Skip to content

Read: Mailing list archive.

Pinkflag news - 23.04.08

Dear Wire fan,

Welcome to the newest edition of the Pinkflag mailing list, bringing you the latest Wire news.

New Wire album: Object 47

Object 47 (the 47th object in Wire's discography) is Wire's 11th studio album, and features nine all-new tracks. It is the second product of an arc of work started in 2006, which has so far produced the well received EP "Read And Burn 03", and stands as a confident statement of where Wire are in 2008 (as ever, looking forward!). Retaining Wire's idiosyncratic mix of an avant-garde mindset with classic pop timing, this album also boasts "tunes with zoom", a unique formula that manages to sound wholly Wire (in a classic sense) and contemporary. A preview of the front cover has been placed on the website at http://www.pinkflag.com.

The full track-listing for the album is: One Of Us; Circumspect; Mekon Headman; Perspex Icon; Four Long Years; Hard Currency; Patient Flees; Are You Ready?; All Fours.

The provisional release date for Object 47 is July 7, 2008.

Let's talk!

During the last couple of weeks we have been testing out a forum on pinkflag.com at http://www.pinkflag.com/talk/ and now it is ready to accept new members. We have wanted, for some time, a place where people could express their views about Wire, ask questions or just generally discuss stuff related and not so related to the band in a way that's simple and intuitive. Hopefully we've got that (although it hasn't been tested to destruction yet, so bear with us if we have teething problems).

More gigs

The gig list at the front of the website has been growing, and more dates will soon be added or confirmed. The current, officially confirmed, date-list is:

  • April 29: Stuk, Leuven, Belgium
  • April 30: Ekko, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • May 01: 4AD, Diksmuide, Belgium
  • May 02: Hedon, Zwolle, Netherlands
  • May 03: Futuresonic Festival, Manchester, UK
  • May 05: Bronson, Ravenna, Italy
  • May 06: Circolo Degli Artisti, Rome, Italy
  • May 07: Nuits Sonores Festival, Lyon, France
  • May 30: Seaport Music Festival, NYC, USA [free festival]
  • June 07: Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugual
  • June 27: Sled Island Festival (#1 Royal Canadian Legion), Calgary, Canada
  • June 28: Sled Island Festival (Main Stage), Calgary, Canada
  • July 4: Rokaj Festival , Zagreb, Croatia

There will be a London show during the summer. New Yorkers may be interested to note that Wire will be headlining a big free festival on May 30th as part of the River to River series. A more wider-ranging visit to North America will take place in October, but no dates are currently conformed. As always, it pays to check back with the website periodically, to see if more dates have been added.

Note that due to Bruce Gilbert's resignation from the group in 2004, upcoming Wire gigs will have Margaret Fiedler McGinnis augmenting the band on rhythm guitar. Known for her work in Laika (masterminds of one of the best Wire covers to date, the Whore version of German Shepherds), her live credentials are further enhanced by her being a part of PJ Harvey's touring band earlier in the decade.

And finally

This newsletter and the website are complimentary resources. To keep abreast of Wire and and all its doings, we recommend checking Pinkflag.com regularly as well as being signed up to this mailing list.

All the best,

Pinkflag

Pinkflag News - 26.02.08

Dear Wire fan,

Welcome to the newest edition of the Pinkflag mailing list newsletter, getting you all the latest Wire news first.

Thanks!

First, thanks for all your kind and supportive comments on Read & Burn 03, both through this site and through Wire's MySpace. The reception, both personal and critical, has been really excellent and while we are, due to reasons of copyright, unable to share full reviews with you, we have instituted a 'quote generator' which throws up a fresh quote each time one refreshes the front page of pinkflag.com. For those seeking a more ordered way to see these quotes, they have all been compiled on the Read & Burn 03 page. Wire is, of course, now well advanced in recording and mixing its 11th (as yet untitled) album, due for release later this year.

Gigs in the offing!

After a considerable absence from the live scene (the last show was at Benecassim, Spain in 2004), Wire is set to announce dates for new live shows this year. As yet unconfirmed dates will include European festivals during the summer season and a trip to North America in the autumn.

