Rumor Of The Day: My Bloody Valentine Reunion Tour?

The Daily Swarm seems to think so: *A My Bloody Valentine reunion has long been the subject of intense speculation, with a seemingly endless stream of rumors surfacing each year about tours, reissues, DVDs, box sets, and even brand new recordings – but as of today none have come to fruition. The band formed in the mid 1980s and released a series of EPs on various labels before solidifying around the lineup of guitarist/singer Kevin Shields, drummer Colm O’Ciosoig, singer-guitarist Bilinda Butcher, and bassist Debbie Googe.

After signing to Creation Records, the band released several EPs and two albums, 1988’s Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless, now considered one of the era’s most classic recordings. After a bitter split with Creation, the band signed to Island Records (UK) in 1992, but never produced another release. According to a 1995 interview with Simon Reynolds, the band’s inability to meet their own aesthetic expectations and the financial stress of inactivity led to Shields’ “meltdown.” The rest of the group drifted apart and My Bloody Valentine simply vansihed without ever releasing another album.

In recent years, Shields has been an elusive yet constant presence on the music scene, appearing on recordings and stages with groups like Experimental Audio Research, Curve, Dinosaur Jr, and Primal Scream. His solo work as a remixer and recording artist have appeared sporadically, most notably on the soundtracks for Sophia Coppola’s films Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette. And in the intervening years, the legend of My Bloody Valentine, a band who’s sound was long considered years ahead of its time, has grown much larger in its absence.

But now some tantalizing hints have emerged in the past few weeks that suggest the band is finally gearing up for a return to action. In July, several fans reported encounters with Shields at Primal Scream and Dinosaur Jr. shows in England, Ireland, and Russia, each returning with the same story: that Shields very matter-of-factly spoke of My Bloody Valentine in the very present tense. The fans reported Shields said that two new My Bloody Valentine releases are in the works – an anthology of unreleased 90s material and an album of brand new studio recordings – along with the imminent release of remastered versions of the band’s original studio work. He is also reported as saying, on several different occasions, that a 2008 tour is in the works that will feature the band’s original lineup. (Read some of the reports here, here, and here.) Furthermore, in an interview published earlier this year in Magnet magazine, Shields was adamant about the band’s return: “We are 100% going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something,” he said.*

My fingers are tightly crossed. Rumors are already circulating for a possible reformation of the legendary band for Coachella '08. Hmmm. Download an MBV MP3 below.

MP3: My Bloody Valentine - Sugar