Andy Rourke’s Final Project with Blitz Vega Out Now
The late, great Andy Rourke was best known for his work with The Smiths, but he also played for Sinead O’Connor, Badly Drawn Boy, Morrissey, and more. In his later years, he started a group called Blitz Vega with Kav Sandhu. Now, Rourke’s final project has been released to the world.
Northern Gentleman is the debut full-length album from the group. Sandhu says the music is a “diary of the last seven years of the journey that we went on recording this music as Blitz Vega.”
“The songs on the album evoke not only the emotions of sadness for Andy’s death but also the happy memories that came with their personal friendship and musical collaboration,” he adds. “I hear his voice in my head, replaying everything we talked about when we were recording the songs. I see his face smiling at me. On one of my last trips back to LA, I was driving to the studio and it felt like Andy was sitting there with me like he had been so many times before, talking about music, just excited to get this album made. So, all the songs mean the world to me.”
The album was primarily written during the pandemic after they had to cancel three U.S. tours. You can see Rourke in the video for “Lost Myself”:
In celebrating the album and Rourke’s life, Sandhu kept his promise to release and tour the album “no matter the circumstances.” Blitz Vega has been performing around the UK this year with George Yelding on bass.
Northern Gentleman is available now digitally through Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more.
Northern Gentleman Track List:
- Disconnected
- Strong Forever (feat. Johnny Marr)
- Hole In My Heart
- Big Nose
- Lost Myself
- Lost & Found
- High Gravity
- Love City
- LA Vampire
- Pass The Gun
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
