Platinum Blonde’s playlist
Platinum Blonde frontman Mark Holmes has led the band since 1979.
After being MIA for 12 years, Canadian new wave rockers Platinum Blonde reemerged in 2012 with the release of Now & Never, the band’s 6th studio album and first collection of fresh material since 1987’s Contact.
That’s a long time to go radio-silent, so I questioned band frontman Mark Holmes about Platinum Blonde’s drawn-out hiatus.
“We were fed up with the business at the time and the industry wasn’t exactly in love with us,” Mark answers.
“The climate was quite frigid so we decided to take a break and resurface when the weather was a bit nicer. That took a while,” he laughs.
What didn’t take time was Platinum Blonde’s rise to fame. The success of their 1983 debut album Six Track Attack immediately put the group on the map.
Six Track Attack and follow-up albums Standing In the Dark and Alien Shores achieved multi-platinum sales and spawned chart-topping singles like “Standing In the Dark,” “Doesn’t Really Matter,” “Sad Sad Rain,” “Not In Love”and the No.1 hit “Crying Over You.”
“Not In Love” experienced further success in 2010 when Canadian electro favorites Crystal Castles teamed up with the legendary Robert Smith of The Cure for an updated version of the 1983 hit.
Exposed to a new generation and armed with fresh material, Platinum Blonde now has tour dates lined up.
The news doesn’t come as a surprise with the growing trend of greatest hits and reunion tours, but the band doesn’t want this resurgence to be seen that way.
Unlike most of the comeback acts going around, Platinum Blonde never disbanded. Mark says they simply pushed the pause button. The star also emphasizes that their return is no quick-buck stunt.
“If all we wanted was to cash in on nostalgia and tour until the love ran out, we would have done that ages ago. And we have no desire to tour unless we have new material,” he adds. “A new record was always our reason, that and to address unfinished business.”
Aside from a string of new tour dates and continuing on from where they left off, Mark says Platinum Blonde has something else on their to-do list.
“At the moment there is a log jam of sickly sweet and inoffensive artists that sound like they’re whining to their parents about not getting enough allowance,” Mark says. “We would be honored to be a part of the enema that clears the blockage.”
Mark put together a playlist of his favorite tracks by artists he sees as part of that movement.
.
I Fink U Freeky – Die Antwoord
Plague – Crystal Castles
We Don’t Sleep Tonight – Young Empires
Beautiful (MSTRKRFT Remix) – Platinum Blonde
Paddling Out (Wolfgang Gartner Remix) – Miike Snow
Now & Never is available on iTunes. Follow Platinum Blonde on facebook and twitter for updates. See selected tour dates below.
July 29 – St. John’s, Newfoundland – George Street Live
August 20 – Peterborough, ON – Musicfest 2016
October 28 – Montreal, QC – L’Astral
October 29 – Quebec City, QC – Imperial Bell
Posted by Marc Andrew
on Jul 26 2016. Filed under Celebrity Playlist.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
