Hear Naked Raygun’s “Living In The Good Times” From First New Album In 31 Years
The great Chicago punk band Naked Raygun got together in 1980. They released their first EP Basement Screams in 1983 and their first album Throb Throb in 1985. Over the second half of the ’80s, Naked Raygun cranked out five albums, and they pioneered a sound of gruff-but-tuneful punk rock that would be hugely influential in Chicago and elsewhere. Plenty of rock giants cite Naked Raygun as a key influence: Dave Grohl, Steve Albini, Fall Out Boy. Naked Raygun broke up in 1992, and though they’ve reunited a bunch of times and released more music since then, they haven’t put out an album since 1990’s Raygun… Naked Raygun. It looks like that’s about to change.
After a few one-off reunions, Naked Raygun got back together on a basically-permanent basis in 2006, when they played Chicago’s Riot Fest. Between 2009 and 2011, Naked Raygun released three singles on Riot Fest’s label, and frontman Jeff Pezzati has been talking about plans for a new album for years. Last October, longtime bassist Pierre Kezdy died of cancer, and his illness derailed those plans. But now, as PunkNews points out, Naked Raygun are teasing plans to come out with a new album this spring, and they’ve just come out with a new single that finds them fully resurrecting their old sound.
The new track “Living In The Good Times” is fast, barreling punk, and it doesn’t sound much different from the music that Naked Raygun were making decades ago. (When you sound prematurely old as a young man, maybe it’s easier to age gracefully.) In the video, the members of the band, wearing hazmat suits, play on the rooftop of a Chicago bar, while friends and well-wishers sing along on webcams. Check it out below.
If those teasers are accurate, there’s a new Naked Raygun album coming soon on Wax Trax! Records.