Camden's own 'Nutty Boys' are to play a homecoming gig to launch their new album "in the place where it all started."
Madness, which was formed in the late 1970s by a group of Camden schoolboys, have said their 13th studio album will be called Theatre of the Absurd Presents C'est La Vie.
Although the album, their first in seven years, isn't out until November 17, but some of the 14 tracks will be aired for the first time at an intimate gig on October 18 at KOKO in Mornington Crescent.
In a release they said: "For the one and only time, we'll be performing some songs off our brand new album Theatre of the Absurd presents C'est La Vie in the place where it all began - Camden. We first played KOKO right back when it was still called the The Music Machine and we can't wait to be back on the 18th October. Dust off your glad rags and get involved."
Fans can get hold of a pair of the 1,400 tickets by pre-registering for the album at the online Madness store. They will then get an access code giving them a chance to buy pre-sale tickets to the gig from 9.30am on October 5 before the general sale starts at 9.30am on October 6.
Madness will then be heading out on an arena tour including a stop at the O2 arena in London on December 15. The first single titled C'est La Vie was teased with a video of Dame Helen Mirren reading the lyrics.
In a statement the band said the self-produced album, whose tracks include If I Go Mad, Baby Burglar and Lockdown and Frack Off, had an "eerie space-ska feel" and was "the perfect antidote to the chaos of the past few years".
"We were all there, properly in the zone. It was just us, in an industrial unit in Cricklewood, playing together. We loved it!”
Lead singer Graham McPherson aka Suggs has described how he would bunk off at Quintin Kynaston school in St John's Wood to hang around with keyboard player Mike Barson at Hampstead School in West Hampstead.
Along with saxophonist Lee Thompson and guitarist Chris Foreman they started out as The Invaders before changing their name to Madness in 1979 when they started gaining a following with gigs at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town.
They released their first hit The Prince the same year and went on to have 15 top ten singles with the likes of My Girl, It Must Be Love and House of Fun.
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