The The – “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming”

The The – “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming”

British new wave greats The The are releasing their first new single in 15 years on Record Store Day. “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming,” which will be limited to 2000 copies, is a tribute to frontman Matt Johnson’s late brother Andrew, aka Andy Dog, who designed many of the band’s record sleeves and who passed away last year. The song features Johnny Marr on guitar and former The The members Zeke Manyika and James Eller on percussion and bass, and Johnson debuted it after an interview on Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6 Music show today.

“It’s difficult for me in a way because this is the third time I’ve written a song about a close family member that’s died,” Johnson told Lamacq during the show. “I wrote ‘Love Is Stronger Than Death’ for my brother Eugene and I wrote ‘Phantom Walls’ for my mum, and now ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ for Andrew. The wonderful thing about songs is you create almost a living memorial because the songs go out into the world and hopefully become an intimate part of people’s lives, so it helps keep their memories alive.” Listen here at around 1:21:25.

“”We Can’t Stop What’s Coming” is out 4/22 on Cineola.

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