The The today apologized for a trouble-plagued attempt to sell extra copies of its Record Store Day 7-inch single online Saturday, and, acknowledging that “demand far exceeded everyone’s expectations,” announced that “We Can’t Stop What’s Coming” will be released digitally and on CD.
The Matt Johnson-led The The had announced plans to sell “a few hundred copies” of the new single — the group’s first in a decade, which initially had been released only in the U.K. on Record Store Day. But demand was so high Saturday it disabled the band’s website, leading its U.S.-based hosting company to take the site down, thinking it was under attack.
On Twitter, The The announced the site would be offline until today — leading many fans to stop trying. Then, three hours later, the hosting company brought The The’s site back online, and the single quickly sold out before many fans even knew they could once again try to purchase the 7-inch.
The band today posted an apology note on its website, writing:
“We are a small, independent company with just a handful of staff. The single was intended as simple, limited edition tribute to the late Andy Dog. Demand has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. A digital and CD release will be forthcoming.”
Details of the CD and digital release are not yet know. When Johnson appeared on Steve Lamacq’s BBC show earlier this month to debut the single — The The’s first since the download-only “Mrs. Mac” in 2007 — he had said there were no immediate plans for a digital release, adding the song would be featured in a “larger project” later this year.
The song is in tribute to Johnson’s brother Andrew Johnson, aka Andy Dog, who designed much of The The’s artwork over the years, and who died in January 2016.
The The’s full message and apology:
OUR APOLOGIES
Our sincere apologies to everyone who missed out on purchasing a copy of ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ last night. Despite recently upgrading our website / server resources www.thethe.com crashed as thousands were attempting to access at the exact same time.
Our U.S. based hosts then swiftly took us offline for ‘suspicious activity’. They informed us we would be online again the next day after an internal investigation. Then, without warning, they put us online after 3 hours! Many loyal fans subsequently missed out.
We tried to give regular updates via Twitter and Facebook the moment we received information from our U.S. server hosts but obviously this did not help many people as we were also kept in the dark ourselves. Suffice to say we shall be overhauling our entire web presence.
We are a small, independent company with just a handful of staff. The single was intended as simple, limited edition tribute to the late Andy Dog. Demand has far exceeded everyone’s expectations. A digital and CD release will be forthcoming.
Our apologies again.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- The The to sell extra copies of its Record Store Day 7-inch online this weekend
- Listen: The The, ‘We Can’t Stop What’s Coming’ — first new single in 10 years
- ‘120 Minutes’ Rewind: The The’s Matt Johnson earns an MTV disclaimer while hosting in 1986
- The The re-enlists Johnny Marr on first new single in 10 years for Record Store Day
