#New Age Steppers Box Set Announced

On March 19, On-U Sound will release archival material from New Age Steppers, the reggae-punk group formerly fronted by Ari Up of the Slits. The label will reissue four of the band’s studio LPs and also a collection of outtakes and rarities called Avant Gardening. In addition, there’ll be a box set, Stepping Into a New Age, that includes all of the band’s work for On-U Sound. Below, listen to the previously-unreleased track “Send for Me.”

New Age Steppers formed in 1980, featuring Ari Up, Adrian Sherwood, and a cast of different collaborators, including members of the Pop Group, the Raincoats, Roots Radics, and others. The band existed intermittently until 2012. Ari Up died in 2010.

New Age Steppers’ reissue campaign will include their first three studio albums: 1980’s The New Age Steppers, 1981’s Action Battlefield, and 1983’s Foundation Steppers, as well as a first-time vinyl pressing of 2012’s Love Forever, which posthumously features Ari Up. The box set will include liner notes by Oli Warwick, interviews with Adrian Sherwood, a 32-page booklet, and more.