Republic Of Loose give classic This Is The Tomb Of The Juice debut a 20th birthday reissue

U2 aren’t the only legendary Irish band celebrating the 20th birthday of one of their classic albums.

Hitting record racks on December 13 is the double limited-edition red vinyl reissue of This Is The Tomb Of The Juice, the debut Republic Of Loose long-player which prompted Shane MacGowan to say: “The Loose are what it’s all about.”

Ash's Tim Wheeler, meanwhile, proffered: “The Loose are exploring the history of black music, from blues to hip-hop and somehow pulling it off.”

The other cheerleaders included, natch, Hot Press who described it as “a ballsy, gritty collection of songs oscillating between Alabama 3 and uber-cool James Brown funk.”

Remastered by Aidan Foley at Masterlabs – it really does sound lush! – there are five bonus tracks including live versions of fan favourites ‘Hold Up!’ and ‘Ride With Us’.

Fronted by the force of nature that is Mik Pyro, the Dublin quintet signed in 2003 to Big Cat, the independent British label that was also home to Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, Heather Nova and Grandaddy.

The brilliance of the album’s lead single, ‘Girl I’m Gonna Fuck You Up’, was mitigated by the fact that no mainstream radio station dare play it.

"We were never going to be the type of band that Larry Gogan or Ian Dempsey would play anyway, regardless of the lyric,” Mik noted at the time.

Pre-order from https://advanceukshop.bigcartel.com/product/republic-of-loose-this-is-the-tomb-of-the-juice to get your copy for €29.99 rather than the €34.99 it’ll cost you post-December 13.

There’s also a limited reissue of the original CD which is fabulous too – but not as cool as the vinyl!

Also keep your eyes peeled for previously unseen concert film of the Loose live in the Dublin Ambassador Theatre on December 10, 2004, which will be premiering on YouTube that very same date.