Yesterday, with the announcement of the Coachella line-up came news that LCD Soundsystem, the world’s finest purveyors of grumpy old man beats, are reuniting to play a show there.
Some fans – and we count ourselves among them – are beyond excited to have the band back, but others sniffed out a cash grab, and speculated as to the band’s more cynical motives for reuniting.
The level of noise grew sufficient that LCD main-man James Murphy took to the band’s blog to write an extended open letter to fans, explaining why he decided to bring the whole thing back together.
Long story very short, Murphy explained that he experienced a massive burst of creativity last year, writing many new songs, so he called his former band-mated Pat Mahoney and Nancy Whang together to figure out what to do about it.
He considered releasing a solo album, or getting the band together under a different name, but deeming both of those options insufficient, he said stuff it and decided to reunite LCD.
As for the inevitable backlash, he explained that he expected “cynical cries of foul” over the band’s motives for reuniting:
“i was fully prepared for a certain amount of “oh fuck that guy” over-it stuff – in fact welcomed it. it’s strangely energizing to have people who don’t make music themselves take potshots at you from the internet. and there’s always been a current of o.f.t.g. with me (im saying me and not us because, let’s be honest… no one hates anyone else in lcd, partially because they’re unhateable, and also because they have the wisdom to not shoot their mouths off nearly as much), and that’s just fine. i’m pretty used to it, and find it relatively funny.”
He said that he has since realised that some fans who attended the band’s ‘last’ show ever at Madison Square Garden feel genuinely upset because that moment has now been “cheapened” by the reunion.
To those people, he said he was “seriously sorry”, and he then went on to say that the band’s current goal is to make a new album, and make it as good as it can possibly be:
“the only thing we can do now is get back into the studio and finish this record, and make it as fucking good as we can possibly make it. it needs to be better than anything we’ve done before, in my mind, because it won’t have the help of being the first time. and we have to play better than we’ve ever played, frankly. every show has to be better than the best show we’ve played before for anyone to even say “well, that was good. i mean, not as good as they used to be. but, you know. it was good.” we know all that. which is healthy for us, because it means we go back to war, like in the beginning. for us it was always war, but now it’s really with ourselves. maybe we have a chance to make it right.”
You can read the full letter here.
Near the end, Murphy added that the band are playing “all over”, not just at Coachella, and LCD’s website currently says that 2016 tour dates are “coming soon.”
Whether they make it to Australia remains to be seen, but we may just go ahead and cross our fingers for Splendour.
Story: LCD Soundsystem
Photo: Taylor Hill / Getty
Photo: Taylor Hill / Getty
