Video Clips May 27th 2004

From French station RTL2. Posted here.

JJ Interview May 13th 2004

An on-line interview with JJ has been posted here.

Dutch Interviews April 26th 2004 Revised

Audio of interviews conducted with Paul and JJ in Holland can be found here.

Gig Reviews Added April 11th 2004

Three new reviews have just been added to the Gig Reviews page.

These are from the Newcastle, Shepherd's Bush and Berlin "Norfolk Coast" gigs. Note that reviews are posted chronologically.

Submissions for the UK "Norfolk Coast" tour are now closed.

German TV Interviews/Live Videos April 7th 2004

The German TV station "Pro7" has just posted interviews with JJ and Paul + live video from Augsburg.

SIS OnLine Back March 15th 2004

The Rat's Lair team are back after a brief hiatus due to the UK tour.

Thanks to Marian Shepherd for email coverage and Louie Nicastro for manning a "breaking news" page from stranglers.co.uk.

Please note that, other than providing this coverage in our absence, Marian has requested that you do not contact her for current band information, as SIS UK no longer operates as an information service.

JJ Interview and Competition February 27th 2004

The BBC website for Norfolk has just posted an interview with JJ, and is running a competition to win a copy of "Norfolk Coast".

Tour Merchandise February 26th 2004

Today marked the unveiling of the 2004 tour merchandise.

Photographic Submissions February 18th 2004

We enjoy getting photographs. However, due to the flooding of our mail box today, please email us first. We will respond with our requirements for submission.

At this time, we have ample photos of today's in-store in Birmingham.

In-Store Appearance February 18th 2004 Revised

A review of the 18th February in-store appearance at HMV, Birmingham has been added to the reference section.

No similar future appearances are currently scheduled.

Waltzinblack February 17th 2004

Listen out for "Waltzinblack" on a Vodafone ad on UK TV.

"Rock Legends" Auction February 17th 2004

Lots 161-164, CooperOwen "Rock Legends" auction, Feb 26th. Original cartoons and signed items.

JJ Interviews February 16th 2004 Revised

Q&A with Paul Sexton in the Times. Tentatively scheduled for 27th Feb issue.

Sound Control's magazine. Available March 1st at any Sound Control Store (has Norfolk Coast on front cover) or online.

April edition of Lads Mag, due out 19th March.

Puurs 2003, by MJ Van Dongen added to the reference section.

Rat's Lair Update January 30th 2004

Welcome to our new look. Please let us know if you come across any issues as you navigate through the site.

We are indebted to Maaike Uijthoven and Tony Martin for their contributions as part of the design team and for help in testing the end-product.

JJ/Baz Interview January 30th 2004

(with thanks to Andrew Hussey)

The February issue of Guitarist Magazine (number 246) apparently features an interview with JJ and Baz.

Paul Roberts/Faith Band Websites Update December 1st 2003

Information on both Paul's solo activities and those of his Faith Band can now be found on a new web site), run by webmaster Ruth Smith.

New Merchandise November 18th 2003

Today, the official Stranglers merchandise page announced the arrival of a new line of clothing, related to the 2003 tour.

Further information can be found here.

Gig Reviews Added November 16th 2003

Today we added three fan-submitted gig reviews -- two for the Pukemarock festival in Belgium (by Baggy and M.J. Van Dongen) and one for the Harley Davidson 100th Anniversary Rally in Barcelona (by Neal Bambridge).

These can be found on the Gig Reviews page. Note that the Barcelona review is a little further down the page, as reviews are in chronological order.

Access All Areas Article November 16th 2003

(with thanks to John Law)

"Access All Areas" is apparently one of the event industry's key publications, covering staging, sound, AV, etc.. In their October issue (number 75), there is an article on the Stranglers playing Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf.

JJ Interview November 9th 2003

(with thanks to Andrew Hussey)

The November 2003 edition of "Combat" (a UK martial arts magazine) features an interview with JJ. Apparently, this covers both karate and the upcoming tour and new album.

JJ on TV October 20th 2003

(with thanks to David Wilson)

A BBC2 show on Concorde (shown Sunday night, Oct 19th) included footage of the recording of "Euroman Cometh" and the video of "Freddie Laker (Concorde & Eurobus)", plus a more recent interview with JJ about Concorde.

Australia/New Zealand

June 24th 2004

The Stranglers have signed to 3Wise through MGM in Australia and New Zealand.

More information as we get it.

