Acclaimed Bristol-based trip hop pioneers Massive Attack — currently, Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall — signed to Play It Again Sam, and they celebrated the occasion in grand style: sharing a collaboration with the legendary Tom Waits, “Boots on the Ground”/”The Fly.”
“Boots on the Ground” is a hauntingly eerie track featuring sparse, twinkling piano, off-kilter and skittering percussion paired with the legendary Tom Waits’ distinctive gravelly vocal and some additional vocals from Waits’ son Casey. The song is the first bit of new material from Waits since 2011’s Bad As Me.
Sonically nodding at Johnny Cash‘s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” “Boots on the Ground” evokes a similar sense of Biblical apocalypse — but somehow much more venal, bloodthirsty, stupid and fucked up. It’s a song that lingers, reminding you of the horror-fueled hellscape we’re in.
“It’s a career honour to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos,” Massive Attack says. “Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarisation of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse & abandoned mind.”
“One day many years ago I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate,” Waits explains. “Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots on the Ground’. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind’s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style. Man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12 inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.
The new song is accompanied by a short film created by the trip hop pioneers, who collaborated with enigmatic photographer and visual artist thefinaleye. The evocative, high-intensity photo montage portrays the momentous and troubling American epoch that we currently inhabit and is yet to be named. And it comes in the aftermath of the largest public protests in American history focused on opposition to ICE/CBP raids, the militarization of domestic forces and state authoritarianism.
The short film quotes statistics and research by the following sources: American Immigration Council, American Civil Liberties Union, Inside Higher Ed, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, US National Library of Medicine, US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Privacy International and FactCheck.org. Viewers seeking further information or wishing to take action are encouraged to visit aclu.org, veterans-aid.net,immigrantdefenseproject.org, and freedomforimmigrants.org.
Along with the single and video, Massive Attack have published an exclusive spoken word reflection on the themes of the work of novelist Omar El Akkad, who wrote American War, What Strange Paradise and One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.
“Boots on the Ground”/”The Fly” is the first bit of Massive Attack material distributed under a Spotify exemption policy. More material is scheduled to be released prior and subsequent to their run of live performances, including their forthcoming European tour and summer festival headlining dates.
In keeping with their ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions across both the live activity and recorded output, Massive Attack have partnered with Good Neighbor to produce an ‘EcoSonic’ pressing of the single. Manufactured using 100% recycled PET (rPET) rather than traditional PVC, the record is fully recyclable and produced via an energy-efficient injection moulding process – a significant shift in record manufacturing. Packaging follows the same approach, with sleeves made from 100% recycled, FSC®-certified paper stock and outer slipcases produced from recycled polyethylene.
If you want to pre-order the vinyl, you can visit the Official Massive Attack Store or go your local indie record store for the limited edition 180g ‘EcoSonic’ record, mixed at random in red, white and blue, in a full color sleeve with additional screen printing. The band will be donating all profits of the sale of the vinyl edition to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the US Immigrant Defense Project. Both are very worthy causes, so if you have a few bucks, buy some vinyl and by supporting these musicians, you’re making sure these organizations can continue to fight the good, necessary fight.