Written by: Jen Dan
Almost 20 years after Lush, one of the original 1990s shoegaze-tagged bands from the U.K., called it a day, the remaining members have announced that they are reuniting. Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson, and Phil King have returned to the music scene together as a reformed Lush, releasing this official statement on Facebook:
We’ve been away for ages and ages, but we’re really excited to announce that we’re finally ready to reform as Lush. For all the fans who have been pestering us to do this: thanks so much for your patience and support! We wish it could have been sooner but, for many years, it was just too painful to contemplate without Chris, and then all kinds of life-changing commitments made it impossible. Now, at last, the three of us are in the right place at the right time to play music together again.
To celebrate our return, 4AD will be putting out a vinyl edition of our ‘best of’ compilation Ciao! (limited copies will be coloured red) and a box set of (very nearly) everything we ever released along with a selection of rarities, sessions and demos. We’ll be playing the Roundhouse in London on 6 May 2016 so you’ve got plenty of time to regrow your shoey fringe. Chris’s old friend from back in the day, Justin Welch (Elastica), will be on drums. There’s more information to come, so please keep in touch…
Lots of love, Miki, Emma and Phil
Their reunion comes almost two decades after the tragic passing of Chris Acland, the original drummer of Lush. The reunion of Miki, Emma, and Phil, with the addition of Justin Welch on drums, has been a long time coming and is a dream come true for the legions of die-hard Lush fans who have had to sit by while other shoegaze-labeled bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, and Swervedriver reformed in recent years. Although Lush has been defined by the music press as being a shoegaze band, its output encompasses so much more, running the stylistic gamut from post-punk to dream-pop/rock to indie-pop/rock.
At the time of this publication, Lush has added a 2nd date at the Roundhouse for May 7th.
Lush’s record label 4AD has also issued a more detailed statement about the upcoming box set of Lush’s material:
‘Chorus’, The Complete Album Collection By Lush
With almost twenty years having now passed, Lush are a band long overdue celebration. Coinciding with the news that the remaining members are to reunite next year, the complete Lush anthology fans have long been asking for is finally here.
Spread over five CDs and housed in a beautiful hardbound book (designed by long-time associate Chris Bigg), Chorus consists of all three studio albums, both singles compilations and a wealth of previously unreleased demos, radio sessions, remixes and rarities. The limited edition box set will be released at the beginning of December, dependent on territory, and preceded by the worldwide vinyl reissue of Lush’s ‘Best Of’ compilation Ciao! in November.
