Religious Devotion

WHILE JIM and William Reid are hewn from far too hard a slab of granite to get sentimental about these type of things, there's something rather heartwarming about the fact that after 11 years away, The Jesus & Mary Chain have gone home to Creation Records.

Yup, it was Alan McGee, still operating at the time from his two-up/two-down in Glasgow, who decided that their amphetamined take on the Beech Boys deserved to be heard by a wider audience, and coughed up the #2,000 needed to release 'Upside Down'.

Coupled with a suitably feedback-laden cover of Syd Barrett's 'Vegetable Man', it was arguably the most important three minutes of rock 'n' roll since the Pistols' 'Anarchy In The UK' and just as gobsmackingly vicious.

Distorted to fuck but positively dripping in melody, their debut Psychocandy album provided the blueprint for a whole new era of pop subversion with Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Oasis, Primal Scream and, ahem, Marilyn Manson all holding their hands up and acknowledging the debt they owe them.

Like all good bands, the early Jesus & Mary Chain were a magnet for controversy. Riots at the London Poly, alleged fan-beating in the States and 'Some Candy Talking' getting yanked off the Radio One playlist when the Beeb twigged it was about heroin. The JAMC were never out of the headlines, because they were the headlines.

Thankfully, time has done nothing to blunt their raw edges with their soon-to-be-released Munki album as darkly intense - not to mention vitriolic - as any of its predecessors.

"Me and William almost ended up murdering each other during the making of this one," reveals Jim Reid. "The thing about us now is that there's absolutely no bullshit. We have an honesty with each other that tends to freak people out.

"If it's just about money or fame, if you forget about the music, then it's useless. If that drives you, then you have no soul. Our attitude to this is what makes us the ultimate rock 'n' roll band."

The Jesus & Mary Chain have never gone in for idle boasts which means that their Olympia headliner on May 2nd as part of the 1998 Heinkenen Green Energy Festival should be a stormer.