Here’s a press release about the new Magnum single due to be released on 1 December. The cover image gives a bit of a clue as to what it’s about. Can you guess before reading the release below as it does give the game away…..
Supreme British melodic hard rock group Magnum are set to release a poignant new single, ‘On Christmas Day’, commemorating 100 years since Xmas Day 1914, when both the Germans and English called temporary truces so that they could mingle and play football matches in ‘no man’s land’ during World War 1.
‘On Christmas Day’ will be released as a three track digital single, containing a long version and radio edit of the song, plus a brand new studio track, ‘Born To Be King’, on Steamhammer / SPV on December 1st. A limited edition of one thousand 10” vinyl singles will also be available. Magnum, whose latest studio album ‘Escape From The Shadow Garden’ crashed in to the top 40 of the UK national album chart on release in March this year, set off on single release day to play the following December UK tour dates:-
1st December CAMBRIDGE Junction
2nd December SHEFFIELD The Corporation
3rd December PRESTON 53 Degrees
4th December MIDDLESBOROUGH Empire 5th December BILSTON Robin 2 7th December PORTHCAWL, WALES Planet RockStock (headline)
Guitarist and songwriter Tony Clarkin reveals how it all happened; “It was Olly Hahn at SPV/Steamhammer who said that he had a great idea, and could I write a Christmas song? I replied we had already had done that in the past and told him about ‘On Christmas Day’ and that it was on the ‘Rockart’ album, so if he wanted to check that out to see if it was suitable, because it`s not the normal Christmas song that people would expect. I had not heard it myself for a long, long time. We were in Germany at the time and so we all sat round the computer to listen to the track; we were all impressed, and I was really looking forward to re doing it. That’s really the story of how it came about; but I also thought “Born To Be King” could also fit with On Christmas Day as a strong B side for the whole package!”
Bass player Alan Barrow, who created the single’s artwork, explains that the idea for the cover “was based on some documented facts about the men in the trenches around Christmas in 1914. Carol singing was said to have been heard going back and forth between the trenches from both sides. Some documents state that on Christmas day a small amount of soldiers ventured in to ‘no man’s land’ where they exchanged food, cigarettes and souvenirs. There are some reports that a game of football was also played.”