New Wave legends
Blondie and ’90s altrock stars Garbage have teamed up for the Rage & Rapture Tour. It descends on Central Florida at Hard Rock Live on Wednesday.
Blondie’s 11th studio album is a testament to the group’s timelessness. Released in May, “Pollinator” sounds like a record from the indie-rock scene of today, but also seems perfectly in place with the late-’70s New Wave of the New York band’s heyday.
“We were lucky,” says guitarist Chris Stein. “The old stuff doesn’t sound dated at all.”
Best known for hits such as “One Way or Another” and “Heart of Glass,” Blondie is coming through town on the Rage and Rapture Tour, landing Wednesday at Hard Rock Live at Universal City Walk. (Tickets are $47.50-$120.50. Doors open at 7 p.m. Details: hardrock.com.)
Joining Blondie are ’90s genre-straddlers Garbage. Drummer and founder Butch Vig is excited to be performing with a band he listened to when he was starting out. “Blondie were just amazing,” says the Wisconsin native. “They developed into a pop band but their first album had a bunch of killer rock songs.”
Stein, 67, calls Blondie “a bit of performance art posing as a band.” He notes early antics such as lead singer Debbie Harry appearing pantsless onstage. “A lot of the bands in the early days were going against this musical proficiency thing that was happening at the time. The whole punk thing was very about do it yourself and emotion versus technicality and musicianship.
“We sometimes described ourselves as that but it was a bit of a performance piece.”
Vig, 62, says that Harry was a big influence on Garbage’s lead singer, Shirley Manson. According to Vig, the two have developed a friendship over their careers and were the driving force behind putting this tour together. “Not that many bands out there with female rock singers in them anymore,” he says. “They thought, ‘Why not go out there and show them the future is female?’ ”
Stein and Vig also hold names for themselves outside of their respective bands. Stein is a well-known photographer who has collaborated with pop artist Andy Warhol and Swiss painter H.R. Giger. He continues his photography today, mostly curating his Instagram account. “I like street photography,” he says. “It’s cool that everyone’s taking pictures.”
Before Garbage, Vig was known as a record producer. His work can be heard on such classic albums as Nirvana’s “Nevermind” and “Siamese Dream” by Smashing Pumpkins. “I was always interested in recording from an early age so I absorbed it all during those early years,” he says.
Garbage released its latest album, “Strange Little Birds,” last year. Much like “Pollinator,” its sound is both contemporary and very in line with the band’s origins, though Vig acknowledges a few thematic changes. “We felt like the music needed to be less rock and roll and leaned more on atmospheric and cinematic moments,” he says. “We pushed Shirley’s vocals way up. In some of the songs, it’s almost confrontational.”
A lot of the songs on Blondie’s album were composed by modern hit makers such as Sia and TV on the Radio’s David Sitek. Stein says they had no trouble connecting to songs they didn’t write. “It’s just about liking the song and feeling moved.”