Rock Regeneration

The Bad Shepherds announce new album and UK Tour, “Mud, Blood & Beer”.

After an extended hiatus during 2012, Adrian Edmondson’s celebrated folk-punk outfit THE BAD SHEPHERDS, have announced details of their return with a album and major 24-date UK tour. Both will be entitled “Mud, Blood and Beer.” Ade tells the story in his own words…

“The Bad Shepherds’ last performance was at The Union Chapel towards the end of 2011. We’d been going since 2008, made two albums and done hundreds of gigs. We needed a break, to get a fresh perspective on things as much as anything else. I had some TV shows to make, and a side project called The Idiot Bastard Band with Phill Jupitus and Neil Innes. Troy was going on a year-long world tour with the Finnish prog-metal band Nightwish, and Andy was starting a new band, Ducie. Knowing how the balls can sometimes drop forever when you stop juggling I wasn’t really sure that we’d ever really get back together.

That night at The Union Chapel was quite an emotional event. It’s a funny feeling, knocking something on the head when it’s going well. I’ve done it a few times before, most obviously with The Young Ones and Bottom. But there’s always a fear that what you’re doing is going to get stale, and that it’s best to get out when you’re at the top.

Bizarrely, last year there was a move to revive Bottom. I wasn’t quite sure about it from the start. I’d called an end to my working relationship with Rik in 2003, a) because I thought we’d peaked, and b) because there were lots of other things I wanted to do in my life, music being one of them. When the idea for the new Bottom series came we met and worked on it for a while, but pretty soon I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do – it felt too much like treading the same path again.

I came to realize that what I really wanted to do was get together with The Bad Shepherds again. Why? Because I am in love with the band. Because I love the sound we make. Because I love being with Troy and Andy. Because the best gigs I’ve ever done in my life, in any art form – in terms of excitement and connection with an audience – have been with The Bad Shepherds.

And on top of that I’d begun to write bits of lyrics and tunes for completely new songs. Our set list up until now has been full of radically re-arranged covers of punk and new wave era songs, mixed with traditional jigs and reels. But I was eager to get together with Troy and work on these new self-penned songs. Songs that take their inspiration from who we are as people and as a band, and how we’ve got to where we are through all the MUD, BLOOD and BEER.

We’ve arranged an extensive UK tour, and we’re working on the new album right now…more on that soon!”

UK Tour Dates, Winter 2013

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