Veteran Australian group Midnight Oil have announced that their forthcoming tour in support of a new album, Resist, will be their farewell road trip.
Their 15th LP, which deals with ecological issues, is to be released early next year, with tour dates across Australia and New Zealand set to take place between Jan. 23 and May 13. A music video for the record’s lead song, “Rising Seas,” can be viewed below, along with a complete track listing.
“We all know time refuses to stand still for anyone,” vocalist Peter Garrett said in a statement. “[B]ut after many years together the band’s spirit is deep, the music and words are strong, and our ideas and actions as bold as we can make them. We’ve reached people in ways we never could have imagined. Our desire to create and speak out is undimmed.” He continued: “We hope everyone who hears this album and gets to one of the shows will come away charged up about the planet’s future, saying, ‘Why stop now?’ Having always tackled every tour like it’s the last, this time it actually will be.”
Guitarist Jim Moginie noted: “These will be sad and beautiful gigs but luckily we’re still capable of blowing the roof off any stage, and that’s what we intend to do… We stand as one, dependent on each other and grateful in all the important ways that make great bands great.” Fellow guitarist Martin Rotsey added: “A huge thank you to all our fans around the world. We’ve shared so much together from the swelter of Sydney pubs to magical nights under starry skies. Your energy took us further than we could ever have dreamed.”
The band – whose late bassist Bones Hillman is heard on Resist – said it’s possible they could continue working as a group. “Each of the members will continue their own projects over the years ahead,” they reported. “They remain very open to recording new music together in future and supporting causes in which they believe.”
Midnight Oil formed in 1972 and found global success in the mid ‘80s, garnering a reputation for political activism. They initially split in 2002 but reunited briefly in 2005 and 2009 before returning in full force in 2016. Garrett was a senior minister in the Australian government between 2007 and 2013 after first being elected to the House of Representatives in 2004.
Watch Midnight Oil’s ‘Rising Seas’ Video
Midnight Oil, ‘Resist’ Track Listing
1. “Rising Seas”
2. “The Barka-Darling River”
3. “Tarkine”
4. “At the Time of Writing”
5. “Nobody’s Child”
6. “To the Ends of the Earth”
7. “Reef”
8. “We Resist”
9. “Lost At Sea”
10. “Undercover”
11. “We Art Not Afraid”
12. “Last Frontier”
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