Shepherd's Bush Gig

June 10th 2004

The following Stranglers gig has just been confirmed:

10th December 2004 - Shepherd's Bush Empire. Tickets are now available and can be purchased here.

More information as we get it.

2004 Summer "Norfolk Coast" Dates

June 24th 2004 REVISED

Below is an updated list for the summer "Norfolk Coast" dates that continue on from the UK and European tours (see items lower down this page).

April 14th: An appearance at the "Move" festival on July 8th has now been added to the itinerary. Tickets are available here.

April 26th: Please note the addition of the Stadsfestival, Aarschot, Belgium on August 6th.

May 13th: Please note the addition of the 11th September appearance in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

June 21st: Please note the addition of the Rockinbeer Fest on August 21st.

June 22nd: Please note the addition of the Parkpop Festival in The Hague, Holland, on June 27th. This appearance is due to a last-minute cancellation by another band, hence the late notice.

June 23rd: Please note the addition of the Ashton Court Festival, Bristol on July 18th.

June 24th: Please note the addition of the band as headliners at the GiginthePark, Halesworth, Suffolk on August 7th.

* With Blondie.

As always, these dates may be subject to changes beyond the control of the Stranglers, their management or agents.

More information as we get it.

Long Black Veil

April 13th 2004 REVISED

The second single from the "Norfolk Coast" album will be "Long Black Veil". This will be released on April 12th on two formats:.

Maxi CD Single Long Black Veil (Radio Edit) Life's Too Short (Previously Unreleased) WaltzinBlack (Vodafone TV ad Version) Long Black Veil (Extended album version) Cat No: 07243-548906-2-8		7" Red Vinyl A-Side: Long Black Veil (Radio Edit) B-Side: WaltzinBlack (Vodafone TV ad Version) Cat No: 07243-548906-7-3

Long Black Veil can be ordered online from HMV.

The "metaluk.com" review of the single can be found here.

More news as we get it.

New Box Set

April 14th 2004

A new three CD box set has been released by East World Recordings. Titled "A Collection" (Catalogue No. EWO009CD), this set contains all the material from the MK II albums "About Time", "Written in Red", "Coup de Grace" and "Friday the Thirteenth".

Copies can be obtained directly from PlasticHead Distribution.

This release replaces the previously-planned "New Testament".

Radio France Concert

April 11th 2004 REVISED

On April 5th, the Stranglers appeared at a free concert in studio 105 of Radio France, Paris. The show was broadcast live on the FIP radio station, plus their online feed.

More information.

Norfolk Coast

February 25th 2004 REVISED

"Norfolk Coast", the Stranglers' 15th studio album is now available on EMI. The album is co-produced by Mark Wallis (who has worked with Travis, U2 and Talking Heads, among others) and ex-Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy. According to Wallis, this represents a "new and contemporary album, but with all the classic Stranglers trademarks".

The track-listing for this release is:

Norfolk Coast; Big Thing Coming; Long Black Veil; I've Been Wild; Dutch Moon; Lost Control; Into the Fire; Tucker's Grave; I Don't Agree; Sanfte Kuss; Mine All Mine.

A sample of "Norfolk Coast" is now available on the Audio Files page.

The album is currently receiving the best reviews in years, as evidenced by these quotes that will soon be stickered on the CD package:

"A must-have for any Stranglers fan". Mojo
"Easily their best work". Q
"Their best album in years". Uncut
"Fantastic, Norfolk Coast is going to surprise a lot of people". Guitarist
"Classic Stranglers release". Bullit

For the week of Feb 21st, Norfolk Coast made 29th on the Virgin Radio album chart.

For Europe (including Eastern Europe), South East Asia, Latin America, New Zealand, Japan and South Africa, "Norfolk Coast" will be released on Roadrunner Records.

A review by BBC Nottingham can be found here.

Three fan-submitted reviews are now available on our "Norfolk Coast" page, in the reference section.

An unofficial Norfolk Coast page can be found here.

The Stranglers' re-signing to EMI and pending release of the new album was first revealed during Dave Mason's interview with JJ on BBC6 on November 4th. The BBC news announcement can be found here.

Other reviews of this event can be found here (NME) and here (Music Industry News Network).

More news as we get it.

Big Thing Coming

February 15th 2004 REVISED

The single "Big Thing Coming" is now available from EMI on the following formats:

2 Track Single: Big Thing Coming Peaches 2004 Cat No. 548 0692	Enhanced Maxi Single: Big Thing Coming I Don't Agree Tucker's Grave (Live) CD Video of Big Thing Coming Cat No. 548 0690	7" Red Vinyl: Big Thing Coming Peaches 2004 Cat No. 548 0697

On the week of February 8th-14th, "Big Thing Coming" entered the BBC UK charts at number 31.

