With a fevered local following, a slew of memorable shows with cult bands including Last of the Teenage Idols, Gunfire Dance, and Red Dogs, in much-missed U.K. venues like Cardiff Bogiez, Doncaster Jug, and Birmingham’s Edwards No. 8, and a deal agreed with South Bank Studio (who released the debut Manic Street Preachers single, ‘Suicide Alley’) for a four-track 12-inch single, South Wales lowslung rock ‘n’ rollers, SISTER MORPHINE, appeared to be about to climb onto the next rung on the ladder to success. As a song once told us, however, it’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock ‘n’ roll) and, after operating from 1989 to 1991, the planets failed to align and the band members went their separate ways… until now!

Things got weird for everyone during the pandemic, so much so that the rediscovery of a bunch of three-decade-old audio cassettes didn’t seem that much of a big deal; but for the former members of Sister Morphine this find provided the catalyst for a most unlikely of reunions. The tapes contained long-lost songs – some only existing in rough rehearsal form – that the band members (guitarists, Jamesy and Jonesy – later of experimental collective, The Friday Night Sound System; drummer, Denley Slade – who has shared stages with everyone from Blondie’s Clem Burke to Cherie Currie of The Runaways, via Jetboy, The Quireboys, and Dan Baird, as a member of Sal and Last Great Dreamers; vocalist, Gaz Tidey – a founder of the Uber Rock website and co-author of ‘Til the Death of Rock and Roll’, the tie-in novel for The Loyalties album of the same name; and bassist, Mike DeSouza – now working in the film industry with credits including The Mummy, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Men In Black: International on his IMDB profile) barely remembered.

An agreement was quickly put into place that the band would reunite to record the best ever versions of these songs, and that the recording would take place at RedRock Studios and be produced by Lyndon Price, a former member of Welsh metal legends, Wild Pussy; the first band that Sister Morphine ever supported! The planning, however, had to be done over a messaging app as the country was awash with regional lockdowns. The frustration felt at having to rein in the excitement resulted in not one, but three brand new songs being written over the same messaging app, ready to be fleshed out once the band members could hit the rehearsal room. Then, those three new songs quickly became four and a fifteen-track album tracklisting was fashioned, consisting of those four new songs alongside five never-before-heard songs from the tape archive, and six “classics” from the band’s vintage live setlist.

Those new songs (the high octane garage rock of album opener, ‘Holy City Zoo’, and ‘Nothing Dirty in the Truth’; the melodious melancholy of ‘90s hit that never was, ‘8-Tracks & Zodiacs’; the ‘70s glam stomp of title track, ‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’) blend perfectly with the vintage tunes (including the punk ‘n’ roll banger that is ‘Red-Eye Juice’ and the horns-heavy ‘Seven Long Years’) with those previously unheard songs (including the irony-smeared ‘Do You Wanna Get Wasted?’ and the outlaw country tearjerker with a twist, ‘Get Back Home’) no doubt having you ask yourself why they were hidden away for so long.

Those fifteen gutter-dirty, lowslung rock ‘n’ roll songs now exist as the band’s long-threatened debut album, ‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’; set to be released on digital platforms and digipak CD on 14^th February, 2023 via Big Egg Records. Yes, there is going to be another St. Valentine’s Day Massacre!

‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’ tracklisting:

1.) ‘Holy City Zoo’

2.) ‘Do You Wanna Get Wasted?’

3.) ‘Ghosts of Heartbreak City’

4.) ‘Cry the Rain’

5.) ‘Nothing Dirty in the Truth’

6.) ‘Waiting on Salvation’

7.) ‘8-Tracks & Zodiacs’

8.) ‘Red-Eye Juice’

9.) ‘Ain’t No Love Song’

10.) ‘Living With Snakes’

11.) ‘Sea of Love’

12.) ‘Black Hearts & Bruised Egos’

13.) ‘Days of Wine & Roses’

14.) ‘Get Back Home’

15.) ‘Seven Long Years’

For Fans Of: Dead Boys; New York Dolls; D Generation; Heartbreakers; Faces; The Dogs D’Amour; Radio Birdman; Hanoi Rocks; The Clash; The Damned; Gluecifer; Alice Cooper Group