News

New Order's Bernard Sumner Introduces Bad Lieutenant

2:38 a.m. · September 1, 2009 · by Tony Sclafani

If you're a fan of New Order, you probably know the British press has been buzzing for a while now about their acrimonious breakup. Most of the acrimony came from bassist Peter Hook, who felt that the name should be put to rest if the lineup didn't include the three original (and former Joy Division) members.

The British music press has also been reporting that the band's former frontman, Bernard Sumner, has gone and formed his own band, Bad Lieutenant. Well, they're now going to be dropping their debut effort, Never Cry Another Tear, on U.S. shores with a piece-by-piece, do-it-yourself release starting Oct. 6.

The CD comes out on the band's own Triple Echo Records imprint, and here's how they're rolling it out. For a one-week period, the album will be available as a digital download only, on Amazon.com. Then, for one month beginning Oct. 13, the physical CD will be able to be purchased through Amazon.com. Come Nov. 10, the album hits all retail outlets through a partnership with Original Signal Recordings.

The first single, "Sink or Swim," is now available as a free download for a limited amount of time on Bad Lieutenant's website. It gets an official single release Sept. 28 along with the new track "Dynamo."

The band also includes Phil Cunningham on guitar and Jake Evans on guitar and vocals. There's no official word, but we're taking a wild guess they named the group after the very-non-family-oriented 1992 Harvey Keitel film of the same name.