Christopher Hall recently revealed to Laughingmonkeymusic that Stabbing Westward isn’t planning to write new music or attract new fans anymore.
“There’s weird debates and conversations in the van about, ‘Oh, what if we did this?’ or things you could do to get a younger fanbase or get new fans and stuff. And I don’t really think it’s worth the effort,” he said. “I think that you just put out good music for the people that know you, and if something organically happens where younger kids… Because we’re playing a lot of festivals.”
Hall explained that the band has reached a point in their career where they have enough fans and financial stability that reduced the pressure to constantly create new music. He also shared that his 2022 throat cancer diagnosis made him less willing to work on a follow-up to their latest album, ‘Chasing Ghosts.’
The singer added, “Honestly, nobody’s waiting for us to write a new record. [Laughs] When we play shows, we hardly play anything off of ‘Chasing Ghosts’ because you can see the fans either haven’t heard it or they don’t know it well enough that it entertains them while they’re at the show. And at end of the day, we’re there to entertain the people who paid 25, 30 bucks to see us play.”
“And I know when I see a band play, I wanna hear… If I were to go see Gary Numan play, I would wanna hear songs from ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’, like ‘My Name Is Ruin’. That’s the album that I kind of got into during COVID. And I wouldn’t necessarily wanna hear a bunch of songs off his newest album. I would wanna hear the hits of the songs that I’ve known through his career.”
“I would listen to songs that he played off his new album, because I’m a big fan, but I would do it with less enthusiasm than I would than if he played the songs that I love dearly,” he concluded. “If I’m going to see Peter Hook & The Light, I wanna hear [songs from] Joy Division and New Order. I don’t wanna hear Peter Hook’s new songs. He doesn’t play new songs. He knows that we don’t care, and I appreciate that…”
‘Chasing Ghosts’ arrived in March 2022 as Stabbing Westward’s first album in over 20 years. Since its release, the band has mainly focused on live performances, wrapping up their 2024 tour dates on December 1 at Delmar Hall in St. Louis.
Now, Hall shared that the band is planning a major celebration for the 30th anniversary of their second studio album, ‘Wither [Blister Burn & Peel].’ He mentioned ideas like performing the entire album with special production, organizing a proper tour, and creating a related release.
Stabbing Westward will start the new year with a performance at August Hall in San Francisco on January 10.
