Jonny Collins and The Collins Family Singers - Commercial Suicide by BigPinkCakeRecords

This summer Jonny Collins, of maverick pop group Modesty Blaise, releases his first solo single on Big Pink Cake. To call it long-awaited is masterful understatement. The first MB single, Christina Terrace was produced byEdwyn Collins (no relation) after the ‘Blaise supported Edwyn on tour. Debut album Modern Guitars with Amplification followed a string of pure pop singles as Modesty Blaise toured Spain, Germany and America to great acclaim. The last MB release was 2000′s award-winning Melancholia which contained “one of the finest indie singles ever recorded” (Rough Trade) Carol Mountain. Two years were spent touring the album worldwide and a thirdModesty Blaise album was in great demand; it was started but never completed as the record company ran out of funds. Jonny pretty much disappeared to deal with his own demons. And that, it seemed, was that, until the people from famed Bristol indie label Big Pink Cake noticed Jonny surfacing in the local classical music community. They got him to DJ a club night, then play an acoustic set, then started a long campaign of attrition to get some new recordings to release, and now they are here. Never one to follow the path of least resistance, Jonny has recorded a cover version of Commercial Suicide by German punk/pop pioneers Woog Riots, and produced a three-minute ‘cello and oboe inflected slice of wonderpop. The AA side is Heavy Metal Friend, once slated for MB release but never recorded, containing a typical Collins lyric and plenty of guitars. Things are now moving, Jonny has been playing in various European capitals and the next Modesty Blaise album is more than 50% completed and is sounding better than ever, the rehabilitation is on the way.