Wanna hear the Gossip???

• 20th Jun 2006

Listen Up! Arkansas' Gossip are set to kick off this summer. Now signed to UK dance label Back Yard, Gossip are poised to blaze across dancefloors and stages with their incendiary soul and sultry punk / R&B hybrid. Their third album Standing In The Way of Control has blown up around the world, setting alight hearts, mind and feet. This is what it’s all about:

Gossip is young + full of blood. We are interested in art, change, the underground, dancing, fashion, punk history, crime and movements. We will never die. We are artists, poets, cooks, writers, feminists, designers, musicians & DJs.

This is life dedication to action, passion & drive. We sound like dance damage + basement punk/soul clash + noise trash fuxx. Yeah!

With a frisky electro-disco remix of ‘Standing In The Way of Control’ by Le Tigre already out there, ‘Listen Up!’ kicks things up a notch with a cowbell riding stormer from Death From Above’s Jesse in the guise of MSTRKRFT. Twitch from Glasgow’s inimitable Optimo duo sends things into peaktime dancefloor orbit, while Tronik Youth (London mash-up king Neil Parnell) elicits deep disco pressure. An aching cover of the classic Aaliyah ballad 'Are U That Somebody' completes a devastating suite of tunes, to be released on 12”, 10” and CD.

Gossip are a rebel band of survivors, who escaped from rural Arkansas to spread a message of liberty and action. Since their 2003 album, Movement, Gossip has recruited drummer Hannah Blilie to the dynamic duo of guitarist/bassist Brace Paine who grooves on everything from Dischord to Motown and blues vocalist superstar Beth Ditto. Their brilliant and much celebrated new album Standing In The Way of Control was recorded by Guy Picciotto (Fugazi) and Ryan Hadlock (who produced and engineered records for The Strokes, Stephen Malkmus, Blonde Redhead) at Bear Creek studios in Seattle. Fact fans: “Dancing on the Ceiling” by Lionel Ritchie was recorded there.

In their adopted home town of Portland, guitarist Brace Paine (as DJ Night School) now runs the monthly Suicide Club aka “F*ck” The Party @ Rafeals, where they spin ‘Punk Crunk Electro Disco Junk’ which is swiftly becoming the only night in town, while Beth has just been signed up as the campaign model for Torrid.com, a Los Angeles-based plus-size online fashion e-tailer.

Beth is also featured as a style icon in the forthcoming Cheap Date Book Of Style (published by Random House in Autumn). Brace and Beth have just hosted the new 120 minutes show Subterranean on MTV2 (aired 30 April USA).

Gossip are on tour in the UK during May, June and July 2006, including All Tomorrow’s Parties (Sleater-Kinney day) and Brighton’s The Great Escape festival.

As Pitchfork says of Gossip’s live show:
“Once you have seen Ditto perform live, there is little doubt about her tremendous power as a front woman. Bold and witty, her presence was consistently commanding and engaging. But that voice of hers sealed the deal. A propulsive, soulful howl that seared through splattering cymbals and jerky riffs with guttural slickness, it either made you weep or had you dancing like there's no tomorrow – which is just what the crowd did. In the dense sweat-soaked room, the atmosphere was euphoric and, most grippingly, burning with a feeling of importance.

Gossip are predominately about action and radicalism, be it art, homosexuality, challenging social ideals, or community. If you're lucky enough to see this band when you're sixteen, it's going to change your life…”

Gig dates:
Mon 17 July London, Kings College 7.00pm £8.50 getlive.co.uk 0870 400 0688

Tue 18 July Manchester, Night & Day 7.00pm £7.50 0161 832 1111

Wed 19 July Glasgow, ABC2 Doors 7.30pm. £7 ticketweb.co.uk

Thu 20 July Newcastle, Academy 7.00pm £7.50 getlive.co.uk 0870 400 0688