Australian rock veterans Cold Chisel are in the early stages of putting together a new album, according to singer Jimmy Barnes on Twitter as well as a report from The Music Network.
Barnes wrote on the social networking site, “Off to start Chisel’s new album. Can’t wait.”
A new album will mark the band’s first since 1998’s The Last Wave of Summer. New material and sessions however, take place under the considerable shadow of the loss of drummer Steven Prestwich, who died in January of a brain tumour.
The possibility of new material from the band has been in the air for some time, with songwriter Don Walker stating in March that recording was already going well at that point, saying, “We’d already recorded a number of new songs with Steve prior to his passing. Plus all five of us have written songs over summer with the intention of more recording this year.
“Hopefully Charley [Drayton, new drummer] can help us complete the work we began together. Steve was totally into everything we’d been planning for 2011 so while the last few months have been very difficult to deal with, we all feel that he would want us to complete the plans we made together.”
Cold Chisel formed in Adelaide in 1973, going on to enjoy considerable success in the seventies and early eighties, before disbanding in 1984. The band reformed in 1998 for The Last Wave of Summer and again in 2003 to tour. They came together again in 2009, the result being the new album that seems to be on the way.