At this time, we are able to confirm the following early show dates:

The front page of pinkflag.com will now carry a 'forthcoming gigs' listing. We recommend you consult this regularly, to read the most up to date information for Wire dates!

The gigography

With a gigging Wire back on the agenda, it will not be long before the gigography starts to lengthen. However, in spite of regular new information this list still remains 'an almost comprehensive list of all Wire gigs' due to gaps and incomplete information. So if anyone is able to fill in any of the gaps or resolve the 'question marks' please don't hesitate to contact us.

News from the site

Here are a few snippets of news from the site you might have missed

Wire reach 14 on CMJ 200 - Jan 08 2008

Over the back end of 2007 Read & Burn 03 has been steadfastly scaling the USA based CMJ college radio charts and on the reporting of the week of January 8th 2008 has reached no 14. The chart, which is based on the playlists of the many highly influential College Radio stations, such as WUMD and KFAI, tends normally towards releases from newer bands, so it is doubly amazing that Wire can continue to do well in such company.

New Track added to Free Downloads - Dec 15 2007

The 3 minute 17 second 'radio' edit of 23 Years Too Late from Read & Burn 03 is now available in the listen section of pinkflag.com. This area carries tasters from most pinkflag releases as well as a few exclusive unreleased items and best of all, the downloads are all free...

And finally

This newsletter and the website are complimentary resources. To keep abreast of Wire and and all its doings, we recommend checking Pinkflag.com regularly as well as being signed up to this mailing list.

All the best,

Pinkflag

Pinkflag News - 19.10.07

Dear Wire fan,

Welcome to the newest edition of the Pinkflag mailing list, getting you all the latest Wire news first.

Read & Burn 03 - pre-order now!

You can now pre-order Read & Burn 03 from Posteverything. The official release date is November 12, but we expect Posteverything might dispatch a little earlier, so order early and get your hands on the latest Wire material before anyone else! The EP can also be auditioned on Posteverything's streaming radio, thereby giving everyone the chance to sample what Wire's been cooking these past four-and-a-half years! We can't guarantee the "sound of the 2030s" as Pitchfork media would have it, but nonetheless expect the unexpected - in true Wire style!

Help promote Wire

Anyone who's spent time reading the often entertaining and nearly always good-natured Ideal Copy list will know Wire fans are very often serious students of the culture that surrounds us all, and mines of information on many a varied subject. It occurred to us that this attention to detail and expertise could prove useful as we attempt to connect with the world that knows about Wire and is interested in it but doesn't know what we are doing right now.

In general, Pinkflag uses the same promotional tools as any label - press officers, mail-outs, etc. - but we often wonder if we're reaching the right people with such a scatter-gun approach.

This is where you come in.

If you've ever opened your local paper and wondered why Wire never gets written about in the culture pages, you can help. It doesn't matter if you live in Cleveland, Ohio or Wiesbaden in Germany or Hong Kong - there will be a local paper/fanzine or website that has a page or section on music or culture. You'll know if they would ever be likely to review a Wire release, and you'll probably know which journalist would be most interested in something new from Wire. You might even personally know the right person to contact - if so, have them contact us through the feedback form on the website (or email us directly if you're the right person!). Alternatively, if you don't know the likely person on a personal basis, send us relevant contact details (preferably an email address) via the same contact form. If this proves successful, you'll obviously have had the pleasure of helping us out, but we wouldn't just leave it at that! If you're responsible for helping get some Wire press published, contact us and we'll give you the correct address to send a scan of a piece or a website link to, and in return we'll make available to you an exclusive download of a completely unreleased track!

The video page

The website now has a video page to continue our policy of making the Pinkflag site the home for as much about Wire as possible. The videos are embedded from Youtube (no need to duplicate what YouTube already does well) so you'll need to go there if you feel moved to comment.

Yet more YouTube

While Pinkflag as Wire's official representative on Earth only posts to YouTube content it officially owns, others will post whatever may prove interesting until someone objects, and so our latest YouTube collection starts with perhaps Wire's most infamous TV performance: Drill on Fox TV's Late Show during the mid-80s - complete with the famous Susan Somers ending "I'm gonna sing after the break, so don't come back"! Also, the Pink Flag collection continues with a travel video to accompany Fragile, but perhaps the most disturbing contribution accompanies the Newman/Lewis song Alone (originally on A-Z), which does a lo-fi play on that song's inclusion in the movie Silence of the Lambs; you can find it here.

