Rye Coalition have reunited for their first new recordings in two decades—covers of Shellac and Drive Like Jehu collected on a charity 7″ vinyl single. Titled Paid in Full, the single honors the late Steve Albini and Rick Froberg with covers of Shellac’s “Wingwalker” and Drive Like Jehu’s “Bullet Train to Vegas.” The band recorded the new music with Tom Beaujour. Order the single on Bandcamp and listen to “Wingwalker” below.
All proceeds from Paid in Full—out July 18 via Ernest Jenning Record Co.—go to Letters Charity, the nonprofit that Albini founded with his wife, Heather Whinna, to help Chicago families living in poverty. Each copy is “unique, handmade, stamped, numbered, painted on letter pressed covers,” according to the press release. Rye Coalition’s last album, Curses, was recorded long before its 2006 release, due to the band’s ill-fated signing to Dreamworks, as documented in The Story of the Hard Luck 5.
Back in April, Herb Wiley, a guitarist in Rye Coalition and the Black Hollies, revealed a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and launched a GoFundMe page.
Read Grayson Haver Currin’s “Steve Albini Did the Work” and Nina Corcoran’s “Remembering Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes’ Rick Froberg With 5 Essential Songs.”