Wayne: ‘I realize that this isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste but it was something that I wanted, needed, to do. Having toured with Marcus and Mats a couple of years previously it was something we talked about and decided would be a good idea. For me, it was one of my most creative times in the studio, coming up with the music on the spot without having to worry about lyrics or vocal melodies. It was a lot of fun to make this record apart from the ungodly hour (hence the title) at which we started work every morning. 8am! I’ve never seen that hour of day in a studio unless I’d been up all night and those days are long gone. Still, after the first couple of days it became easier to get the brain in gear after a strong coffee and a croissant. I think there are some very beautiful pieces of music on this album and I am very proud of this work.’

To preview and purchase please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ungodly-Hour/dp/B00CH9123Q

We started rehearsals on April 1st at our usual place just outside of Bradford-On-Avon (near Bath) and spent 10 days choosing and learning 16 of the songs that I’d spent the previous 6 months writing. We then tried out some of these new songs on an unsuspecting  and bewildered (largely by our beards and crap clothes) audience at the Bristol Thekla over the course of 3 very enjoyable if shambolic nights. A huge thank you goes out to those that made it to those shows and indulged us. It is my contention that the success of those shows was largely down to your enthusiasm rather than our musical expertise. Ta for that.

We then locked ourselves away with producer David M Allen (who I first worked with 30 years ago on Dead Or Alive’s ‘Misty Circles’ single) at Chapel Studios deep in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds for a pretty intense 10 days and recorded Craig’s bass, Mike’s drums, and Simon’s guitar and keyboard parts. The Chapel is a lovely residential studio (hi, Lou) so we were all staying under the same roof together which is my preferred way of working when making an album. There was a lot of hard work done but also a lot of laughs and shenanigans, a lot of which was filmed for a future DVD release, most of which is definitely for our eyes only and will end up on the cutting room floor. Just don’t ask me about the chip on the windscreen of my hire car!

A few days shopping for the wife (she always gives me a bit of a list whenever I come to the UK) and then I flew back to Brazil closely followed by Dave a few days later. of course being the organised fellow that I am I arrived a day early to pick him up! Cursing at the heavens above for my ineptitude it did, however, afford me an extra day off which I spent in the city doing cultural things with my wife.

Anyway, picked Dave up at the airport at the ungodly hour of 5:20am and then we drove out to my country spread where I have my studio. There we worked ceaselessly long hours for 11 days recording my vocals, guitars, keyboards and other sundries such as mandolin and autoharp. Poor ol’ Dave’s first trip to Brazil and he had to spend pretty much every waking hour in the studio! Mind you, I did introduce him to the magic of ‘Life of Pi’, both the book and the film. He also did get to see toucans (or at least he thought he did but he reckons it could’ve been a blackbird with a banana in it’s mouth), parrots, and humming birds from his bedroom window and made a lifelong friend in Meggy, one of our dogs…….Dave did say it was the most attention he’s received from any bitch in quite some time….

It was a race for the finish line but we did manage to get everything done that needed to be done with just hours to spare and celebrated with a little tipple…….

And then last weekend, Dave and I flew back to Heathrow from Sao Paulo and started mixing the album with the force of nature that is Mark ‘Ralphie’ Ralph in the Kensal Rise area of that London on Monday past. We have 11 days to mix 16 tracks! We’re looking at a September release date for the album so we do have to meet our deadline…….more long hours……..whoever said it was a glamorous life got that wrong……

Anyway, that’s where we’re at at present……..

The album has the title of ‘Ain’t No Prayer In The Bible Can Save Us Now’ and will include 10 new songs including some of the new songs we played at the Bristol shows…….I’ll update you with final track listing etc when it’s been decided…….I will tell you though that whilst it probably ain’t the album some of you are expecting it is the record I wanted us to make and I’m very proud and excited by it…..so there……

OK, that’s it from
me for the time being.

Cheers,

Wayne

Says Wayne Hussey: “They say it’s better the devil you know… and so… here we are once again, back signed to SPV for Europe (excluding France ‘cos France is special, or at least they say they are…) and with a new Mission album in the works scheduled for release later in the year. My take on this is that we have a good relationship with the people at SPV (take a bow, Gero, take a bow) and, at my age when the candles cost more than the cake, I’d rather work with people I know and trust and who have been huge supporters of both myself and the band over the last 12 years or so – rather than try to forge new relationships with strange foreign types… SPV have been incredibly supportive of the band and we have successfully released our last 2 or 3 studio albums and a couple of DVD’s with SPV and everyone has been happy. Why spill the apple cart? So, we’re here again and again I’m looking forward to visiting the SPV offices in Hannover and going through the cupboards and seeing what is worth stealing. And if we ask for drugs, then laugh, and chop ‘em out…Cheers!”