And finally

This newsletter and the website are complimentary resources. To keep abreast of Wire and and all its doings, we recommend checking Pinkflag.com regularly as well as being signed up to this mailing list.

All the best,

Pinkflag

Pinkflag News - 03.10.07

Dear Wire fan,

Welcome to the newest edition of the Pinkflag mailing list. They're appearing with alarming regularity now!

Well, we have a special announcement to make...

Read & Burn 03 - is on its way!

Yes, you read it here first! Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, "Read & Burn 03" - the latest in Wire's series of "research & development" vehicles - is finished, mastered, designed and in production for a November 12th UK release. Featuring four new tracks - 23 Years Too Late/Our Time/No Warning Given/Desert Diving - and with a total running time of over 25 minutes, "Read & Burn 03" is both a substantial chunk of audio and significant signposting in the third reactivation of Wire as a recording and live entity.

We will, of course, let you know as soon as we can offer pre-order through Posteverything. Meanwhile, we would be happy if you spread the word that Wire is most definitely back! Please note: unlike previous "read & burns", this release is intended as a complete standalone entity. NONE of the tracks will be included on the next full length album, so there will be no excuses not to buy it!

The Gigography - Wire live

Firstly, thanks to everyone who has written in via the Pinkflag.com feedback form to fill in the blanks in our gigography. We're getting there, but we still need more information - especially about the 1978-1987 period. If you've ever seen Wire live and remember when and where it was, please take a look at the gigography to check if it accords with your experience. Thanks also to all those who've written in asking when Wire will next play in your town. Playing live is definitely part of the step-by-step plan, but we are too early in this story to talk about definite dates.

YouTube: the Wire page

The Wire YouTube page has received a modest makeover during the last month. We've added "Mr. Marx's Table" from "The Scottish Play" and replaced the video to "In The Art of Stopping" from "Send", which stopped working at some point. If you've never seen either of these you owe it to yourself to check them out!

News from the site

Here's some news from the site you might have missed.

CBGB's Wire photos on show in New York from the 19th - 12th Sept
Eugene Merinov the photographer, who took photos of Wire at CBGB's in 1978 included in the gallery, and who has been described as "the ultimate and sharpest visual recorder of the emerging & amazing post-punk scene" by Jack Rabid of Big Takeover, has a show of work entitled "Press the Eject and Give Me the Film: The Photography of Eugene Merinov, 1977-1981" opening at Etheria in Manhattan on September 19th. The show runs until December 12th and also features images of Bauhaus, Gang of Four, X, XTC, New Order, Monochrome Set, The Contortions, The Voidoids, Suicide, Pere Ubu, Lydia Lunch, Only Ones, Bush Tetras, the Ramones and many more. http://www.eugenemerinov.com

Graham Coxon performs Sand In My Joints at V Festival - 10th Sept
Wire's favourite ex-Blur member Graham Coxon performed Sand In My Joints (originally on Chairs Missing) as an encore during his set at this year's V Festival. Footage has been posted on YouTube. While on the subject of YouTube, a video clip has been located with an impromptu although somewhat literal reading of Two People In a Room. It's, as you might imagine, two people, in a room...

And finally

This newsletter and the website are complimentary resources. To keep abreast of Wire and and all its doings, we recommend checking Pinkflag.com regularly as well as being signed up to this mailing list.

All the best,

Pinkflag

Pinkflag News - 08.08.07

Dear Wire fan,

Welcome to the newly re-launched Pinkflag mailing list. Hopefully all of you who have signed up over the last year will have a bit more than rumour and innuendo to digest as we attempt to make these communications a little more regular!

Anyway, on with the news, we'll leave the rumour and innuendo to later communications :)

Digital availabilities

After a rather protracted period of R&D posteverything has quietly launched its digital service in the last few days. Pinkflag releases may be found by going to www.posteverything.com/pinkflag or www.posteverything.com/wire.