On behalf of the Stranglers and their marketing/management team, we would like to express a huge "thank you" to everyone who helped make this single a chart hit.

Belgrade Gig

February 14th 2004 REVISED

On Friday February 13th, the Stranglers played the Sport Hall, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, in the run-up to the UK and European legs of the Norfolk Coast tour (see below).

A photoset from the Belgrade gig (submitted by professional photographer Igor Mandic) can be found here.

2004 UK "Norfolk Coast" Tour

April 2nd 2004 REVISED

The Stranglers played the following dates for the 2004 UK headline tour in support of the new album "Norfolk Coast".

Support for the UK tour was Gold Blade.

2004 European "Norfolk Coast" Tour

April 11th 2004 REVISED

The Stranglers played the following dates for the European leg of the 2004 headline tour in support of "Norfolk Coast".

As always, these dates may be subject to changes beyond the control of the Stranglers, their management or agents.

November/December 2003 Gigs

January 24th 2004 REVISED

In November/December 2003, the Stranglers toured the UK and Ireland with UB40, as "Special Guests" on that band's "Homegrown" tour. The Stranglers' appearance consisted of a 45 minute "hits" set, as part of the pre-awareness campaign for the new album (scheduled for release in February).

The dates were:

Back-Catalogue Releases

November 3rd 2003 REVISED

There appears to have been a recent spate of back catalogue releases. As these have likely been produced by licensing the material, we don't have a great deal of information (and have been delayed in posting, while we tried to dig up as much as we could).

The first of these is a 2 CD "Deluxe Edition" entitled "Gold" on the Retro Deja Vu label (Cat. number R2CD 4257). We have had a report that this is a compilation that features the MK II band but (oddly enough) apparently uses pictures of the MK I band in the booklet. The track-listing is:

CD 1: Waltzinblack; Valley of the Birds; Strange Little Girl; Summer in the City; Lies and Deception; Here; Tonight; Miss You; Always the Sun; Known Only Unto God; Wonderful Land; Let Me Down Easy; Joy De Viva; All Day and All of the Night.
CD 2: God is Good; No Reason; 5 minutes; No More Heroes; In Heaven She Walks; The Light; Blue Sky; Golden Brown; Down in the Sewer; Jump Over My Shadow; Coup de Grace.

The second is "Miss You" on the Nobel Prize label (Cat. number 220779). Again, this features the MK II band and has the following track-listing:

Silver into Blue; No More Heroes (live); Blue Sky; Joy De Viva; Coup de Grace; God is Good; No Reason; Miss You; Little Blue Lies; Golden Brown (live); Valley of the Birds; Lucky Finger; Strange Little Girl (live); Always the Sun (live); Summer in the City; Lies and Deception.

A third release, "Apollo Revisited", is another version of the 1981 Glasgow Apollo gig, the audio of which appears to be from the original master tapes (an officially remastered version is available from the merchandise site). The booklet features live photos and the transcript of a radio interview with Hugh. The track-listing is:

Waltzinblack; Non Stop; Threatened; Just Like Nothing On Earth; Second Coming; Man They Love To Hate; Meninblack; Who Wants The World; Golden Brown; Tank; Nuclear Device; Genetix; Bring On The Nubiles; Duchess; Let Me Introduce You To The Family; Hanging Around; The Raven.

Yet another compilation, "Live 'n' Sleazy" has now been released. This one is very similar to the 2002 "Lies and Deception", in that the first disc is a re-issue of the 1997 Albert Hall Concert, albeit minus "Face" in this instance. The second disc is another outing of MK II material. The track-listing is:

CD 1: Waltzinblack; Valley of the Birds; Skin Deep; Always the Sun; Daddy's Riding the Range; Strange Little Girl; Still Life; Let Me Down Easy; Golden Brown; Lies and Deception; European Female; All Day and All of the Night; Duchess; Down in the Sewer; 5 Minutes; No More Heroes.
CD 2: Paradise Row; Sinister; Face; Golden Boy; Money; And the Boat Sails By; Lucky Finger; Summer in the City; Joy De Viva; Miss You; Wonderful Land; Coup de Grace (S.O.S.); Jump Over My Shadow; No Reason; The Light.