THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Return Of Tomorrow is Fu Manchu’s first new album in six years, and the veteran desert-rock stoners made sure that it was worth the wait. Their 14th album, fittingly released on June 14, is their first double LP of new material, and it was conceived of as a vinyl listening experience.
The first LP features seven songs in their iconic heavy-fuzz sound, including the title track and the relentlessly catchy Loch Ness Wrecking Machine. The second LP sees the band mellowing out with six slower tempo jams, including the synth inflected Solar Baptized and the title track. Like the band’s most recent album Clone Of The Universe, and their three-part Fu30 EP series, The Return Of Tomorrow was recorded at The Racket Room in Santa Ana by Jim Monroe (Adolescents, Ignite) and co-produced with Fu Manchu.
Says founding guitarist and vocalist Scott Hill: “When I listen to music, it’s either all heavy stuff with no mellow stuff mixed in or just softer stuff with no heavy stuff. I know a lot of bands like to mix it up and we have done that before, but I always tend to listen to all of one type of thing or the other. So, I figured we should do a double record with seven heavy fuzzy songs on one record and the other record six mellow(er) songs fully realizing that maybe I’m the only person that likes to listen to music that way.
“We kept both the records to around 25-30 minutes each to make it a full-length release, but not have each record be too long. We don’t write a lot of mellow(er) stuff in Fu Manchu, but a lot of the riffs worked minus the fuzz.” He added, “If you’re a vinyl person, both records are pressed at 45 rpm to give it the best sound quality. If you’re a digital person, can make your own playlist and mix both the records together.”
The title track and first single is a heavy, fuzzed-out jam replete with scorching guitar solos meant to be cranked at maximum volume. “Hands Of The Zodiac is about an astrologer friend of mine who would always ask if we wanted to know anything about our future whenever we would hang out,” Hill says. “He would look to the stars at night and ramble off all these weird predictions, none of which ever came true. He would say ‘zodiac hands’ and face the palm of his hand at you. I would always try to remember the things he said and almost every line in the song is something he said. For example, ‘Wheels / motion / so impressed’ is based on how he talked about my writing songs / practising / touring with the band. I guess I should have given him a writing credit.”
