Following a year of uncertainty regarding the future of the Jesus & Mary Chain, Jim and William Reid have finally confirmed the band have split and are working separately on solo material.
The split occurred following the band’s chaotic American tour in the summer of 1998, after William Reid walked out on the band mid tour.
The band denied that they had split at the time though have now admitted that this was the case.
Both Jim and William Reid are now working on new material individually. Jim Reid‘s new project, TV 69, are currently writing material with no planned release date, while William has a released a six track mini-LP, ‘Taster’ which is released through his own Hot Tam records on November 8.
‘Taster’ features tracks which are to be included on releases next year from Reid under various guises such as Ravenscraeg, CNYK and Lazycame. The album was recorded at the Mary Chain‘s Drug Store Studio in the spring of this year. Said to be in a similar vein to Skip Spence‘s ‘Oar’, the tracks were written at the time the Mary Chain were disintegrating.