Almost two decades on from their last album, Del Amitri easily remember the good old days, when a Glasgow indie band “who never really cut it as Orange Juice and Josef K copyists, which is kinda what we were” became, in effect, overnight successes.
Suddenly, after a still-born first album (1985’s Del Amitri), with 1989’s Waking Hours, hit single ‘Nothing Ever Happens’ propelled them to sharing a Top of the Pops stage with Phil Collins, then in the imperial phase of his solo career, newcomer Sinead O’Connor singing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ and the premier of Public Enemy’s ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ video.
Two years later, Del Amitri were still regulars on the nation’s favourite chart show. Promoting 1992 hit ‘Always The Last to Know,’ the band appeared on an episode alongside an En Vogue video (‘My Lovin’), Shakespears Sister (‘I Don’t Care’) and, performing smash US hit ‘Jump,’ adolescent rap duo Kriss Kross, they of the backwards-jeans.
In America the song they were promoting on TVam, 1995’s ‘Roll To Me,’ hit Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 10. It became a soundtrack favourite (everything from Family Guy to one-boy-and-his-dolphin “abomination” Flipper) and US jukebox staple that resonates (and generates royalties) to this day.
Equally, selling six million copies of half-a-dozen studio albums between that mid-Eighties debut and 2002’s Can You Do Me Good? does a great job of enabling you to, firstly, laugh about the cheap digs of Northern Irish comedians and, secondly, quit while you’re ahead.
Which is exactly what Currie and Harvie, the consistent core of the band since 1982, did after that sixth album.
“Iain and I took a hiatus after 2002 because we’d been dropped by Mercury and we thought: ‘Well, that’s a bit of a milestone — we’ve had major deals since our late teens,'” relates Currie. “So it felt like a good moment to take a bit of time off. And I just did anything that was offered — a bit of jazz singing with a big band, a bit with a folk-orchestra…”
“Ha, I missed that one!” chips in Harvie. “I spent a time as a record producer. I did three or four albums with Rough Trade, then worked with a young band from Berwick-upon-Tweed, then tour-managed them a bit, then worked in studios. So I’d drifted off the other way, which I quite enjoyed. But then the bottom started falling out of the studio industry as well, as bands started recording themselves. Which just started to make me miss our band.”
Currie similarly oscillated between feeling disgruntled and… gruntled?
“I did four solo albums,” the frontman says, “and some touring, including one on my own which I absolutely hated. You can’t look round at anyone and go: ‘Well, this is weird.’ And you’re meant to be a raconteur when you do solo shows, and I can’t do any of that. Then, after, you’re standing in the dressing room on your own. There’s no one to talk to! It’s horrible. So, aye, I really missed the band, too.”
In 2014 and again in 2018, Currie, Harvie and their band embarked on sell-out UK reunion tours. But by the time of the second run, the appeal of playing solely songs from the past began to pall slightly.
Heading into the 2018 tour, Harvie suggested they try their hand at some new songs. Currie had been writing solo songs, “but they’re all dirges, which you can get away with solo,” the singer admits cheerfully. But as it has been a long time since he’d written songs with the band in mind, he took himself off to a borrowed cottage on the Isle of Lewis and started writing songs that would suit a two-guitar set-up.
Down south, Harvie was writing, too. The pair realised that, without forcing it, they had created a bunch of songs that sounded “very Del Amitri.”
By the time 2019 came around, those songs had turned into the core of a very Del Amitri album and a new deal with Cooking Vinyl. Then, the night before lockdown in March this year, recording of that album was completed.
Fatal Mistakes is their first collection of new songs in 18 years, it was recorded “pretty much live” in three quicksmart weeks with producer Dan Austin (Biffy Clyro, You Me At Seven), and it’s the brilliant sound of a 35-years-young recording band settling into what they do best: melodic rock songs with lyrical bite, soulful comfort, heart-swelling uplift and the occasional just-the-right-side-of-gnarly guitar solo.
Now that they’re back, Del Amitri aren’t rushing — they’ve waited 18 years, after all. Songs from Fatal Mistakes will be rolled out over the coming months and into 2021, ahead of (they hope) a full UK tour.
What does it mean for a band to come back after so long away? It means embracing your past to create a new sound for a fresh tomorrow.
“Once I’d got my head round the idea of not sounding like the band we were then, I was much less paranoid!” admits Currie with a laugh. “You’re never gonna recreate that energy of when you’re 20. So you have to do what we’re doing now.”
That, Iain Harvie elaborates, means “shorter songs, with no big rambling guitar solos. We don’t need that big bollocks swagger that you felt you had to pull out when you were on the Rolling Stones’ stage at Wembley, or whatever other stupid things you ended up doing. It’s just us, and the songs, all of it played by all five of us — no guest players or session guys. We’ve never done that before!” he marvels. “So it’s a clean sheet, a new album, from a new band. It felt really free to make it.”
