With gyrating new wave synths and sheets of heavy guitar, the pioneering post-punk group Wire parse what the future could hold on “Primed and Ready,” a song off their upcoming record Mind Hive. The LP is due out January 24th.
“Are you scoping the future? Are you scouting the trail?” guitarist-singer Colin Newman sings amid grinding riffs. The song is short but not so sweet as Newman later asks, “Are you hiding your tail? Are you facing extinction?”
“The lyric/text for this song could be read as a series of questions, set in 2017,” the band’s bassist and vocalist, Graham Lewis, said in a statement. “Who could have known the answers would be, in no particular order … Liverpool FC, me, Boris the Spider, 67, Lieutenant Colonel.”
“‘Primed and Ready’ was the easiest song to write on the album, written in less time than it takes to play it,” Newman said. “There’s nothing remotely ‘clever’ about the chord sequence and structure, and there’s only three chords: two in the verse and one in the chorus. As in all things Wire, ‘less is more.’”
The group previously released the song “Cactused” from the album, and included it with a video that featured footage from an upcoming documentary on the band. The film, People in a Film, will come out later this year. The band says it “aims to express the very essence of the band — the personalities, their music, their worldview, their history and their future.”
The group will mount a short U.S. tour to support the new album in the spring.
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Wire Tour Dates
March 3 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
March 4 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
March 6 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
March 7 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
March 9 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage
March 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
March 11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
March 12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
March 13 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair
March 14 – Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre
March 16 – Toronto, ON @ Great Hall
March 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW