Pleasure Forever Unleashes 25th Anniversary Reissue of ‘The Devil’s Pleasures’
Pleasure Forever returns with the 25th Anniversary reissue of ‘The Devil’s Pleasures’ and the first-ever streaming release of their 2007 rarities collection ‘Bodies Need Rest,’ both remastered and available via Permanent Teeth Records.
Originally released in 1999 via Troubleman Unlimited, ‘The Devil’s Pleasures’ compiles the band’s first two 12” EPs. The reissue, complete with updated artwork, lands on streaming platforms December 20, 2024. Before that, ‘Bodies Need Rest’—a collection of rare and unreleased tracks first issued by Conspiracy Records—arrived on November 8, 2024, also remastered for streaming.
Pleasure Forever’s sound remains as unclassifiable as ever, blending heavy rock, eerie 60s psychedelia, and warped classic rock with hypnotic Krautrock-inspired rhythms. Their music recalls the cinematic flair of Roxy Music, the mystique of The Doors, and the raw intensity of The VSS, CAN, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Though the band is no longer active, members Andrew Rothbard (solo albums), Dave Clifford (Red Sparowes, Marriages), and Joshua Hughes (Rabbits, Ssold) continue to remain musical active. Originally part of synth-punk legends The VSS, the trio’s legacy now lives on through these reissues.
Bodies Need Rest arrives November 8, 2024, followed by The Devil’s Pleasures on December 20, 2024. Both will be available for download and streaming via Permanent Teeth Records.
Dave Clifford provides further insight into the band in the following interview.
What are the origins of Pleasure Forever?
Pleasure Forever formed shortly after the breakup of San Francisco synth-punk band The VSS in 1997. That band exploded quickly, but we felt like we’d hit the ceiling of what we could achieve with our all-in, multi-layered approach — every instrument going full throttle all the time — paired with our DIY light show. The three of us — keyboardist/bassist Andy Rothbard, guitarist Joshua Hughes, and drummer Dave Clifford — wanted to explore something more psychedelic and droning, while still channeling punk aggression.
At the time, I was obsessed with a mix of Swans, Funkadelic, and global folk trance traditions (not the electronic kind — think Balinese rituals, Bulgarian folk, etc.) and wanted to blend those elements into a cohesive, powerful sound. Everyone else brought their own influences to the table, and once the dust settled, it became its own garagey, post-punk thing.
We launched into writing right away, crafting a seven-song set within a couple of months. We called in our longtime friend Mark Bradin to record us live to 8-track reel-to-reel in our practice space. Mark, an exceptional engineer (and musician), captured the raw, freeform energy of our early material. We mixed it with Mark and Tim Green (of Nation of Ulysses and The Fucking Champs) in Tim’s bedroom while he was building what would become Louder Studios in the basement. From those recordings, we pulled together a 4-song 12” EP (‘Chemical Priest,’ ‘Slender Spires,’ ‘Kill a Pony,’ and ‘Calling the Loa’), which was released in Spring 1998.
After touring on that record, we went our separate ways, living in different cities across the U.S.
How did ‘The Devil’s Pleasures’ album come about?
After several months apart, each of us playing in other projects, we realized we missed the chemistry we had together. A European tour offer came in for 1999, so we decided to make it work despite living in different cities. We carved out a week to meet in San Francisco, where we wrote an album during four marathon sessions. We then recorded it over three days, driven by the perhaps misguided idea that capturing the spontaneity of brand-new songs would produce something special.
By that time, Tim Green had completed his studio in the basement, so we set up shop with him, kicking off what would become a long-running recording partnership. Some songs, like Andy’s Untitled lullaby, were drawn from earlier demos and foreshadowed the sound of our later Sub Pop debut. Dave’s Osculum Infame grew out of a 4-track experiment with multi-layered open-tuned guitars exploring the droning concepts we’d been chasing. The rest of the album blended slow-building intensity with more traditional song structures.
The result was ‘The Devil’s Pleasures,’ released as a 12” vinyl EP and a CD. The CD version included the four tracks from the 1998 12” EP, plus an unreleased song from that session as a hidden track — because, well, it was 1999, and hidden tracks were all the rage.
To support the album, we embarked on a grueling six-week European and UK tour, sharing a cramped van with an Italian band we’d just met — all of them about 10 years younger than us.
After the tour, we regrouped in San Francisco, committed to taking the band more seriously. We started playing up and down the West Coast, which eventually caught the attention of Sub Pop. By 2000, we’d signed a contract and began crafting our debut album with a more deliberate, focused approach, leaning into 60s-inspired pop construction while still pushing our psychedelic, melodic edge.
About The Devil’s Pleasures reissue and the earlier 2024 reissue of ‘Bodies Need Rest’:
Many of our early recordings never made it to streaming services, so after releasing ‘Distal’ — a new mini-album of fresh material — in August 2023 via Solid Brass Records (our first collaboration in 20 years), we decided it was time to make the older material available again.
In November 2024, we finally released the 2007 compilation ‘Bodies Need Rest’ for streaming. Originally put out by the now-defunct Belgian label Conspiracy Records, it’s a collection of unreleased tracks, rare cuts, and cover songs we’d considered for a potential covers EP. It features our takes on tracks by ABBA, Black Flag, Alice Cooper, and The Germs. The compilation is also available for purchase on our Bandcamp page.
For the 25th Anniversary reissue of ‘The Devil’s Pleasures,’ we reworked the original artwork and updated the master to meet contemporary audio and file quality standards. We’re, well… pleased to finally have these recordings on all streaming platforms, and we hope a new generation of listeners will discover our entire back catalog.
Pre-order ‘The Devil’s Pleasures’ here!
Streaming links for all DSPs here!
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Permanent Teeth Records Bandcamp
