Press Releases pre 2004

Six months after the release of 'Please' in 1986, its dance-remix companion 'Disco' followed. In 1994, 'Very' was followed by 'Disco 2'. So in February 2003, 'Release' will be followed by 'Disco 3'.

However, unlike the first two 'Disco' albums, 'Disco 3' will include new dance tracks recorded during the 'Release' sessions. The full track-listing is as follows.

1. Time on my hands
2. Postive role model
3. Try it (I'm in love with a married man)
4. London (Thee Radikal Blaklite Edit)
5. Somebody else's business
6. Here (PSB new extended mix)
7. If looks could kill
8. Sexy Northerner (Superchumbo mix)
9. Home and dry (Blank and Jones mix)
10. London (Genuine Piano mix)

'Positive role model' and 'Somebody else's business' were recorded in Berlin with Chris Zippel at the same time as 'London'.
'Try it (I'm in love with a married man)' is Pet Shop Boys' version of a 1983 Bobby 'O' song. A different version was heard on Radio One's John Peel Show a few weeks ago.

'If looks could kill' is a new recording of a PSB song also heard on the John Peel Show.

'Time on my hands' was written and recorded at the end of 2000 and recently completed and mixed. It features vocals by both Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant.

'Disco 3' will be released internationally by Parlophone/EMI in early/mid February. A limited edition, three-disc vinyl version will also be issued with an enhanced track-listing including an extended mix of 'Somebody else's business' and the WestBam remix of 'London'. Full details to be announced shortly.

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Pet Shop Boys will tour the UK in July.

This follows the release of their new album "Release" and coincides with the single , "I Get Along", which will be out on July 8.

The July dates open with a London show at Brixton Academy on July 6. Pet Shop Boys' last London show was in February, when they headlined the Astoria, as part of the NME series of events. This ended Pet Shop Boys' first ever tour of universities, in a show that saw them tour with two guitarists and a percussionist, and receive rave reviews.

"The greatest ever synth duo, giving the world night on two decades of utterly moving pop" - Independent on Sunday

"No one pairs frivolity and sadness with greater expertise. As their finest song has it: never being boring, never being bored". - Daily Telegraph

"A night of clever pop. This was awkward music from people who idolise pop, not the idle pop of a cynical industry". - The Times

Tickets, costing £25, are now on sale for the July dates.

Tour hotline number is 0870 400 0688.

The tour dates are as follows:

July
6th London - Brixton Academy
8th Brighton - Brighton Centre
10th Grimsby - Auditorium
11th Sheffield - City Hall
12th Manchester - Apollo
14th Newcastle - City Hall
15th Edinburgh - Playhouse
16th Nottingham - Royal Centre
18th Wolverhampton - Civic
19th Cambridge - Corn Exchange
21st Oxford - Apollo
22nd Bristol - Colston Hall

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PET SHOP BOYS

New Single
"Home and dry"
Released March 18th

A new release by Pet Shop Boys will be presented through Parlophone, EMI, on March 18.

Pet Shop Boys' latest recordings build on their acclaimed reputation for lyrical empathy and exquisite aural construction. 'Home and dry', taken from the forthcoming collection, Release, represents a new development in Pet Shop Boys' stylistic range, employing guitars and traditional rock sounds and the duo's trademark electro-virtuosity to create a fresh, emotionally-taut soundscape firmly situated within a classic pop structure.

'Home and dry' (Radio Edit) (CD 1) is a deceptively seamless construction, both lovelorn and anxious. Its memorable hook pervades the apparently effortless gloss of the production with persistence, all the more insistent for its modern elegy of hope-to-be-confirmed.

At the same time, 'Home and dry' confirms the continuing ambition of Pet Shop Boy's work, capturing within its timeframe their essential allure in a new configuration of love confounded or confirmed, the traumas of modern life, a world made smaller by its technological advancements but made more remote by those same developments. Yet for all its implied sense of loss, 'Home and dry' exhibits a sweet sophistication in the optimism of the returning object of desire (every love, any love); a healing coda to traumatic times expressed in the archly beautiful lines: 'There's a plane at JFK/To fly you home from far away/All those dark and frantic/Transatlantic miles'. It is a sentiment elegantly embodied by Neil Tennant's yearning lead vocal, and counter-pointed by Chris Lowe's subliminal refrain.