SPV A&R Gero Herrde adds: “All of us at SPV are incredibly proud to work together with The Mission on what will become another, if not THE, masterpiece of this groundbreaking band! If it wasn’t for THE MISSION, people would be missing a whole collection of atmospheric gems that no other band would have been able to write. Being proud of their glorious past, yet always forward-looking at the same time, this band has proven at least several hundred times that they are second to none. And yes, I take more than ONE bow, Wayne!”

The new studio album by The Mission will be released in September 2013 via Oblivion/SPV in Europe and via The End Records in the US.

“Well, who would’ve thought it 12 years ago when we were touring Europe with my mate, Ville Valo and HIM, that we’d end up on The End Records with them in the good ol’ USA somewhere further down the track”, states singer Wayne Hussey. “Very nice to share a label with the legends that are Anvil too and looking forward to blagging some new Dandy Warhols CD’s…If we ask for drugs just laugh and say you can’t get any. It’s healthier for us and for you. See you soon. “

The last thing we did together as a band was back in September when we played a handful of UK shows with The Cult. Remember? Since then I’ve played a couple of very nice solo shows, one in Buenos Aires in November and the other in my adopted home town of Sao Paulo just a couple of weeks ago. Both seated small theatres that, I must confess, I much prefer for a solo show. The rest of my time I have spent reading many books, watching many films, and writing new songs. It’s a cushy life, innit? But someone’s gotta do it…..

So, today, this morning, we convene at a rehearsal studio near Bath in the lovely English West Country to start the rehearsals for the recording of our new album. We’re gonna spend 10 days here sifting through the approximately 25 new songs that I’ve written and see what works as a band and what doesn’t. And then we will debut some, or hopefully most, of these songs over the three nights of shows at the Bristol Thekla we have coming up shortly.

What we intend to do at the Bristol shows is to play a first set of new songs, much like a rehearsal, and then have a fag break and we’ll come back and play a set of old Mission classics. So, if you’re not interested in hearing the new songs and planning on heckling throughout our first set by shouting for Sacrilege or Wasteland then can I respectfully suggest you either shut the fuck up and listen or stay in the pub where you’re all planning to meet beforehand, much like you ordinarily do with any other support band, until we come on for the 2^nd set. Be much appreciated, ta.

Directly following the shows we go into the studio in Lincolnshire to start recording the new songs whilst they are fresh and new to us, as well as to you, with the venerable Mr. Dave Allen, eccentric producer extraordinaire, at the helm. Must confess I am really looking forward to it and working with Dave again. 2013 sees the 30^th anniversary of Dave and I working together for the very first time when we recorded Dead Or Alive’s Misty Circles together…

We hope to have the album, which has the working title suggested by the title of one of my new songs of ‘Ain’t No Prayer In The Bible Can Save Us Now’, all finished, mixed, and mastered by early June in time for a September release to coincide with our tour of the good old’ USA.

Some of the new songs that are likely to be included are: the aforementioned ‘Ain’t No Prayer In The Bible Can Save Me Now’, also ‘From The Oyster Comes The Pearl’, ‘The Girl In The Fur Skin Rug’, ‘When The Trap Clicks Shut Behind Us’, ‘The Long Way ‘Round Is Sometimes The Only Way Home’, ‘Everything But The Squeal’, ‘Atomic Heart’, ‘April Fool’, and ‘This Joke Ain’t Funny Anymore’.

Anyway, just thought you might like to know….Hopefully we’ll see you in Bristol……..Until then……..

Cheers,

Wayne

To buy your tickets now – click here!

Photograph, by kind permission, Edi Fortini. (see bigger version here)

Wayne has been busy at home these last 4 or 5 months since the September Mission – Cult  UK tour writing new songs for the upcoming new Mission album which the band start recording in April. Wayne tells us he has about 24-25 new songs already written and will debut some of these acoustically at the upcoming Sao Paulo show along with the usual gamut of well known and lesser known Mission songs and choice covers.

Photograph, by kind permission, Edi Fortini.

• Batschkapp – Frankfurt – 20th December 2013
• Postbahnhof – Berlin – 21st December 2013
• Markthalle – Hamburg – 22nd December 2013
• Live Music Hall – Koln – 23rd December 2013

You can pre-order from today; general availability is from Monday 4th February

http://www.artistticket.com/link/?e=The+Mission