Nitzer Ebb readies first new album in nearly 15 years, plots fall North American tour

Reunited electronic/industrial duo Nitzer Ebb has completed work on its first album in nearly 15 years and will embark upon a full North American tour later this year, hitting the U.S., Mexico and Canada in November and December.

Probably best known outside its fanbase for the 1990 single “Lightning Man” and for opening Depeche Mode’s World Violation Tour in the U.S. that same year, the group — Bon Harris and Douglas McCarthy, plus a succession of drummers — formed in 1982 and first reunited in 2006 after more than a decade apart. After playing live around the world for the past few years, wrote and recorded a new studio album titled ICP.

While the record has been done for months, Nitzer Ebb still has not announced a release date, although a trio of new songs — “I’m Undone,” “Never Known” and “On Your Knees” — have been posted to the band’s Web site and MySpace page. McCarthy, in an interview with FACT Magazine over the summer, says he and Harris went for a “classic” ’80s Nitzer Ebb sound when making the new music: “We pursued a very electronic sound with these new tracks and it has allowed us to delve into the very earliest styles associated with the band to create music that is great fun for us to record and play live.”

As for the actual release of ICP — the band’s first new studio album since 1995’s Big Hit — McCarthy says the duo is struggling with the fact that “the entire music industry is in a state of complete flux; things that were essential parts of the business are now unrecognizable, irrelevant or just don’t exist anymore.”

McCarthy adds:

“Although the quality of the content of the album is first and foremost, the way we deliver it and how our audience can interact with that delivery has become extremely important, too. To that end we have decided to reject any thought of a conventional release. We have asked a variety of artists to remix a variety of the new songs that, along with other content, will be free to download as mp3s over the next six months or so leading up to the introduction of the album tracks.”

In the meantime, Nitzer Ebb embarks on its Tour of Duty this fall, an extensive North American trek that begins Nov. 6 in Monterrey, Mexico, and wraps up Dec. 19 in Santa Ana, Calif.

See full tour dates after the jump…

Nitzer Ebb tour dates:

Nov. 6: Cafe Iguana, Monterrey, Mexico
Nov. 7: Centro Convenciones Tlatelolco, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Nov. 17: Key Club, Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 18: Slim’s, San Francisco, CA
Nov. 20: Berbati’s Pan, Portland, OR
Nov. 21: El Corozan, Seattle, WA
Nov. 22: The Venue, Vancouver, BC
Nov. 24: Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 25: Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO
Nov. 27: Varsity, Minneapolis, MN
Nov. 28: Double Door, Chicago, IL
Nov. 29: Peabody’s, Cleveland, OH
Dec. 1: Mod Club, Toronto, ONT
Dec. 3: Paradise, Boston, MA
Dec. 4: Gramercy, New York, NY
Dec. 5: The Starlight, Philadelphia, PA
Dec. 6: Jaxx, Fairfax, VA
Dec. 8: Jackrabbit’s, Jacksonville, FL
Dec. 9: Firestone, Orlando, FL
Dec. 10: The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
Dec. 11: The Hangar, New Orleans, LA
Dec. 12: Meridien, Houston, TX
Dec. 13: TBA, Dallas, TX
Dec. 15: Rock, Tucson, AZ
Dec. 16: Marquee, Phoenix, AZ
Dec. 18: TBA, San Diego. CA
Dec. 19: Galaxy, Santa Ana, CA

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