Characteristically, 'Home and dry' comes packaged with other new tracks. The ambient mix of CD 2 uses a floating version of the Tennant acapella, with a new chord change from Lowe. The result is an abstract expansion of the original.

The driven energy of 'Sexy Northerner' suggests a more hard-edged portrait of regionality and lust. An alien arrival in London (a recurrent and key figure in Pet Shop Boys world) who 'drinks a lot of beer/ 'least he doesn't smoke', is permanently disconnected by both his own aspirations ('Don't you dare imply/That it's grim up North') and his self-conscious yet nonchalant appeal. With his sexy grin and apparent availability, he is an urban operator and ubiquitous object of desire - as Tennant sings, almost wistfully, 'How does he does it?'

It is complemented by 'Always', a deceptively yielding yet resistant ballad, finely threaded through its own resurgent hope: 'Summer comes/Always'.

The release culminates in the insistent, unbound desire of 'Break 4 Love', a collaboration with Peter Rauhoffer which has already been No.1 in the US Billboard Dance Chart and hitherto available here only on import.

The single is available on 2 CDs and DVD single, the DVD featuring the video for "Home and dry", directed by Turner prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans.

CD1
Home and dry
Sexy Northerner
Always

CD2
Home and dry (Ambient mix)
Break 4 Love (UK Radio Edit)
Break 4 Love (Friburn & Urik Hi Pass Mix)

DVD
Home and dry (Video)
Nightlife
Break 4 Love (USA Club Mix)

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PET SHOP BOYS – NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

Pet Shop Boys have completed their new studio album (for release in Spring 2002) and will be previewing songs from the record in a series of university concerts in February. These culminate in a special headline appearance at an NME Brat 50th anniversary show at London’s Astoria on February 14, with a full list of support bands to be announced by NME.

Mirroring the direction of the new album, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will be joined on stage by two guitarists and a percussionist. Eight of the album’s ten tracks feature Johnny Marr on guitar but he will not be touring with them as he has other commitments.

Chris Lowe comments: "We’re really proud of these new songs and can't wait to play them in, what are for us, different venues". This tour will be the first time Pet Shop Boys have played in universities.

Pet Shop Boys new single, ‘Home and dry’, will be released by Parlophone in March to be followed by the as-yet-untitled new album.

On January 15 a busy period of activity for the duo kicks-off with the screening of a video made by Turner Prize-winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans to accompany ‘Home and dry’. The video, the first time Tillmans has worked in this medium, will be shown in the new art gallery (called ‘Inside Space’) in Selfridges, Oxford Street, for 10 days, beginning on Jan 15. Wolfgang Tillmans won the Turner Prize last year for his photography.

Meanwhile tickets are now on sale for the university tour, which plays:

FEBRUARY 2002
Fri 8th BRISTOL UNIVERSITY (tel. 0870 444 4400/0117 929 9008)
Sat 9th KEELE UNIVERSITY (01782 583700)
Sun 10th NORWICH UEA (01603 508050)
Tue 12th TEESIDE UNIVERSITY (01642 342234)
Wed 13th LEICESTER DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY (0116 233 3111)
Thurs 14th LONDON ASTORIA­ NME NIGHT (020 7344 4040)

Tickets are £15 (£12.50 concessions/student/unemployed).

National credit card line 0870 400 0688

Buy on-line at:
www.wayahead.com or
www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Stargreen 020 7734 8932

Way Ahead 020 7403 3331

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PET SHOP BOYS "MONTAGE"

Pet Shop Boys release "Montage", a new live video and DVD, on November 12.

Filmed on their 1999/2000 "Nightlife" world tour, "Montage" is a unique concert film featuring live footage presented simultaneously over layers of backdrop projections and videos.

