Manchester’s iconic post-punk outfit Inca Babies presents ‘Two Rails To Nowhere’, the latest re-envisioned offering from their ‘Reincarnation’ album, out November 28th via Black Lagoon Records. The Spotify version of this release includes both the 2025 version and the original from 1988.
The original version of this track – found on their fourth album ‘Evil Hour’ from 1988 – was never given the epic grandeur that it deserved. Previously a 3-minute folk rock tune that told a small story of country woe, this expanded version is now allowed to breath into the country prison song it always wanted to be, telling a far more heroic tale.
Led by Harry Stafford, Inca Babies were a vibrant part of Britain’s early postpunk / death-rock scene, amassing a steady following through five intensive years of touring, six singles and four albums, all of which entered the UK Indie Charts. After four sessions for BBC’s John Peel show in 1984-1988, the band called it quits, but then reformed in 2007.
The Incas are now a 4-piece, with Stafford (guitar, keys, vocals) joined by guitarist Jim Adama, bassist Dave Carmichael (Rat) and long-term member Rob Haynes (The Membranes, Goldblade) on drums and percussion.
With bottle neck Slide from blues guitarist Vincent O’Brien and the measured rhythm backing of Rob Haynes, the song has at last been allowed it’s epic status. Through its video, the song has been given a contemporary tilt, bringing the action into the 21st century with Manchester trams and a city centre setting providing the backdrop for the mournful pleading of Harry’s vocal delivery.
“The song was a take on Western blues, in the guise of Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives, maybe having the same sorrowful tale of ‘Worried man Blues’ from the 50s. Now it has been re-recorded and slowed down to a more contemplative pace. and with floating guitars and harmonic vocal blues the story becomes all the more of the prison song it was intended to be,” says Harry Stafford.
This follows ‘Candy Mountain’, a reworking from their 1985 album ‘This Train’, with its hypnotic bass line, contemporary groove and electronic sequencing. The road-tripping video, filmed by Jonny Stafford, escapes the urban grind to the country, where the air is sweeter and the landscape infinite.
‘Reincarnation’ is a collection of select Inca Babies tracks, re-recorded, re-invented and reincarnated for 2025. Recorded and mixed over two years at 6Db Studios in Salford by renowned producer Simon ‘Ding’ Archer (The Fall, PJ Harvey) and Harry Stafford, with Ding also contributing serious sonic and dub flourishes, this album was mastered by Marco Butcher at Boombox Studio in North Carolina.
“Looking through our back catalogue, it occurred to me that there were tracks that should again be made available in some manner and others that would benefit from reinvention. Last year’s ‘Ghost Mechanic Nine’ album was an opportunity to create new music for our fans, who would like this music in the form of digital downloads and, for the truly hardcore, as a 12” Vinyl Album,” says Harry Stafford.
“But it was also a realisation that we could invigorate old tunes. We already had a ‘best of’ compilation in ‘Plutonium’, released in 2006, so we embarked upon a new quest, to inject new life into our favourite back catalogue. This whole project was to be an Innovative re-imagining of old tunes: re-invented for contemporary consideration. All of them Re-awakened and ‘Re-inca-rnated’.”
Inca Babies’ journey – from their formation in 1983 in Manchester’s now-legendary deck-access flats of Hulme to where they are today – was highlighted in last year’s documentary ‘The Making of Ghost Mechanic Nine’. Since reforming, they have released four albums and toured Europe, Russia, North America, India and beyond. They continue to explore goth, punk and death-rock jazz-blues, while paying tribute to the strong riffing and cool, dead-pan delivery of the dark wave scene at the time.
As of October 28, ‘Two Rails To Nowhere’ is out everywhere, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. On November 28, the full ‘Reincarnation’ album will be released on both CD and digitally.
CREDITS
Harry Stafford – guitars, bass, keyboards & vocals
Rob Haynes – drums & percussion
Vincent O’Brien – slide guitar
Written by Harry Stafford
Harry Stafford – vocals, guitars & keyboards
Rob Haynes – drums & percussion
All songs re-recorded by Harry Stafford and Rob Haynes. + Slide Guitar Vincent O Brien+
Recorded & produced at 6Db in Salford by Simon ‘Ding’ Archer
Mastered by Marco Butcher at Boombox Studio, North Carolina
Artwork designed by Harry Stafford
from images by James Chadderton Art Ltd. (Manchester Apocalyptic visions)
Album released by Black Lagoon Records – catalogue no. BLRLP0061
Video filmed by Jonny Stafford. Directed & edited by Harry Stafford
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR
TRACK LIST
01 Candy Mountain (from ‘This Train’ album, 1986)
02 Buster’s on Fire (7” Single on Constrictor Records, 1987)
03 Daniella (from ‘This Train’ album, 1986)
04 Two Rails to Nowhere (from ‘Evil Hour’ album, 1988)
05 Jerico (from ‘Big Jugular’ 12” EP, 1984)
06 Devil in my Room (from ‘Opium Den’ album, 1986)
07 Phantom Track (from ‘Death Message Blues’ album, 2010)
08 The Diseased Stranger’s Waltz (from ‘Rumble’ album, 1985)
09 Damnation (from ‘The Stereo Plan’ album, 2014)
10 Thirst (from ‘Opium Den’ album, 1986)
11 Superior Spectre (Extra B side of ‘Scatter’ 12” 2014 For Record Store Day)
12 Cowboy Song (B side from ‘The Judge’ 12” single, 1984)