Tom Waits and Massive Attack Share New Song ‘Boots On Ground’
‘Boots on the Ground’ is Tom Waits first original music in 15 years.
Image James Minchin III
Here’s a collaboration we never saw coming. Trip hop pioneers Massive Attack have teamed up with gravel-voiced icon Tom Waits for new single ‘Boots On The Ground’.
The seven-minute epic is the first taste of new music from Massive Attack since 2020 and Waits’s first new release since his 2011 album Bad As Me. The song addresses the current state of America and the political and social issues plaguing the country.
The track is available to stream and will be released on 12” vinyl featuring ‘Boots on the Ground’ on Side A and an exclusive Waits B-side titled ‘The Fly’. The 12” will be released as an EcoSonic edition, which will be 180g vinyl that comes in red, white and blue and is packed at random. This is just another way Massive Attack are doing their bit to reduce their carbon footprint.
Speaking on the collaboration, Tom Waits said, “One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate. Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind's yesterdays, guarantees this type of song will never go out of style. Man's folly of fiascos is a feast for the flies. Hence, the B side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12-inch ‘The Fly’ features my appreciation for the winged nuisance.”
‘Boots On The Ground’ is accompanied by a music video featuring images shot by American photographer and artist thefinaleye of ICE agents, Black Lives Matter protests and more intercut with quotes and statistics about what is happening in the States.
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“It’s a career honour to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos,” Massive Attack said. “Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarisation of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse & abandoned mind.”
The release of ‘Boots On The Ground’ arrives after Massive Attack’s Robert “3D” Del Naja was one of 500 people arrested for protesting at a Palestine Action protest in London earlier this month. The group are set to embark on a short European tour before heading to Japan for Fuji Rock.
Since the release of his last album, Tom Waits has spent the past 15 years pursuing his acting career, appearing in films such as The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Dead Don’t Die and Father Mother Sister Brother.
‘Boots On The Ground’ by Massive Attack and Tom Waits is out now. Listen here.
