Is the long wait finally over? My Bloody Valentine, the legendary sonic sculptors of feedback and tremelo who helped define the shoegaze movement only to disband after releasing just two full length albums, is set to make its first live appearance in more than a decade at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA in April, 2008. According to sources in the United States and the United Kingdom who are familiar with the negotiations, the band is close to signing a deal that will see a reunited My Bloody Valentine headline Coachella, scheduled for April 25??27, before embarking on a world tour sometime later in 2008.
A My Bloody Valentine reunion has long been the subject of intense speculation, with a seemingly endless stream of rumors surfacing each year about tours, reissues, DVDs, box sets, and even brand new recordings ?? but as of today none have come to fruition. The band formed in the mid 1980s and released a series of EPs on various labels before solidifying around the lineup of guitarist/singer Kevin Shields, drummer Colm O??Ciosoig, singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher, and bassist Debbie Googe. After signing to Creation Records, the band released several EPs and two albums, 1988??s Isn??t Anything and 1991??s Loveless, now considered one of the era??s most classic recordings. After a bitter split with Creation, the band signed to Island Records (UK) in 1992, but never produced another release. According to a 1995 interview with Simon Reynolds, the band??s inability to meet their own aesthetic expectations and the financial stress of inactivity led to Shields?? ??meltdown.? The rest of the group drifted apart and My Bloody Valentine simply vansihed without ever releasing another album.
In recent years, Shields has been an elusive yet constant presence on the music scene, appearing on recordings and stages with groups like Experimental Audio Research, Curve, Dinosaur Jr, and Primal Scream. His solo work as a remixer and recording artist have appeared sporadically, most notably on the soundtracks for Sophia Coppola??s films Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette. And in the intervening years, the legend of My Bloody Valentine, a band who??s sound was long considered years ahead of its time, has grown much larger in its absence.
