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L to R: Phil King, Miki Berenyi, Emma Anderson

Oct 18, 2016 By Christopher Roberts Photography by James Loveday (for Under the Radar) Lush

Phil King may not have been a founding member of recently reformed 1990s shoegaze legends Lush, he didn’t play on the band’s early singles and debut album Spooky, but he joined in 1992 just before Spooky was released. Alas, he has now left the band and the band has been forced to cancel some shows. Lush reformed last year with the core lineup of Miki Berenyi (vocals/guitar), Emma Anderson (guitar/vocals), and King, with former Elastica member Justin Welch stepping in for the late Chris Acland on drums. In April they released a great new EP, Blind Spot, and the band’s reunion shows in Europe and America have gotten rave reviews. But, for whatever reason, they have parted ways with King.

Here is the statement the band released today: “We are very sad to announce the departure of Phil King from the band. As a result, we will no longer be able to appear at the Iceland Airwaves and Rolling Stone Weekender festivals - massive apologies to everyone who was looking forward to seeing us play there. We are in the process of acquiring another bass player and look forward to our final show at Manchester Academy on November 25th.”

Hopefully by “final show” they mean final show for now. The band had been working on a new full-length album and we can only hope that will still happen. In between being in Lush, King was also for several years the bassist in The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Read out recent interview with Lush on their reunion and Blind Spot. Also read our review of the Blind Spot EP. Below is the video for “Out of Control,” the single from Blind Spot.

Lush were one of the originators and main icons of the shoegazing genre, along with Slowdive, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, and Swervedriver (who have all reformed in recent years). Lush released three albums in the ‘90s, but split up after the 1996 suicide of Acland. Their final show was in Tokyo, Japan in September 1996.

Last year Lush also released Chorus, a box set collecting all their albums, as well as various B-sides, demos, radio sessions, remixes, and unreleased tracks. Read our review of Chorus here.

Also read our two 2015 interviews with Berenyi and Anderson on their albums Split and Lovelife, in which they discussed the challenges of reforming. Also read our 2007 interview with Berenyi, which at the time was her first interview in a decade, since Lush’s breakup.