In 1997, the Stranglers conducted the following tour of North America:

MARCH 21 22 23 25 27

San Juan Capistrano Ventura Los Angeles Toronto New York

CA CA CA ON NY

USA " " " " " " Canada USA

Coach House Ventura Theatre Billboard Live Phoenix Concert Theatre Wetlands Preserve

I've added a gig-review of the Wetlands concert to the reference articles page.

Early in 1997, the Stranglers toured Europe, with the following dates:

FEB 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 MARCH 2 3 4

Poitiers Concarneau Plouesnant Callac Paris Toulouse Monpelier St. Etienne Montbeliard Leeuwarden Zwolle Baarlo Almelo Alkmaar Hamburg Augsburg Aschaffenburg Kaiserslautern Munchen Oberhausen Dusseldorf Braunschweig

(France) " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " (Holland) " " " " " " " " " " " " (Germany) " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " "

Confort Moder MUC Le Christal Le Bacardi Divan du Monde Le Yellow Theatre L'Inside Atelier des Molcs Zalen Schaaf Hedon Sjiwa Sub Rosa Atlantis Fabrik Pleasure Dome Colos-Saal Kammgam Rockcafe Starclub Zakk Meier Music Hall

A Stranglers Infomation Phone Line is now up and running, with updated news etc.. The number is: (+44) 891 299 726 -- the British Telecom (BT) charge is 50p/min peak and 45p/min all other times. International long-distance charges will also apply (on top of the BT charge) for those of us outside the UK.

Marian Shepherd of SIS UK has kindly allowed us to use some of the information on the Phone Line in the composition of the items on this page.

JJ and Dave have been working on a new installment of the "Vladimir" saga. No word as to where this track will eventually appear, although a demo version was recently to be heard on the SIS UK phone line.

EMI have re-released "Rattus Norvegicus" and "No More Heroes", with a bit of a difference -- included in each package are full lyrics, rare photos and a bonus CD. There may be some possibility that the same treatment will be applied to "Black and White" and "The Raven".

EMI have also released a two-CD compilation called "Hitmen". This offering features the complete singles back-catalogue, from 1979 to 1991. A number of album tracks are also included, namely: Hanging Around; English Towns; Toiler on the Sea; The Raven; Tramp.

The Fuel records release of "About Time" is now on the shelves in Canada and the USA (Catalogue number BEA 51568). Previously, this album was only available in these countries as an import.

The 1996 SIS convention, held in London on September 7th was, by all reports, another huge success. An acoustic set by the band consisted of Dagenham Dave, You Always Reap What You Sow, Never Say Goodbye, Brainbox, Outside Tokyo, Swim, Lucky Finger, London Lady, Leave it to the Dogs, Face and Lies and Deception. It is hoped to produce a video of this set, plus additional material (including a JJ interview). The evening concert featured 999 on support and a full Stranglers electric set. Included in this set were two tracks from the new album ("Valley of the Birds" and "Mirror") and a potential instrumental B-side ("Wild Talents" -- working title only). A video of the electric set will be released next January, to accompany the release of "Written in Red".

A CD of the acoustic set was suggested as a possibility -- the band are now looking into recording the session from scratch. This is not likely to happen for some time -- more details will be posted as they become available.