Johnny Foreigner - Forwards

FORWARDS! is a collection of songs by Johnny Foreigner about their hometown and how they really feel about it. For almost twenty years, Birmingham indie-rock 4 piece have occupied a unique corner of UK alternative music, and today they announce a brand new LP, or what they are calling a “Small Collection of Songs,” due 4th September via Alcopop! Records on strictly limited (to 500) 'industrial smoke vinyl' (never to be pressed again in this colour) and CD. 

The record includes 10 full length tracks, ‘6 actual songs’, each named from prominent bits of Birmingham media, and ‘4 cursed field recordings’.

1. foreward
2. The Remnants of the Lunar Society
3. The Sacking of Fairhill House
4. The Concrete Collar
5. OUR CITY ELDERS REFRAIN
6. The Rea Will Rise Again
7. The New Navigation
8. The Great Work
9. OUR CITY ELDER'S REPRISE
10. yr ideas

Forwards! moves roughly chronologically through moments in Brummie history; from the Lunar Society/Priestley Riots, through post war brutalist redevelopment, to the current era of apathy, strikes, mystery fires, and grifters stoking dangerously misguided “patriotism”. The record grew from the band's view of the city as both a microcosm of the wider country, and testing ground for 200 years of unaccountable Westminster experimentation. The title itself is taken from the Birmingham's oft-derided civic motto.

Throughout the record, fellow Birmingham punx Luxury Nan Smell take the role of The City Elders, providing backing vocals that interrupt, question or comment on the songs like a running director's commentary. Meanwhile, Bryn Bowen, whose CV stretches across numerous Birmingham bands of the 2000s, appears as The Lords of Change, a recurring voice embodying the landlords, lawmakers and civic powerbrokers who shape the city from above.

THIS IS A PREORDER DESPATCHING ON OR AROUND SEPTEMBER 4th

IF YOU ARE FROM THE USA, PLEASE ORDER FROM THE ALCOPOP!/JOFO BANDCAMP. WE'LL GET SOME TO THE STATES WHERE THEY CAN BE SHIPPED MORE CHEAPLY FOR YOU <3