THE MINUS 5 Announce Forthcoming Album, Tour of Spain!!

In February 2006, Yep Roc Records will release "THE MINUS 5" (a/k/a "The Gun
Album") the seventh full-length recording by the group. It will feature the McCaughey/Buck/Ramberg/Rieflin line-up, as well as two tracks recorded
in Chicago with Wilco, and guest appearances by John Wesley Harding, Kelly Hogan, Morgan Fisher (Mott), Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger/Long Winters), and Colin Meloy and John Moen (Decemberists).

In November, the Minus 5 line-up for its first Spanish tour will be the
nucleus that has performed together regularly for the last five years. To
briefly reprise the membership...

SCOTT MCCAUGHEY
McCaughey is often scene as an elder statesmen in the Northwest rock scene. While still an elder, he rarely acts it. His longtime band the Young Fresh Fellows are said to be in semi-retirement, but still will perform and/or record on occasion, for the flimsiest of reasons. (They are in fact anxious to return to Spain, to re-live the glories of many past tours, and attempt to improve on the "Take It Like A Matador" live CD, recorded in Madrid.) The last eleven years have seen McCaughey recording and touring extensively with R.E.M. as a sort of fifth or fourth wheel, depending on the make and model. Whenever time allows, Scott is conniving some kind of Minus 5 recording or live appearance, writing songs, or contributing to the destruction of the efforts of his many patient musical friends.

PETER BUCK
Known to all for his twenty-five years of innovative service with R.E.M., Buck is undoubtedly one of the most under-rated and influencial guitarists in rock. A featured collaborator in the Minus 5 since its inception (even co-writing the entire Lonesome Death Of Buck McCoy album), he has in recent years become the group's stalwart onstage bassist, though still apt to add his famed 12-string Rickenbacker, or mandolin, or waves of feedback, to Minus 5 recordings. With R.E.M. taking a well-deserved break, look for Peter to be lending his expertise to plenty of Minus 5 activities, as well as undoubtedly doing the same for many others. Peter agrees with Scott that the shows in Spain are often highlights of R.E.M.'s world tours.

JOHN RAMBERG
The incredibly talented singer-songwriter for the Model Rockets, John
is known as the Minus 5's "Secret Weapon", on lead guitar and lead and
backing vocals. Four studio albums (often smeared with McCaughey's blood, and tambourines) and many tours of Spain (not to mention the "At El Sol - Sold Out" live-in-Madrid release) with the Model Rockets have earned him his own well-deserved legendary status. He has also written, recorded and toured with country chanteuse Neko Case. The first John Ramberg solo album will be released in 2006.

BILL RIEFLIN
While it is certainly true that Mr. Rieflin logged a decade of yeoman service in the clutches of Ministry (and its offshoots like Revolting Cocks, Pigface, etc.), this should not obscure the broad catalog of other work bearing his stamp. The seminal Seattle art-punk band The Blackouts, the solo album "Birth of a Giant", collaborations with Robert Fripp, the group Sweet 75 with Nirvana's Krist Noveselic, and recent stints as both live and studio drummer with the Minus 5 and R.E.M., all feature on his crowded resume. The Minus 5 is very fortunate to have him!

Please see the following link for tour dates (including Spain tour dates):