For Immediate Release May 3, 2012

THE FIXX FINDS BEAUTIFUL FRICTION IN THE WORLD; FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET TO THE LOIRE VALLEY

Due July 17th (Kirtland Records)

London, England (May 3, 2012) --- The Mayan Calendar, Occupy Wall Street, 9/11, materialism, war, a farm in the Loire Valley of France, and a bespoke bicycle shop in London make for improbable bedfellows in Beautiful Friction, the new album from longtime lyrical harbingers The Fixx (available July 17th on Kirtland Records). But upon closer inspection, the mix is not so far fetched for a band whose career kicked off with cautionary and prophetic worldwide hits such as “One Thing Leads To Another,” “Red Skies (At Night),” “Saved By Zero” and “How Much Is Enough.” Small wonder The Fixx have tapped into the worldview again, extracting songs of self-awareness and hopeful optimism for their 10th studio album.

The Fixx have always been the rare rock band that can weave provocative social commentary seamlessly into irresistible melodies that fans sing along to with glasses raised as they head to the dance floors. What lead vocalist Cy Curnin calls the “spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down” has driven lyrics about systemic greed, global warming, and stockpiles of weapons into pop culture consciousness (in the most delightful way). On their new album, The Fixx continue to address the world they live in, this time pondering where to go, explains songwriter and lead vocalist Cy Curnin. “The struggle is not to hide from the changes in the world, but to celebrate them. Friction is the effort you need to make in order to bring happiness in and that’s what makes it so beautiful.”

Produced by Nick Jackson in London, and mixed by Stephen W Tayler (Kate Bush, Suzanne Vega) and Mark Needham (The Killers, Chris Isaak), Beautiful Friction was inspired by world events filtered through the personal journeys of each band member. After living in New York for 16 years, Curnin left when 9/11 prompted a life-changing decision to regain control of his life’s basic needs. He bought a farm in the middle of France to raise the food he eats as well as serves to the guests that stay in a quaint bed and breakfast on the grounds.

(more) “We’d become so apathetic thanks to things like easy credit,” Curnin explains. “Before, I was digging my own grave. Now I’m digging my own garden.” After a while, he noticed a change in the way he wrote songs. “The way that I wrote had a different rhythm. I think that when you’re in the city your inner voice has more of a psychobabble to it, picking up what other people are saying – from random shouting in the streets to an interesting conversation outside your window at 4am. In the countryside it’s just me questioning my path as a human being, how humans have gotten to leave the land, the efficiency of big cities, lots of things.”

Curnin wrote most of the album’s lyrics, with drummer Adam Woods finishing Cy’s sentences on occasion (it is Woods who owns the aforementioned bespoke bicycle shop in London). The band’s longevity makes for a freewheeling environment where band members can pop in and out as a song develops, adding or subtracting from it without discord. “There’s a reason why this band’s still together,” says Curnin of his longtime partners Woods, guitarist Jamie West-Oram, bassist Dan K. Brown and keyboardist Rupert Greenall. “We’ve all been through the mistakes and car crashes, marriages and divorces of life together and we all still hold a deep respect for each other. We get where we are coming from and have kept quite true to our mission – to sing about this sense of peace and give to other people. From the moment a song is born if someone in the band isn’t feeling it, then it isn’t going any further.”

Beautiful Friction reflects global moments that resonated with The Fixx and reveal their personal impact. The leadoff single, “Anyone Else,” was inspired by the Occupy movement, which Curnin viewed from his farm through the eyes of an old friend in New York. “It was driven by this tremendous desire for change, but with no centralized mandate. It made me think quite a lot about the world, that young people are waking up to enormous change and now know they have the ability to do so much if they want to.” “Just Before Dawn” was written against the backdrop of the Mayan Calendar, challenging people to change their perception of past golden ages and heydays and instead look forward to a future that could bring an even better era, perhaps one driven by greater compassion. “Something Ahead of You” is particularly powerful track, with Curnin’s vocals contemplating the mystery of that future, be it war or a light in the distance. And the album’s title track, “Beautiful Friction,” captures the shifting landscape of our world while reflecting the album’s mood, surrounded by uncertainty but led by hope.

“When I was younger I used to be quicker to judge,” Curnin concludes. “Now I know I can’t change the world, I can just change my part of it or just a tiny portion.”

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For further publicity information, please contact:

Jolyn Matsumuro [email protected] (310) 558-3000 x202