{"id":10276,"date":"2026-04-16T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/massive-attack-tom-waits-single\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:20:00","slug":"massive-attack-tom-waits-single","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/massive-attack-tom-waits-single\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive Attack, Tom Waits Unite On New Single"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spinmagazine.com\/files\/2026\/04\/Massive-Attack-credit-Warren-Du-Preez-scaled.jpg\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2501\" alt=\"\"><figcaption>(photo: Warren Du Preez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Massive Attack and Tom Waits are joining forces for the first time on \u201cBoots on the Ground,\u201d a brooding, politically charged collaboration out now (April 16) via Play It Again Sam. The track, paired with a vinyl-only B-side from Waits titled \u201cThe Fly,\u201d marks the 76-year-old cult figure\u2019s first new recording since his 2011 album <em>Bad As Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Massive Attack has also released an accompanying film for \u201cBoots on the Ground\u201d created alongside elusive U.S. visual artist thefinaleye. The high-intensity montage draws from recent real-world unrest, including mass U.S. protests tied to ICE raids, militarized policing and rising authoritarian rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/topspin-the-underestimated-threat-of-ai\/\">TOPSPIN: The underestimated threat of AI\u00a0<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/lana-del-rey-007-first-light\/\">Lana Del Rey Unveils \u2018007 First Light\u2019 Theme Song<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spinmagazine.com\/2026\/04\/boards-of-canada-new-music\/\">Boards Of Canada Break 13-Year Silence With New Song<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<lite-youtube videoid=\"L-57FrioeuE\" style=\"bottom: 0; height: 100%; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; width: 100%; max-width:100%;\"><\/lite-youtube>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a career honor to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality and integrity of Tom,\u201d Massive Attack said in a statement, before zeroing in on the current climate. \u201cAcross the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarization of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse and abandoned mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>True to form, the Waits-powered \u201cThe Fly\u201d is a gravel-throated spoken-word piece featuring additional vocals from his son Casey. \u201cOne day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate,\u201d Waits reveals.\u201cWay back then, we sent them \u2018Boots on the Ground.\u2019 Their long release delay never worried me. Today, as in all of mankind\u2019s yesterdays, guarantees this song will never go out of style.\u201d Never one to miss a chance at a well-placed growl, Waits added, \u201cman\u2019s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The release will be followed tomorrow by a spoken-word reflection from novelist Omar El Akkad, expanding on the themes of the project and its real-world parallels. \u201cBoots on the Ground\u201d also marks the first Massive Attack release distributed under a Spotify exemption policy, with more music expected to roll out around the band\u2019s upcoming European tour dates and summer festival appearances, which begin May 27 in Helsinki.<\/p>\n<p>Long known for its advocacy for sustainable touring and production, the group is offering a limited 180g \u201cEcoSonic\u201d vinyl pressing made entirely from recycled PET. Profits from the release will benefit both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Immigrant Defense Project.<\/p>\n<p>Waits has actually released an album more recently than Massive Attack, whose last full-length was 2010\u2019s <em>Heligoland<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/spinmagazine.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(photo: Warren Du Preez) Massive Attack and Tom Waits are joining forces for the first time on \u201cBoots on the Ground,\u201d a brooding, politically charged collaboration out now (April 16)&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3891,6,24,1392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-massive-attack","category-news","category-pushly","category-tom-waits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}