JESUS and Mary Chain, one of Scotland's most influential rock bands have confirmed they are making their first album in 17 years.
Jim Reid, who with brother William, now in their 50s, are the brains behind the band has confirmed they are back in the studio for the first time since they recorded their Munki album in 1998, the year of their acrimonious split.
The feuding siblings from East Kilbride shot to fame in the mid-1980s with the Psychocandy album considered by many critics as an all-time classic and a string of noise pop hits such as April Skies, Reverence, Far Gone and Out and Happy When It Rains.
Last year the brothers patched up their differences to embark on a tour marking the 30-year anniversary of Psychocandy.
Jim Reid said: "We’re doing an album now. We actually just started recording. It’s early days, but I would say it’s a more mature sound for the Mary Chain. But let’s just wait and see."
Though the band's split was not made official till October, 1999, the brothers were reportedly involved in shouting match onstage during an aborted show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles which ended after just 15 minutes.
It led to the William, the older brother, leaving the band's US tour just two dates into their tour in support of their Munki album.
Jim Reid said in 2006 of the tension between himself and William,: "After each tour we wanted to kill each other, and after the final tour we tried."
The brothers came together in 2007 to perform at Coachella Music Festival in the US to be joined onstage by Scarlett Johansson.
The brothers had been talking about producing their seventh album since then but could not agree how to approach the songs.
Now Jim Reid says the relationship between the brothers is more congenial and in July, the band released Live at Barrowlands, a recorded document of a hometown show they played last November.
"We’ve come to blows over whether there was any sugar in a cup of tea or not," "We’ll argue about anything. Anything. I mean, we just argue. We always have and we always will. It’s just the way we’re made.
"At the moment though, I’m not drinking, so it’s a bit more civilized. Not drinking has made this tour more pleasant in some ways and much, much worse in others.
"But now we just know there’s a line and if you cross it, things will get ugly and brutal. So we don’t. If we’ve learned anything, that’s what we’ve learned."
He said that despite Munki being their commercially least successful album it is the one he always cites as his favourite if asked. It peaked at number 47 in the UK album chart.
He told Time Out in the US: " I always go back to "Munki. Sadly, it got really overlooked because by the time it came out, the bottom had fallen out of the bag. Plus it was at the height of Britpop and we were yesterday’s news, but it’s as good as any of our records. And also because the band was falling apart from within."
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