Shields and Company (MBV) are not done. Not by a long shot.

Look at those relaxed yet confident faces; they know what's in store for us. Here's what the clues tell me.

If you've read my book, which will come out in America on December 16th, you may remember Shields saying at the Mojo Honors List Awards Ceremony in 2008 - in which Loveless was given the Classic Album Award - the band's first real recognition - that the band only got as far as Revolver with Loveless. Like so many others, he views his catalog through the lens of the Beatles output.

He then said, in so may words, MBV have to release at least two more great albums and then they can go away and die. Upon reflection, it's become clear to me that m b v was at best a mini-album. I actually prefer to think of it as two stunning EPs, but it is not a proper album. It's first rate material equal to the material on Loveless or Tremolo or anything released since 1988. But it isn't a proper album. He has promised us at least two more. And I believe they are coming. Soon. As he liked to say through the years, in so many word, unless I die or the world ends, there will be more albums by MBV.

I came across a Vanity Fair article from their French edition the other day and it had a quote that tied in with what he said in 2008. While the article is from 2021, the quote that caught my attention in the article was from 2004. The article is about how inescapable their influence is on modern music despite their trials and tribulations and relatively anemic output since 1991. The article from 2021 by JD Beauvallet - who had interviewed Shields on several occassions through the years for Les Inrockuptibles - ends with this line, that comports with so many other things Shields has said:

' "I didn't want to be a billionaire, I didn't want to become a rock star: I wanted to be an influence," he told me one day. Kevin Shields has certainly made a success of his life.'

Well YES, and NO.

As I said, the quote is from 2004, and I don't know the tone Shields used when he said that line used to close out the piece. Did he feel defeated? He used the past tense, as if maybe the opportunity had passed him by. But we know that enough people finally understood his work by 2007, and the offers to get back together and play in 2008 were on the table. Coachella made the first offer, but the band couldn't be ready in time.

Since then, MBV are seen as a successful band by any measure. It's telling that the majority of his fans over the last ten years are predominantly under 35. This is no nostalgia act. When some younger journalist asks Thurston Moore about how Shields has influenced his playing, the look on Moore's face is priceless. If you are my age you'll know that Sonic Youth's Evol and Sister were one of many important early influences on Shields, not the other way around. Things were so much different in 1990, it was hard to remember until I pulled eveything together for the book.

But I don't believe Shields is satisfied. It's clear from that comment in 2004 and an interview in the New York Times in 2021 that he has more in store and wants to secure a more prominent place in the rock canon. More music is coming, not just because Shields has more to say, but he isn't as well known as he should be. There are three main reasons: the band's prioritizes complete artistic control, their complete disregard for celebrity, and their desire to only worry about pleasing themselves. These factors have made their journey for proper recognition a long one. But it couldn't have come about any other way.

He's going to seal the deal with some final albums, as he first mentioned in 2008. He is so much more than Loveless, although a large contingent of fans only know him for that album. Every bit of news about the band since 2018, whether it was his wife helping him record and learning some basic engineering during Covid, or Colm and Debbie intermittently confirming on different occasions that recording was taking place, or recording Bilinda remotely from the UK also due to Covid, music was being recorded.

Shields is in a good place. Married, financially stable with two studios and two dogs and a house outside of Dublin. But that doesn't change the fact that much like me, and many others in this world, he is not able to muster enthusiasm at any time out of thin air. As he said of the band, we're not the Beastie Boys.

He records when it feels right. Everything may be as good as it can get, but if the inspiration or good vibrations aren't there that day, he'll wait. Nevertheless, his living situation can only make it more likely that things can come together and music has been recorded. That's what I believe. We really don't know. But I believe there is a lot of music in the can, ready for release, or this tour wouldn't be happening.

When you examine how the tour dates are spread out, it only makes sense that the the empty months in 2026 will be filled in with shows and some random days, unannounced, an album will drop, and then another. Or maybe a double album one day and few EPs on others.

I propse to you - taking into account everything I've just laid out - more music and more shows are coming. I don't know this. Nobody told me anything. But that's my supposition based on everything I've learned about Shields reading everything said or written about the band over a period of years while working on my book.

Shields wants his music to connect with people and make us all feel more connected. And I was pleased with a quote by Shields about the Fender Blender that said something to the effect that while it won't make you sound like him, it will help you think about sound like him. Oh, and for good measure he added, 'disregard the booklet.' He wants people to realize their creative potential. But his creative ambitions and potential has not been met yet, despite how that Vanity Fair article ended.

He's not done. Not by a long shot.