“You know, when we made Waking Hours,” reflects Justin Currie by way of conclusion, “we knew there was no one else at the time who was doing that: a classic rock-pop record, very song-based, but with guitar solos and proper melodic performances. And it occurred to us a couple of years ago that, again, in Britain there’s a space for this. No band of any generation are doing this. So this feels like the right time.”
Right time, right place, right band: Del Amitri are back and ready to rock with Fatal Mistakes. Although if you want to book them for a breakfast TV slot, they may have some questions.
Presented by Count Basie Center for the Arts
The Concert Band & Soldiers’ Chorus are the oldest and largest of The U.S. Army Field Band’s performing components. Founded in 1946 and 1957 respectively, these two ensembles combine to present joint concerts on their national tours. They have performed in all 50 states and 30 foreign countries for audiences totaling hundreds of millions.
The Jazz Ambassadors is the official touring big band of the United States Army. Formed in 1969, this 19-member ensemble has received great acclaim at home and abroad performing America’s greatest original art form, jazz.
Joe Russo's Almost Dead is Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Tom Hamilton, Scott Metzger and Joe Russo. We're a Grateful Dead cover band.
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
Celebrate 100 years of Miles Davis! The GRAMMY®-nominated trumpeter and bandleader Jon Faddis carries on the legacy in this anniversary tribute. He’ll spotlight Davis’s game-changing 1957 album Birth of the Cool and his 1959 modal masterpiece Kind of Blue. The all-star ensemble includes both new and familiar faces to NJPAC jazz audiences: Erena Terakubo (alto sax), Gary Smulyan (bari sax), Steve Turre (trombone), John Clark (French horn), Bob Stewart (tuba), Mike LeDonne (keys), Todd Coolman (bass) and John Riley (drums).
The legendary Rhode Island multi-platinum rock’n’roll group JOHN CAFFERTY & THE BEAVER BROWN BAND began their career in 1973 and achieved mainstream success in the 1980s with the “Eddie & The Cruisers – Motion Picture Soundtrack”. The hit single “ON THE DARK SIDE” held the “#1” position on the Billboard Rock charts and the MTV video charts for five consecutive weeks.
Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary with New Jersey Ballet in a powerful evening of dance that captures the spirit, energy, innovation and resilience of the nation through the language of ballet. Red, White and Blue brings together iconic masterworks and bold contemporary voices in a program that reflects the many dimensions of the American experience while honoring New Jersey’s essential role in the fight for independence and the shaping of the nation.
“If you are looking to be blown away by raw talent, then look no further than Griffin House.” —American Songwriter
Written by and starring Vicki Lawrence
Two Performances Only
Vicki Lawrence, the legendary actress, comedian, and singer, brings her signature wit and charm to the stage in Vicki Lawrence and Mama: A Two-Woman Show. Best known for her iconic role as Thelma Harper, or "Mama," from The Carol Burnett Show and Mama’s Family, Lawrence delivers a hilarious and heartfelt performance that takes audiences on a journey through her extraordinary career. From her Emmy-winning years alongside Carol Burnett to her chart-topping hit, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” she shares behind-the-scenes stories, comedy, and music—all with her trademark humor. Whether reminiscing about her Hollywood adventures or embodying the feisty Mama, Lawrence proves that laughter is timeless.
Music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison
(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- Join journalist Paul Vigna for an eye-opening conversation about his provocative new book, The Almightier: How Money Became God, Greed Became Virtue, and Debt Became Sin, during a virtual discussion on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 presented by the Ocean County Library. The event begins at 2:00pm.
(PLAINFIELD, NJ) -- Ferrell Studios presents Carrie, the Musical at the Plainfield Performing Arts Center from November 12-15, 2026. Based on the classic novel by Stephen King, the musical poses the question: What happens when someone is pushed too far?
(HACKETTSTOWN, NJ) -- Centenary Stage Company's Fringe Festival continues with Ghost Dance: Picture of a Madman, a captivating one-woman play written and performed by Erica Knight. Running November 12–15, 2026, in the Kutz Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center on the campus of Centenary University. The production explores the turbulent life and legacy of Ralph Albert Blakelock, one of America's most celebrated yet tragically overlooked nineteenth-century painters.
(HAMMONTON, NJ) -- Fool Moon Theatre Company presents a special, one-night-only presentation of the hit play Love, Loss and What I Wore on Thursday, November 12 2026 at Eagle Theatre. This exclusive event is a benefit for the Funny Farm Rescue & Sanctuary in Mays Landing. Showtime is 7:30pm.
(TRENTON, NJ) -- The James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts (JRH), a 501c3 non-profit agency dedicated to providing quality arts education and mentoring to youth in the City of Trenton and greater New Jersey area presents the 2026 Student Film Showcase. Taking place on November 12th at the New Jersey State Museum Auditorium from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, this event features three films, written, directed, and produced by students, as well as a documentary focused on raising awareness on men's mental health, featuring authentic student voices and professional interviews.
