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Nov 07, 2016 Spiritualized By Christopher Roberts Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern (for Under the Radar)

Spiritualized, the project of Jason Pierce, recently announced that a new album was coming in 2017 and shows at the Barbican in London tonight and tomorrow night where the band will be performing their 1997 masterpiece, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, in its entirety with a string section and gospel choir. Now in a new interview with the British website (and former print newspaper) The Independent, Pierce says the next Spiritualized album might be his final record. “I’m a lot older now and in a weird way I think it’s my last record,” he tells The Independent‘s Shaun Curran. Whether he means his last record as Spiritualized or his last ever record is unclear.

Pierce ensures that this has nothing to do with his health problems (he nearly died of pneumonia in 2005, while receiving treatment for hepatitis C). “I’ve already covered so much ground and already done a load of ideas,” he continues. “There’s no point doing something unless it’s better than that. It’s mentally and physically such a taxing and demanding year or so, and there’s no point doing it unless it’s really something else. I’ve never bowed to pressure and done anything I’d considered a bad move artistically. And I won’t start for anybody.”

Pierce also calls the follow-up to 2012’s Sweet Heart Sweet Light “the equal if not a lot better than Ladies and Gentlemen.” Elsewhere in the interview Pierce says that he’s recently turned down a £2 million offer to reform Spacemen 3, his pre-Spiritualized space-rock band with Peter Kember (aka Sonic Boom), to perform a series of shows. “Oh it’s a ton of money,” Pierce says. “But I think it’s too important for that, I really do. It’s been my life’s work to wave my small flag to show how important rock n roll is. You can buy those records if you want to hear the music. The argument that gets thrown at me is people didn’t see it first time. But there’s a whole history of mankind and I wasn’t there for most of it…. Maybe I’m just stupid. I certainly need the money. Who doesn’t need that? Who couldn’t give half of it away if they did have it?”

Head over to The Independent to read the whole interview, which also gets into the creation of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Below are the videos for Ladies and Gentlemen singles “Come Together” and “Electricity.” Also, this year is the 15th anniversary of another great Spiritualized album, 2001’s Let It Come Down. Plus read our 2008 interview with Pierce.