What happened to LUSH?

Hey, if Steve Rippon's not doing anything...

So what really happened with Phil that caused him to up and quit?

He's in the Jesus And Mary Chain now, by the way:

"Damage and Joy is out March 24 via ADA/Warner Music. It follows the band’s 1998 LP Munki. The new album was recorded with producer Youth. It features contributions from the band’s touring drummer Brian Young, ex-Lush bassist Phil King, and Youth on bass. They’ve so far put out “Always Sad” and “Amputation” from the album."

He's been playing with JAMC for years.

ah, ok - didn't know, sorry :(

Yeah he completed those sessions before he left for the reunion, IIRC.

Should note that the two Thoughtforms fanzines that were put out last year essentially act as the perfect complement to the box set, being de facto liner notes for it.

it's not clear at all but I got the feeling he maybe wanted to spend more time with his family. but there was some weird twitter back and forth with mickie where he insinuated she was unpleasant to him or had said nasty things about him.

https://twitter.com/berenyi_miki/status/803268520586989569

Miki Berenyi‏ @berenyi_miki 28 Nov 2016
@londonphilking I admit it, I was angry. You dumped us in the shit Phil, refused to play the show. Didn't have to be this way.

and his posting that ('classy') was in response to her saying "you might have noticed Phil’s got shorter, and blonder, and better at playing the bass…sorry!" Seems innocuous unlesss she was giving him shit the entire tour or something. dunno.

it's too bad because there was an interview with her and emma that came out in tape-op that was done before that happened, but published well after phil had quit, and they were pretty obviously talking about recording more and how great it was. and since he quit, they've said they are done.

Anyone here have problems with the box set? Only one of my five discs play okay and that one wont let you jump tracks without screwing up. I've seen a few reviews complaining about faulty discs, so I'm far from the only one. One reviewer says this is because the discs exceed 76 minutes but I've never had issues with such lengthy discs before.
This is such a shame and I'm surprised 4AD put out something this bad, hope they do a better version in a less limited edition. A shame 4AD doesn't do many cheapie CD box sets.

Just bought second hand copies of Gala (which is getting a bit scarce) and Spooky. I waited far too long for this band.

On revisiting Split I was taken aback by how moved I was by "Lovelife". I always liked it but I didn't remember it being this good. Favorite might be "Blackout" though. Shame my first disc of the set is so dodgy because the session version of "Blackout" is pretty great.

"kiss chase" through "blackout" is just a spectacular sequence

i mean through "lovelife"

<3 Kiss Chase

Discs exceeding 74 minutes should not be a problem this century

(or even most of the CD era tbh. CD's went over 74 minutes some time in the late 80s apparently)

Didn't know where to post this but...

...there's a new band called Piroshka, with Miki, Kevin McKillop from Moose, Justin Welch from Elastica, and Michael Conroy from Modern English.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/members-of-lush-elastica-moose-and-modern-english-form-new-band-piroshka/

I have no idea if they'll be any good, but I'm super stoked! ...especially considering I've been waiting almost 20 years to hear anything from Moose.

So far they only have a couple of gigs lined up (one in London and one in Oslo).

yeah this is cool. I'm glad Miki is still playing music and the rest of that band is promising. Still too bad about Lush, still don't know what happened there.

Awesome! Glad to hear Russell from Moose is still doing stuff. That was an interesting band.

The return of Moose!!!

Moose were one of my favorite bands, I own all four albums plus eight singles. Loved Lush too

So far they only have a couple of gigs lined up (one in London and one in Oslo).

lol Oslo is a venue in London, both gigs are in London (I saw Lush at Oslo in 2016)

Nov ’93, downtime at Rockfield studios recording Split. Emma, Ted Kessler @TedKessler1 and Phil don the ‘free with The Radio Times’ 3D glasses to watch bizarre Doctor Who/EastEnders/Children in Need mash-up Dimensions In Time #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/EuyB8WydMA

— Miki Berenyi (@berenyi_miki) October 7, 2018

So far they only have a couple of gigs lined up (one in London and one in Oslo).

lol Oslo is a venue in London, both gigs are in London (I saw Lush at Oslo in 2016)

― Colonel Poo, Friday, October 12, 2018 7:13 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oops! Yeah that makes more sense :P

also I had no idea Miki and Moose were married?!?! mind blown

OK, I'm loving this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOWkkTKu3mQ

Predictably, this sounds exactly like a Lush-Moose collaboration, but in the best possible way.

Debut album coming up early 2019, BTW!

it's great!

https://stillunusual.tumblr.com/post/79544119507/alphabet-soup-fanzine

And I interviewed Miki (and Moose!) for Bandcamp:

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/02/13/piroshka-lush-moose-elastica-modern-english-interview/

oh! nice. is their album out yet?

ah, release on February 15th!

i like this
unsurprisingly!

there's a bit halfway through that track that keeps fooling me it's the start of 'Yes' by Mcalmont & Butler

The Piroshka album is really great, took a few listens to start to burrow into my head. The sound came first - really powerful and interesting drumming - then the lyrics started to stand out, too.

I need to check that out. I bought 'Everlastingly Yours' and really like it - much better than the four new Lush songs in their recent comeback year.

Great interview with Miki on the C86 podcast - she speaks frankly about Lush, the reunion, and the push/pulls of being in the industry and finding the fun in playing again.
https://www.c86show.org/e/lush-piroshka-special-with-miki-berenyi/

The Piroshka album is terrific - everyone should give it a listen https://piroshka.bandcamp.com

thanks for the link, that was a good long interview!

Phil has got a lot of criticism for bailing out of the Lush reunion quickly. But isn’t it that case that being in a touring band can actually lose a person money if, as is likely, success doesn’t come? Maybe Phil realized that financially he would take a loss from the attempt to revive Lush, and he would be better off working harder at some other job for his family’s sake.

Nah he already had a job (and still has it afaik), and legged it with only a few dates to go, including 2 big shows, right at the end of the proceedings. There were 'reasons' of course, vaguely alluded to on Instagram. None of my business like but as a huge fan since the very beginning who'd bought literally every thing they'd ever released and seen every tour bar none, it seemed a poor show on his part.

the whole thing was pretty weird.

In that C86 interview, it's mentioned that Phil said that he signed up for one year only and that he was out at the end of it. Miki also mentions that they had a very lucrative Coachella offer but that they had to drop out because of visa issues.

So:

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/on-the-peaks-and-pitfalls-of-being-a-songwriter-in-a-band/

Interesting interview with Miki, provides.. some answers to some of the questions above. That stuff about the visa must have been an absolute kick in the knackers.

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/on-the-peaks-and-pitfalls-of-being-a-songwriter-in-a-band/

oops!

.. but yeah good to hear some backstory.

It's like going on a "family holiday" with your parents and siblings only, long after you've left home and have your own fam.

It's nice (sometimes), but it also reminds you why you don't live together anymore.

"Out Of Control" reminds me of Ween oddly, really good song.

I only managed two songs into the Piroshka, I think I was expecting something a little less... conventionally rock, I guess?

I saw Piroshka tonight. They were pretty good, I've heard the album, haven't really connected with it yet but I like it. They finished with a cover of It's Obvious by the Au Pairs which was good. One song I kept thinking was Planet Earth by Duran Duran but it was just the bassline tbh

Digging the Piroshka album - the cover art, appropriately, is very 4AD.

Lush - A Far From Home Movie, by Philip King

https://www.soniccathedral.co.uk/2020/09/07/lushmovie/