The friendship of Robert Lloyd and Vic Godard goes back several decades. Forty-one years in actual fact to the spring of 1977 when the bands they were fronting – The Prefects (Lloyd) and Subway Sect (Godard) – opened for The Clash on their now legendary White Riot tour. Bonding over a shared dislike of The Jam that saw them both drop lit matches from the lighting rig in an attempt to set fire to Paul Weller and co’s Union Jack backdrop. Both Subway Sect and The Prefects ended up playing a number of shows together despite the former’s manager Bernie Rhodes – perhaps better known for managing The Clash – despising the latter’s band with a passion.

Although The Prefects eventually ran out of steam in 1979, Lloyd put together The Nightingales from the remnants of his former band straight after. The Nightingales became a regular fixture on the John Peel show, one of those sessions from 1982 eventually getting a vinyl release in 1988. Signed to Cherry Red Records, the band also recorded three albums over the course of their seven years existence before initially calling it a day in 1986.

Lloyd continued to make music after the split, forming The New Four Seasons before eventually going it alone as a solo artist. Then in 2004, along with original member and Prefects guitarist Alan Apperley and former Nightingales Peter Byrchmore and Eamonn Duffy, Lloyd put the band back together. Since then they’ve put out six albums, a handful of singles and two EPs culminating in last year’s six-track mini LP ‘Become Not Becoming’ while undergoing numerous line up changes in the process, Lloyd being the only constant.

‘Commercial Suicide Man’ came about after Stewart Lee curated a series of concerts in 2011 including The Nightingales. Lloyd invited Vic Godard and his band as special guests for their show, which inspired the Subway Sect frontman to write a duet for them both to perform. So here we are, seven years on and the project has finally come to fruition.

Released on 21 May through Tiny Global Productions, ‘Commercial Suicide Man’ comes out as a three-track seven-inch limited to just 500 copies. On the flipside, Godard sings lead vocals on a brand new recording of ‘Ace Of Hearts’, originally the opening track off 2012’s seventh album ‘No Love Lost’. The final track is a cover of an obscure Giorgio Moroder number entitled ‘Underdog’ that pretty much sums up both Robert Lloyd’s and Vic Godard’s ethos.

Jon Langford of Mekons and Three Johns fame created the cover artwork, while post punk stalwart Terry Edwards contributes trombone.

After its release, The Nightingales embark on a five date tour calling in at:

May
26 Sunderland Independent
27 Middlesbrough Westgarth Social Club
31 Derby Hairy Dog (w/ The Lovely Eggs)
June
1 Southampton Talking Heads (w/ The Cravats)
2 Newport Le Pub

The single is available to pre-order now from Bandcamp