Hey, 90s Kids! Lush is Back Together
As a sucker for shoegaze and miasmic music, I’ve always had a soft spot for Lush, the London band that flared briefly in the late 80s and early 90s before they were drowned out by grunge and Britpop. I still remember watching them open the main stage at the legendary 1992 Lollapalooza Festival, which also featured the Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Lush was semi-unique in the sense that they were double female-fronted: Mikki Berenyi with her wonderful fuchsia hair and Emma Anderson with her Telecaster. The two dudes in the band, bass player Phil King and drummer Christopher Acland were relegated to the back.
The band battled through the Britpop years but when Acland committed suicide in October 1996, Lush folded. Everyone went off to do other things, mostly in the world of music magazines.
Now, though, Lush has returned. Mikki, Emma and Phil are back along with Justin Welch, Elastica’s old drummer. This is from their Facebook page (Via Mark):
We’ve been away for ages and ages, but we’re really excited to announce that we’re finally ready to reform as Lush. For all the fans who have been pestering us to do this: thanks so much for your patience and support! We wish it could have been sooner but, for many years, it was just too painful to contemplate without Chris, and then all kinds of life-changing commitments made it impossible. Now, at last, the three of us are in the right place at the right time to play music together again.
To celebrate our return, 4AD will be putting out a vinyl edition of our ‘best of’ compilation Ciao! (limited copies will be coloured red) and a box set of (very nearly) everything we ever released along with a selection of rarities, sessions and demos. We’ll be playing the Roundhouse in London on 6 May 2016 – tickets will go on sale at 9am on 30 September – so you’ve got plenty of time to regrow your shoey fringe. Chris’s old friend from back in the day, Justin Welch (Elastica), will be on drums. There’s more information to come, so please keep in touch…
Lots of love, Miki, Emma and Phil
As a inveterate shoegazer, this is music to my heart.
I’m really happy for this and them, but I feel like they’re unlikely to tour and I probably still won’t get to see them. For perspective, I was 10 years old for the 1992 Lollapolooza Festival.
That said, I will absolutely try to grab the limited edition Ciao!, as that was my introduction to the band. I think of the hundreds of bands I listen to, it’s only Lush and New Order that I got into from singles collections.