THE CHARLATANS‘ singer Tim Burgess came a cropper when he tried to unveil details of the band’s forthcoming new album over the Internet when no-one believed it was him.
The singer, speaking to NME at last week’s Loaded Awards party, said he had logged on anonymously to a site for fans and let slip a few facts about the forthcoming release.
He continued: “I was pretending to be somebody else saying, ‘I know a load of stuff about The Charlatans, I know what they’re doing, blah blah blah.’ Someone e-mailed us asking how I knew, and I said, ‘Because I’m Tim Burgess.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, and I’m David Bowie!‘”
He laughed: “I’m trying to tell stuff, to let people know what’s going on, because officially, I can’t. But no-one believes me!”
At the Loaded ceremony, The Charlatans were awarded Single Of The Decade for ‘One To Another’.
However, Burgess didn’t think the choice was the right one.
“I would have chosen something else. ‘Tellin’ Stories’ probably. ‘One To Another’ rocked, and in a lot of ways maybe changed people’s opinions about what we were about, but there are other songs that are more what we’re about.”
The band started recording their new album, their sixth, last month at their own recording studios, Big Mushroom, in Cheshire. It’s due out in September and will be preceded by a single in August, around their appearance at the Reading and Leeds festivals.
Burgess said: “We’ve nearly finished the new album, which is brilliant. I feel like I can go out now and be proud. We’ve got a load of songs.” As for what the album sounded like so far, Burgess said: “Well, it’s nothing like the last three LPs. It’s very confident. I think we’ve put the trust in each other more, so it’s more a group effort this time. Nobody’s been fighting, it’s just relaxed and very accomplished.” He said that new keyboard player Tony Rogers had also proved his worth, and that as a result, there were even more keyboards on this album than on the last two. “You’re going to love it!” he said.
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