January 28, 2000 11:54

LET'S GET READY TO CHUMBA!

The [b]'Tubthumping'[/b] agit-anarcho stars square up for fight with [b]Manics Street Preachers' Nicky Wire[/b] with new releases...

Chumbawamba have lined up Manic Street Preachers' Nicky Wire, It-Girls, Ally McBeal, Tony Blair, Bono and Jerry Springer as some of their latest targets on their forthcoming new releases - single 'She's Got All The Friends', out March 27, and album 'WYSIWYG', out on April 10, both through EMI.

The single 'She's Got All The Friends', which lampoons the likes of society girls Tara Palmer-Tompinkson and Tamara Beckwith, is backed with a track called 'The Passenger List For Doomed Flight 1721', which lists the various people the Chumbas would like to see die in a plane crash.

Names include Virgin boss Richard Branson, Home Secretary Jack Straw, Tony Blair, The Very Reverend Ian Paisley of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, Sun columnist Gary Bushell, Bono, Courtney Love, Bill Clinton, Howard Stern and Bill Gates.

However, it's not thought that the track will feature on the band's album, which is already stuffed with 22 tracks.

The album, the title of which stands for 'What You See Is What You Get', features titles including 'The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Jerry Springer', a cover of the BeeGee's 'New York Mining Disaster 1941', 'Hey Hey We're The Junkies', 'Jesus In Vegas', 'Dumbing Down' and 'Social Dogma'.

A spokesperson for the band told nme.com that some of the 22-tracks were only 20 seconds long, but that each bore a message in a typical Chumbawamba way.

She said: "There really are some great fucking tunes on it, but one of the best things are the sleeve notes which you really have to see. The whole thing's bound to cause lots of controversy."

A spokesperson for the Manics said that Nicky Wire hadn't heard the song, so couldn't pass comment. She added: "He might be freaked out as he really hates flying. But then he just might find it funny."

It's thought the Chumbas included Nicky on their list after he was scathing about their stunt of tipping a bucket of water over deputy prime minister John Prescott at the 1998 Brit Awards.

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