Cold Chisel Back With The Edge In Cyberspace
The Age
Thursday July 9, 1998
Fans have voted with their modems in the rush to hear the first new single in 15 years by re-formed Australian rock band Cold Chisel. And the critics have given the recording the thumbs up.
The song, Yakuza Girls, attracted a staggering 228,596 hits in the 12 hours after its midnight Tuesday release on to the Cold Chisel Internet web site.
Mushroom Records' promotions manager, Mr Dean McLachlan, said anticipation leading up to the single's free ``release" had been at fever pitch, with 10,000 people ``queueing" to download or play the single online.
McLachlan said the response showed the band's popularity - they have sold nearly three million albums - had not waned despite performing what was billed as their farewell concert in 1983.
``I think Cold Chisel are one of those bands that captured people's imagination and still do," Mr McLachlan said.
The recording ends years of speculation that the five men behind such classics as Khe Sanh, Flame Trees and Forever Now would re-form. Yakuza Girls will be included on an as-yet-untitled album, which is being mixed in New York and is due out in late September. A national tour is planned for October.
The editor of rock trade magazine Music Network, Mr Danny Keenan, said he believed it was the first time an Australian band had released a new track free via the Internet.
``I'm pretty sure that some labels and acts have put out B sides and throwaway songs for fans only, but not songs that would generally be released as a commercial single," Mr Keenan said.
He said given that Cold Chisel had a new album pending, making Yakuza Girls available via the Internet was canny marketing - ``something different that's a talking point, that's got everyone talking about the fact that Cold Chisel is back."
© 1998 The Age