Chromatics announced a new record called Dear Tommy just before the close of 2014, and promised it would out by Valentine’s Day 2015. A few years later, the record hasn’t still come out, though the band and creative engine Johnny Jewel have been active in the time since. Now, Echo Park Records’ Alexis Rivera, who manages the band, has shared a lengthy story behind the record’s delay—and needless to say, it’s a doozy. According to him, Jewel had a near-death experience in 2015, and decided to scrap the record entirely, disposing of 25,000 physical copies. He then re-recorded the album—a process he’d gone through before, when dissatisfied with a record just before its release. Find the story below.
Christmas day 2015 Johnny almost died in Hawaii. I don’t want to go into details, but I’m sure he’ll discuss it in interviews at some point.
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
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When he came back home to California he destroyed all copies of Tommy. 15K CDs & 10K vinyl in the Italians warehouse in Glendale, all gone
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
When we announced “Twin Peaks” in March, you can see some of those broken Tommy records https://t.co/Ink9W8hI24
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Is it weird to destroy & delete your album once it’s done? Fuck yes. It’s also financially insane. But it wasn’t the first time he’s done it
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
March of 2011: Glass Candy was playing in Guadalajara & Johnny gave me a box of Kill For Love CDs. He wanted the album out later that month.
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Then he got hired to score Drive, then that went absolutely snafu. Shit comes up all the time that changes things. Sometimes it’s a blessing
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Johnny destroyed the CDs & vinyl of that version of Kill For Love in April 2011. Publicly no one knew. But it kickstarted a creative streak
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
He worked more on Kill For Love, he worked on Symmetry’s Themes, he worked on more music that I hope we’ll hear sooner rather than later
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
He even referenced the other version of Kill For Love (and multiple changes) in an interview with @pitchfork in 2012 https://t.co/PZTySumQOU pic.twitter.com/8c7XBsS14l
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork Anyway back to Johnny almost dying. After he went on another streak. Doing Tommy. Producing new acts like Heaven. Doing films & “Twin Peaks”
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
There’s a bright side to this. This long disclosure was prompted by a fan asking Rivera why Dear Tommy cuts like “I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around” have disappeared from the internet. According to Rivera, the record is coming soon, and Jewel wanted the old versions to be taken down.
.@pitchfork As for Dear Tommy, now that we are getting closer to the release of the album, Johnny wanted the music from it to come down
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
.@pitchfork “Dear Tommy” has the same titles, same lyrics, same track order, as when it was announced Dec of 2014. Nothing’s changed except it’s better
— Alexis Rivera (@echoparkrecords) May 3, 2017
Correction: An earlier version of the headline stated the record was destroyed in 2015; it was in fact destroyed in January 2016.
