Massive Attack and Tom Waits Team Up for New Song ‘Boots On The Ground’

Massive Attack’s latest collaboration marks the release of a new song entitled ‘Boots On The Ground’, featuring Tom Waits. This song is the band’s first new material since the 2020 EUTOPIA EP. Accompanying the track on vinyl is a B-side titled ‘The Fly’, marking Waits’ first solo recording since 2011’s Bad As Me.

The song comes with a politically-focused video co-created by Massive Attack and the US photo artist known as thefinaleye. The video incorporates footage from recent US protests against actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and government military operations. Novelist Omar El Akkad will also publish a spoken word text based on the song’s themes the following day.

Massive Attack expressed their thoughts on the collaboration, stating, “It’s a career honor to collaborate with an artist of the magnitude, originality, and integrity of Tom, but this track is arriving in an atmosphere of chaos. Across the western hemisphere, state authoritarianism and the militarization of police forces are fusing again with neo-fascist politics. Seen within the American emergency, at home and overseas, this track contains pulses of callous impulse and abandoned mind.”

Waits added, “One day many years ago, I accepted an invitation from Massive Attack to collaborate. Way back then, we sent them ‘Boots On The Ground’. Today guarantees this song will never go out of style. Man’s fiasco folly is a feast for the flies.” The B-side of Massive Attack’s upcoming 12-inch, ‘The Fly’, features his thoughts on the collaboration.

‘Boots On The Ground’ signifies Massive Attack’s first release under its Spotify exemption policy, meaning the track will not be available for streaming. A limited vinyl edition, made using recycled materials, will be sold, with proceeds donated to the American Civil Liberties Union and the US Immigrant Defense Project.

The release of the new song follows Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja’s recent arrest at a Palestine Action protest in London. ‘Boots On The Ground’ is now available on PIAS.