In 1987 a young band from Scotland seemingly had the world at their feet. With a hit single (Honeythief) in both the U.K. and America, 500,000 albums sold worldwide and successful tours of Europe and the States, their future path was surely one to glory.
Two years later they disbanded before their second album had even been released.
So far, so familiar. These stories are legion in the music business but every now and again redemption pops its unlikely head above the parapet. Cut to 2016 and to celebrate the deluxe 30th anniversary re-release of the HIPSWAY debut album, Skin and Pim decided to play a one-off show at Glasgow’s ABC theatre. This quickly sold out as did two further gigs – to date the band has now sold over 10,000 concert tickets in Scotland.
This caused the ‘boys’ to reason that it might be worth making a new record which brings us to ‘Smoke and Dreams’, the new release from HIPSWAY.
Recorded in 3 × 3-day bursts over the winter/spring of 2018 the album was recorded ‘old style’ with all the musicians crammed together in one room striving for the best unified take of each track and allowing a continuity of sound where, stylistically, the tunes may differ starkly.
Thematically the songs are about deception – be that by ‘the self’ or on a grander ‘fake news’ scale – hence the album title. Nostalgia plays its part in a let’s-learn-from-our-mistakes attitude. Musically, influences cover the art-pop of Bowie and Radiohead to the earthy funk of the Meters and Funkadelic and much more besides.
Smoke and Dreams is going to be available soon through Pledge Music. Click the button below to see how you can not only pre-order the album, but also become the owners of some pretty exclusive HIPSWAY material. Head on over to see what’s there now!
Love, HIPSWAY
