Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye might be the two most famous hardcore frontmen of the '80s, and they've been close friends since they were both teenagers, working together at a Häagen-Dazs in DC. But the two of them have never made music together, so Rollins kicked up a lot of speculation a few months ago when he said that he and MacKaye were working on "a great project" together at DC's storied Inner Ear studios. Rollins quickly clarified that this particular record wouldn't actually feature him or MacKaye. Now, he's finally saying what he was talking about.
Before Rollins and MacKaye made music, they were punk rock fans, and that's the version that's apparently working together right now. Their new record isn't really a new record; it's a pair of unreleased recordings from short-lived London punk greats the Adverts. On his website, Rollins says that he and MacKaye worked together to restore the Adverts' recently rediscovered 1977 recordings of "We Who Wait" and "Newboys," two tracks that eventually appeared on the band's 1978 full-length debut Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts. Here's what Rollins had to say about it:
Fanatic! Finally, it can be told. Several weeks ago, our good pal and sonic ally, not to mention one of my heroes for decades, the one and only Gaye Advert wrote to tell me she had found an Adverts tape on her shelf but she didn’t know what was on it. She asked if I was interested in checking it out, to which, of course I replied in the Fanatic affirmative.
Days later, the tape arrived. I took it to Infrasonic Sound. The great Pete Lyman carefully baked and transferred the tracks. Luckily, the tape was in pristine condition and contained two classic Adverts songs: "We Who Wait" and "New Boys." They were produced by Larry Wallis, he of Pink Fairies fame, at Pathway Studios in London on March 20, 1977. As you might know, both of these songs eventually found themselves on proper Adverts releases, but not these versions. As far as we know, they have never been released until now. Pete sent the transferred tracks to both myself and Ian MacKaye. I sent them to Larry Hardy at In The Red Records and Gaye. Everyone thought they sounded great. I came up with sleeve and label ideas and sent all the information to our excellent layout person, Jon Krop. He got to work. Pete mastered the tracks and days later, everything was sent to the pressing plant. Weeks after that, test pressings came back. Ian, Larry and I all thought the tracks sounded excellent. We put in the order and became we who wait. Hey now! We got happy news yesterday that the records have arrived and are ready for mail order.
The Adverts' "We Who Wait" b/w "New Boys" single is out now on In The Red, and it's a co-release with Rollins' 2.13.61. It seems like Ian MacKaye didn't actually have much to do with this release, but I'm glad these guys are happy.
