (1994) and Aftertaste (1997). Helmet broke up in 1998, but reformed in 2004, and has since released four more albums ― Size Matters (2004), Monochrome (2006), Seeing Eye Dog (2010) and Dead to the World (2016).
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. He moved to London in 1984 and studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths college from 1986 to 1989. Hirst was awarded the Turner Prize in 1995. Since the late 1980s, Hirst has created installations, sculptures, paintings and drawings that explore the complex relationships between art, beauty, religion, science, life and death. Through work that includes the iconic shark in formaldehyde, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) and For the Love of God (2007), a platinum cast of a skull set with 8,601 flawless pavé-set diamonds, he investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems, and dissects the uncertainties at the heart of human experience. Since 1987, over 90 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions have taken place worldwide, and he has been included in over 300 group shows.
Andy Gill’s widow Catherine Mayer, bestselling author, the co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party and Primadonna Festival, has written a memoir about Andy, love and loss in lockdown. “Good Grief: Embracing life at a time of death”, which speaks of Andy’s passion for the covers album, was published by Harper Collins in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in December 2020 and will be published in Canada and the US in July 2021.
