The Psychedelic Furs Sign With Cooking Vinyl for First Studio Album Since 1991
7/23/2019 by Marc Schneider
L-R: Tim Butler (Furs co-founder), Howie Gabriel (President, Cooking Vinyl America), Richard Butler (Furs co-founder) on the Rooftop at Pier 17, New York, for the band’s headline show.
The Psychedelic Furs have signed a worldwide deal with Cooking Vinyl ahead of the seminal UK band's first album of new music in nearly 30 years. The as-yet untitled release is slated for the first quarter of 2020.
Formed in 1977 in London, the Richard and Tim Butler-led group hasn't released a studio album since 1991's World Outside, their seventh, but are currently working on a follow-up with producer/guitarist Richard Fortus, Butler's Love Spit Love collaborator during the Furs' 1990s hiatus.
The Furs scored several hits during the 1980s post-punk / new wave boom, including "Love My Way," "Pretty in Pink" and "Heartbreak Beat." A synch on season 2 of Netflix's Stranger Things introduced Butler's distinct gravelly voice (via 1984's "The Ghost in You") to a younger audience, and they also scored a placement for "Love My Way" in the 2017 Oscar-winning film, Call Me by Your Name, which prompted the song's biggest streaming week to date.
Other classic tracks in the band's stacked catalog include "She Is Mine," "Heaven, " "All That Money Wants" and "Until She Comes."
Following a nine-year break, the band reunited in the early 2000s and have toured extensively ever since. They're currently on a headlining tour of North America with "Laid" rockers James and have several UK and European dates lined up starting in October.
In 2018, the band teamed with Sony Legacy to reissue their entire back cataolg on 180g vinyl.
"It's been a long-term ambition of mine to work with The Psychedelic Furs, as they’ve made some of my all-time favourite records," said Cooking Vinyl managing director Rob Collins. "That means it's a particularly personal project for Cooking Vinyl, and makes a unique addition to our roster following a very active period of signings."
That busy period of recent pickups for the Martin Goldschmidt and Pete Lawrence-founded label include such acts as Rumer and Swim Deep, who along with The Furs join classic acts Billy Bragg, Suzanne Vega, Passenger, The Waterboys and The Cult on the roster.
"We are thrilled to be working with Martin, Rob, Howie and the entire gang at Cooking Vinyl," commented Furs manager Rob Dillman. "The Furs had been contemplating doing new songs for quite some time. The enthusiasm and passion the label has shown for the band and the project made it an easy call...we are very excited to be doing this together.”