First things first: yep, Roxy Music — a.k.a. the one kind-of-halfway-cool band that your dad likes — is apparently still a thing (and, for that matter, it seems that they were even “still a thing” during that huge gap from 1983 to 2001 when they did pretty much absolutely nothing for 18 years!). Or rather, I should say — Roxy Music WAS still a thing until guitarist Phil Manzanera talked to Rolling Stone for like two seconds a minute or two ago. Oh well. Easy come, easy go?
Given the premise I’ve already pre-assumed on your behalf in the paragraph above, you probably don’t remember that Roxy Music singer and main-dude Bryan Ferry, along with Manzanera and other non-Brian Eno band members Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson, have managed to remain kinda, sorta, more or less active since they met back up in 2001 with occasional tours and releases and whatnot. I mean, sure, whatever, right? But yeah, NO MORE, I guess? Here’s what Manzanera said to that magazine I mentioned:
I don’t think we’re going to do any more shows. I think our job is done. When we stopped touring in 2011, Andy [Mackay] and I looked at each other and said, ‘Our job is done here.’
I know, I know; at this point, you’re all like: “say it ain’t SO, Phil Manzanas, or whatever your name is! WHYYYY?” Well, OBVIOUSLY it’s because “musicians like to do new things,” man. See, it’s “unfortunate for the fans, really, because they would like you to play the same old stuff forever and ever. And they go see it and they feel, like, ‘Man, they aren’t as good as they used to be.’” Yeah… well, either way, I think these “new things” mostly refer to Phil Manzanera’s recent co-producing of Pink Floyd’s sure-to-be-great reunion album. Roxy Music still have “some fantastic box sets of the first two albums out next year,” though. And Brian Ferry — you know, the ACTUAL GUY IN ROXY MUSIC PEOPLE CARE ABOUT, PHIL MANZANERA, YOU DICK — still regularly includes “more than a dozen Roxy Music songs a night” on his solo tours. So all is definitely not lost. Uh, not that it ever really was to you, since you didn’t care one way or another. Or me either. But… our poor dads, yeah?
Whatever. Here’s cool footage of Brian Eno shrinking into his boa behind Ferry’s ghastly on-stage glam persona.
• Roxy Music: http://www.roxymusic.co.uk