The Minus 5 + The No Ones

The Minus 5 continue to be a hobbled spaceship led by Scott L. McCaughey with trusty navigation officer Peter L. Buck. You may know them from R.E.M., The Baseball Project, Young Fresh Fellows, The No Ones, Tired Pony, Filthy Friends, Luke Haines, Alejandro Escovedo, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, Tuatara, etc. As The Minus 5, 2023 will find them, combined with No Ones, weaving through USA’s Great Northwest, on to Norway and UK, for starters. They’ll be playing a lot of new music, with two new volumes of Neil Young-inspired music to be released this year, and a record in the can for 2024 – as well as their collaborative Down With Wilco being readied for a 20th year anniversary re-visit. These will be their first UK shows for over 15 years.

The No Ones‘ upcoming album, My Best Evil Friend, is being released on Yep Roc on 31 March 2023. The No Ones are Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen and Frode Strømstad. Consisting of members from R.E.M., The Minus 5, The Baseball Project, and I Was A King, the bi-continental collaborators share their third collection of songs, My Best Evil Friend, paying tribute to the artists that inspire them and populate their turntables. Through their upbeat ’60s-style indie sound infused with psychedelic flourishes, The No Ones honour Nick Lowe, Pamela Polland, George Harrison, Jenny Lewis, and Phil Ochs, among others. The group enlisted contributions from friends Debbi Peterson (Bangles), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie) and Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) for backing vocals, Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven) on bass, and strings from Marin Stallemo Bakke.