The Flatmates Get a New Lease

January always ends up being a month of regret as I realize all of those missed songs and albums on my lists of the previous year's best. One such single is "Shut Up And Kiss Me," released by the Flatmates as a limited edition 7" via indie label Old Bad Habits out of Greece. This year, Martin Whitehead's band is doing something they never even did in the salad days of the Subway Organization. Brace yourselves. They're putting out a long player. The 13-song self-titled album will hit the shelves in March on the resurrected Subway in the UK (the label's first release since 1994) and on the Athens-based Happy Happy Birthday To Me here in America. When you consider the Flatmates released five singles in its original incarnation, a baker's dozen worth of material all at once is like manna from heaven.

You might be asking yourself, just who are these Flatmates? After all, nobody has seen Deb or Sarah since the late '80s. Whitehead and Rocker are still here, and Lisa Bouvier has been fronting the band with her trademark song opening "1-2-3-4" scream since 2013. Maybe you were lucky enough to catch her over here with the reunited band at NYC Popfest 2014. Consider this... Bouvier has been at the mic longer than Deb! There are a slew of guest appearances on the album too, including Wendy Pickles from the Popguns and Thomas Aherne from the Proctors, to name just a couple. With NYC Popfest on hiatus, we here in America will probably just have to dream, but those of you in the UK can expect plenty of dates to support the new album. Lucky!

Here's that single from late last year. This one opens the new album. Whitehead used to say their cover of Ramones' "I Don't Care" on the B-side of the "Happy All the Time" 12" probably came the closest to the way they were live back in the day. Do I hear a little of Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy as this new one opens? This is a hell of a good time.