The Jesus and Mary Chain

One of the most influential bands of their generation and beyond, The Jesus and Mary Chain mark their 40th anniversary in 2024 with a new album, Glasgow Eyes. Released by Fuzz Club and distributed by Cooking Vinyl, this is the band’s first studio album since Damage And Joy (2017). The exact point of any band’s inception is hard to pin down, but for Jim, the ‘wish’ crystallised into reality one night in June 1984: “I always think it was the day we played our first show, because up until then the whole idea had been kind of abstract, it didn’t feel real. When we played in London, there were only about six people watching, but I remember thinking, ‘That’s it. The band is born’.” The new album was recorded at the Scottish band Mogwai’s studio Castle of Doom in Glasgow: “we quite liked the idea of a title that suggested that we were kind of returning home to where it all started,” says Jim. “William had a front cover, a face with fucked up eyes. This seemed to suggest the title of the album: Glasgow Eyes.” As for their creative process, the Reid brothers approach the studio in the way they always have. “It’s remarkably the same as it was in 1984,” says Jim. “Just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it takes its course. There are no rules, you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there - we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.”