The main concert footage was filmed over 2 nights in Germany; this was then augmented with material collected from many different sources, including news footage and filmed footage from shows on the American leg of the tour. The film also utilises the original projections of the show, plus parts of Pet Shop Boys' videos and other films, including a film of a casting session for a video.

The whole film captures not only the unique nature of the "Nightlife" tour, with its' stage set designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid, but the innovation that runs through all of Pet Shop Boys' work. "Montage" is a stunning visual experience with a soundtrack of Pet Shop Boys classics, including many of their hit singles.

"Imagine a hi energy disco sequence in Kubrick's 2001, or a production of 'West Side Story' as conceived by Almodovar and you begin to get the picture of the 'Nightlife' show", wrote the 'Independent on Sunday' when the tour played New York.

The surround sound music mix on the film was done by Bob Kraushaar.

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WOTAPALAVA MOVES TO NEXT SUMMER

New York, NY (July 2, 2001) - The Pet Shop Boys and CAA regret to announce the postponement to next year of this summer's Wotapalava tour, which was due to visit 18 markets this July and August.

The original line-up for the largest openly gay touring festival was to include Pet Shop Boys, Sinead O'Connor, Soft Cell, The Magnetic Fields and Rufus Wainwright, as well as DJs Junior Vasquez and Danny Tenaglia. However, the last minute withdrawal of Sinead O'Connor and the difficulty of finding a suitable replacement with such short notice have led the producers to believe that it would be unwise to proceed with the tour this summer.

"This has been a difficult decision to make as the idea of Wotapalava being the largest gay-friendly tour has attracted much enthusiasm and interest, and so much work as already gone into its organization," said CAA Department Head of Music Rob Light. "We are already making preparations to ensure that Wotapalava will become a reality next year."

Pet Shop Boys and CAA wish to apologize to those who have already purchased tickets and to thank those who have put so much effort into Wotapalava. Ticket refunds are available at point of purchase.

"We have made this decision with the greatest of reluctance," commented Pet Shop Boy/Wotapalava creator Neil Tennant, "but it seems impossible to proceed without a complete line-up of artists. We look forward to coming to America next year."

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Press Statement from Neil Tennant on Wotapalava

Wotapalava is a music festival, produced by Pet Shop Boys and CAA that will visit 17 North American cities this summer.

The name, Wotapalava, is an English slang phrase which roughly translates as "What a fuss about nothing".

The performers will include, on the main stage, Pet Shop Boys, The Magnetic Fields, Soft Cell and Rufus Wainwright. There will also be a dedicated dance stage featuring a rotating line-up of some of the world's biggest DJs, including Danny Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez and Paul Oakenfold. Many of the dates will also feature special guests including Village People and Gloria Gaynor. At some dates there'll be surprise guests.

The idea of the festival came about a couple of years ago during a conversation with Elton John. Wouldn't it be great to put together a bill of out gay performers? Who would agree to do it? Would the performers have anything in common apart from their sexuality in this sort of Lollaplooza-with-a-difference?

The festival evolved from this idea. It will feature the diverse talents of artists, many of them gay, and celebrate the dream of basic fairness and equality for all people.

More important than the sexuality of the performers is their individuality, the way each of them has followed their own instincts to achieve their artistic goals. In this respect, Wotapalava is a celebration of the freedom to be what you want to be and about having the power to live as you want without fear or discrimination. I think one really important thing about Wotapalava is the way the diversity of the artists contradicts any stereotyping: we are not defined solely by our sexuality. Being homosexual is an important part of life but not the whole point.

We are delighted to have the support of the Human Rights Campaign. Last year we played at the huge anti-hate crime concert in Washington and were very impressed and moved by the way the message of anti-hate and anti-discrimination was put across. Wotapalava aims to carry the same message. And members of the Human Rights Campaign will be on hand at each venue with information about the discrimination gay Americans continue to suffer under the law and in their everyday lives. Also a dollar from each ticket will benefit the work of the campaign.

But let's not forget Wotapalava is a party. For everyone.

Neil Tennant
30 May, 2001

For current tour info and more, visit the official Wotapalava web site!