Preview of Graham Parker and the Rumour in Shropshire Star Friday 30 May 2014

Rumour returns to its UK roots with album

Like the proverbial London bus, you wait 30 years for a new album by Graham Parker and the Rumour, and two come along in quick succession.

“We got out of the studio about a month ago, [but] we’ve done another album.” Parker told the Shropshire Star recently.

Hot on the heels of last year’s Three Chords Good, the new, as yet untitled, album from Graham Parker and the Rumour sees a return to the band’s UK roots at a studio with a solid rock history.

“We did it at RAK [in London], so UK-centric, here we come! Micky Most started it, and it’s still going strong,” the 63-year-old enthused.

As one of the most critically-acclaimed groups of the 1970s, Graham Parker and the Rumour attracted an
army of followers and limited chart success with the singles “Hold Back The Night” and “Don’t Ask Me Questions.” After disbanding the Rumour in 1980, Parker moved to upstate New York and carved out a successful solo career, occasionally assisted by his former bandmates.

So, when Parker announced last year that he would be teaming up with the Rumour for a new album and UK tour, it came as something of a surprise to many of the band’s fans. For Parker, the reunion was far from calculated. “It was really a mistake. I wanted to get the [Rumour’s] bass player, Andrew [Bodnar], and drummer Stephen [Goulding] and do a record as a three piece, but when Stephen made a joke about the rest of the band, saying, ‘That would be a proper band,’ and I emailed everyone and they said they’d been waiting for me,” he explained.

Graham Parker and the Rumour at O2 Academy, Birmingham tomorrow (May 31).
See www.o2academybirmingham.co.uk for booking details.

Stephen Taylor