Near-death experiences can have some profound, and surprising, effects on people. Some get religious, some quit their dead-end job. Johnny Jewel destroys every single copy of Chromatic’s Dear Tommy.
The Chromatics album was announced back in December of 2014, and while new songs were released and teased, the album pulled a Detox and never materialized. The songs they did share, however, mysteriously were erased entirely from the Internet. In a series of tweets, Johnny Jewel’s manager Alexis Rivera shed some light on not only the tracks’ disappearances, but what prompted Dear Tommy’s delay.
“Christmas day 2015, Johnny almost died in Haiwaii,” Rivera tweeted. “When he came back home to California he destroyed all copies of Tommy. 15k CDs and 10k vinyl in the Italians warehouse in Glendale, all gone.”
But don’t fear, Jewel has re-recorded the album (something he apparently has done before with Kill for Love) and it looks like new music might come sooner rather than later. “We are getting closer to the release of the album.” While the new music is promised to have “the same titles, same lyrics, same track order, as when it was announced of Dec of 2014,” Rivera promises that the only difference is “it’s better.”
While no official release date or new track has been announced, it looks like fans don’t have too much longer to wait. The group will also be in the new Twin Peaks season.
Christmas day 2015 Johnny almost died in Hawaii. I don’t want to go into details, but I’m sure he’ll discuss it in interviews at some point.
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Is it weird to destroy & delete your album once it’s done? Fuck yes. It’s also financially insane. But it wasn’t the first time he’s done it
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Then he got hired to score Drive, then that went absolutely snafu. Shit comes up all the time that changes things. Sometimes it’s a blessing
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
He worked more on Kill For Love, he worked on Symmetry’s Themes, he worked on more music that I hope we’ll hear sooner rather than later
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork Anyway back to Johnny almost dying. After he went on another streak. Doing Tommy. Producing new acts like Heaven. Doing films & “Twin Peaks”
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork “Dear Tommy” has the same titles, same lyrics, same track order, as when it was announced Dec of 2014. Nothing’s changed except it’s better
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017