JOHNNY HATES JAZZ
PERFORMING DEBUT ‘TURN BACK THE CLOCK’ IN ITS ENTIRETY
DECEMBER 2017
To celebrate 30 years as a band and release of their acclaimed debut album ‘Turn Back The Clock’, Johnny Hates Jazz have announced a full UK tour this December.
In 1987, as the era of Electronic Pop and New Romantics was reaching its culmination, Anglo-American group Johnny Hates Jazz featuring Clark Datchler and Mike Nocito were catapulted to success with the release of their single 'Shattered Dreams' on Virgin Records. It became a top 5 hit worldwide, reaching number 2 in the USA and Japan, and has since been played over 3.5 million times on American radio alone.
'Shattered Dreams' was followed by other hits including the anti-war anthem 'I Don't Want To Be A Hero', 'Turn Back The Clock' (featuring Kim Wilde) and 'Heart Of Gold'. Their album 'Turn Back The Clock' entered the UK charts at number 1, going double-platinum and selling 4 million copies in the process. It is arguably one of the definitive albums of the 1980's, and is one of only two debut albums released by Virgin Records that immediately went to the top of the charts upon its release — the other being ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ by The Sex Pistols.
The band went their separate ways shortly afterwards, deciding to focus on other musical projects instead. In fact, over the next 20 years, they completely lost contact with one and other.
However in 2010, original members Clark Datchler (lead singer/songwriter/keyboard player) and Mike Nocito (producer/engineer/ bass guitarist) decided to come back together to write, record and produce a brand new Johnny Hates Jazz album. At the same time, they began to perform live at international festivals. That album, titled 'Magnetized', was released in 2013, and the single of the same name became a huge radio hit in both the UK and Germany. Unfortunately, Clark collapsed in London shortly afterwards, and was diagnosed with a serious illness. All promotion came to an abrupt halt, and he spent much of the following year recovering.
Fortunately, he made a full recovery and JHJ began to perform again at festivals in Europe and Asia. They toured the UK in 2016, appearing at theatres across the country. During this time, Clark also joined forced with Genesis legend Mike Rutherford to co-write the new Mike and The Mechanics album, ‘Let Me Fly’ (released on April 7th, 2017).
2017 has begun with JHJ being launched in China, with a remix of the track ‘Magnetized’ and a new video to accompany it. At the same time, Clark and Mike are back in the studio, recording new material (further details will be announced shortly).
Their new UK tour sees Johnny Hates Jazz ending 2017 with a huge celebration of their seminal album ‘Turn Back The Clock’. Tickets go onsale Friday 14th July at 9am via www.gigsandtours.com
Sun 03 Dec 17 Gateshead Sage 2
Mon 04 Dec 17 Glasgow Cottiers
Tue 05 Dec 17 Warrington Parr Hall
Wed 06 Dec 17 Birmingham Town Hall
Thu 07 Dec 17 London Indigo