The site has a lot of new features, most notably the radio (tip: log in to hear full-length clips) and, of course, plenty of releases by projects associated with Wire. However of most direct interest to Wire fans will be the fact that all the long out-of-print, early Pinkflag releases are now available in digital format. These include The Third Day, It's All In The Brochure, and Twelve Times You. Also, we are making available Wir's Vien, a CD originally released by Touch in 1997. This item will mark the first of our digital-only availabilities, something we will be exploring further in the fullness of time. All PostEverything digital files are LAME-encoded 320kbps DRM-free MP3s. Unfortunately, neither Pinkflag nor PostEverything currently have the rights to sell items originally on EMI on Mute, but we are working on possible solutions to this.

Wire Online

It doubtless will not have escaped anyone's notice that Wire has a rather popular MySpace and that Pinkflag.com is currently displaying a 'tease' page. The new Pinkflag.com is actually quite an extensive site and nearly finished. It will have news, a full discography (with lyrics), a gallery and a download page, etc., and is part of Wire's strategy for gradual but determined resumption of activity. Expect news and expect developments but don't ask us what they are right now.

YouTube Wire: the 'alternative' videos

Alongside its MySpace Wire also has an official YouTube page, which is a little sparse as we only post videos we have rights to. However, YouTube has more to offer the interested Wire fan than excepts from On The Box tagged as 'rare punk video', or Mute-era videos recorded from MTV, because there is now a small industry of video 'interpretations' of Wire songs. By far the most popular title is Outdoor Miner of which there are 3 versions: one, two and three. Alongside are videos for Champs and the vaguely unsettling reading of Love Ain't Polite. However, the most fascinating must be the 1990 'disco' video for I Am The Fly, which manages to be lo-fi, funny, psychedelic and groovy all that the same time. Congrats to Gaz, Stu, Ian and Nay.

And finally

We'd like to make this list a little more active (although we won't be overburdening your spam filters anytime soon). Once the new Pinkflag site is up and running these communications can provide a complimentary information source to the news on the site, flagging up new and re-activated availabilities and perhaps providing a little rumour and innuendo which wouldn't fit comfortably into a 'news' item. The new site will have a feedback form so you can send messages to Pinkflag to Wire, so please don't reply to this message.

All the best

Pinkflag

Pinkflag News - 08.11.06

Dear Wire Fan,

As of this week some new items are available at http://posteverything.com

  1. The '70s live double album Live At The Roxy, London (1977)/Live At CBGB Theatre, New York (1978), previously only available as part of the super exclusive 1977-1979 box-set. This release came about because of the many who bought the digi-pack re-releases before finding out about the box set version. Hopefully, everyone who requested information about this release also subscribed to this list!

  2. The 180g Audiophile vinyl re-releases of Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154 (there's a deal if you buy all three together) Don't need any introduction!

Check http://www.posteverything.com/pinkflag for further details.

Keep a weather eye for details of further activity/ releases. Watch this space—as always you will be the first to know!

Pinkflag News - 13.05.06

Pinkflag News SPECIAL EDITION (the one you've been waiting for):

Dear Wire fan,

We promised that if you subscribed to the Pinkflag mailing list that you would get information about the box-set before anyone else. So here it is, finally!

The following information is being exclusively given to the PostEverything and Pinkflag mailing lists.

WIRE - 'Wire: 1977-1979' (Pinkflag (America)) Limited Edition 5CD Box Set + 60 page booklet

**AVAILABLE TO ORDER ON THE AFTERNOON OF SUNDAY 14th MAY 2006 EXCLUSIVELY FROM POSTEVERYTHING.COM**

The long awaited collectors' box-set contains re-mastered re-issues of Wire's groundbreaking classic first three albums Pink Flag, Chairs Missingand 154, along with two CDs ofpreviously unreleased recordings documenting the band's live performances at the Roxy, London (1st and 2nd April, 1977) and at the CBGB Theatre, New York (18th July, 1978), providing a set of the essentials of '70s Wire, provided from both the studio and live standpoints. Here you have the touchstone albums brought back to vibrant colour, each contextualised by documentation of a series of transitional performances, contemporary images and writing designed to bring the whole alive. These are simply the essential documents for a serious appreciation of 70s Wire and should be in every serious fans' collection.

http://www.posteverything.com/artists/release.php?id=14235