The Wedding Present Unwrap New Album
Thursday May 08, 2008 @ 05:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

The Wedding Present

The Wedding Present will release their eighth album, El Rey, on May 20 through Manifesto Records.

The disc features 11 new tracks from singer/guitarist David Gedge, guitarist Chris McConville, bassist/vocalist Terry De Castro and drummer Graeme Ramsay. It was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini (The Breeders, Nirvana) at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. Albini also recorded their 1991 album, Seamonsters, and has worked with Gedge's other band, Cinerama, on several occasions.

Album opener "Santa Ana Winds" can be heard on The Wedding Present's MySpace page.

A live DVD titled An Evening With The Wedding Present, recorded at London, England's Shepherds Bush Empire on Nov. 20, 2005, was released earlier this year.

The Wedding Present formed in Leeds, England from the remains of the Lost Pandas. That band broke up when Gedge's girlfriend, drummer Janet Rigby, left him for guitarist Michael Duane. Gedge and bassist Keith Gregory decided they still wanted to make music, so they adopted The Wedding Present moniker and recruited new members. Gedge is the only original member of the band who's recorded 18 top 40 singles in the U.K.

The Wedding Present were given a big boost by late BBC radio DJ John Peel, who brought them on to his show to record some sessions. Their George Best debut was released to critical acclaim in 1987. It was followed by an album of Ukrainian folk songs recorded on Peel's show. The Wedding Present released a set of 12 seven-inch singles for each month in 1992, while continuing to release albums before going on hiatus from 1997 to 2004. Their last release was 2005's Take Fountain.

Here are the tracks on El Rey:

• "Santa Ana Winds"
• "Spider-man On Hollywood"
• "I Lost The Monkey"
• "Soup"
• "Palisades"
• "The Trouble With Men"
• "Model, Actress, Whatever…"
• "Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk"
• "The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend"
• "Boo Boo"
• "Swingers"

—Kate Harper