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MJ Hibbett & The Validators mark 20th anniversary with hits tape

By | Published on Wednesday 2 May 2018

MJ Hibbett & The Validators

MJ Hibbett & The Validators have announced that they will mark their 20th anniversary with a greatest hits compilation.

Released on cassette, ’20 Golden GRATES’ will contain what the band claim as the first ever single released on the internet, ‘Hey, Hey 16K’, and the last ever song played on Steve Lamacq’s ‘Evening Session’ on Radio 2, ‘The Lesson Of The Smiths’.

“We’ve done vinyl, CDs and downloads before but never cassettes”, says violinist Tom McClure. “We thought it was about time to put that right”.

Drummer Tim Pattison adds: “Anyone who’d like to buy The Validators on tape should get in quick. It might be another 20 years before we do it again”.

The album will be officially launched at a gig at the King & Queen pub in Soho on 5 May, the date which they think might mark the 20th anniversary of their first gig together. “None of us are really sure”, admits bass player Frankie Machine. “We started in the 90s when everything was just on paper, so we can’t go online to check”.

The band will play two sets on the night – a first running through the hits, the second seeing them perform other favourites with a little orchestra, called A Little Orchestra.

Here’s the tracklist for ’20 Golden GRATES’:

Hey Hey 16K
Payday Is The Best Day
Born With The Century
Things’ll Be Different When I’m In Charge
You Will Be Hearing From My Solicitor
Easily Impressed
Better Things To Do
The Gay Train
The Lesson Of The Smiths
Billy Jones Is Dead
Leave My Brother Alone
Being Happy Doesn’t Make You Stupid
Do The Indie Kid
My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once
It Only Works Because You’re here
Theme From Dinosaur Planet
A Little Bit
20 Things To Do Before You’re 30
(You Make Me Feel) Soft Rock
We Did It Anyway



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