After detonating its new studio album, "Exterminator," during a recent European tour, Primal Scream is now setting its sights on North America, where the band will launch its first headlining tour in almost eight years on May 26 in Washington, D.C.

Primal Scream issued "Exterminator," its much-anticipated follow-up to 1997's "Vanishing Point," in the U.S. earlier this month, and the group is currently pushing the single and video for "Kill All Hippies," the lead track off the record.

For the upcoming North American shows, Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie and bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield told MTV News that they plan to keep true to the postmodern, overtly political nature of "Exterminator," and even confessed to having a live agenda of sorts.

"We want to come here and smash it down," Mani said.

"Exhibit B is to sow seeds of f***in' insurrection into people's minds," he continued, "and try to get them politicized and get rid of the apathy thing. I think if we've done that, then we've done a good job."

"We want to resensify people," Gillespie added, "because people are numb." [RealVideo]

Part of that resensitivity has come with the help of former My Bloody Valentine guitarist Kevin Shields, who mixed and played on several "Exterminator" tracks. Shields even recently abandoned his self-imposed exile from the road to join Primal Scream for its European tour, and he will bolster the band's lineup again for the North American shows.

"Shields is a longtime friend of ours," Gillespie said, "from back in '87, '88, '89. He was a labelmate when My Bloody Valentine were on Creation [Records]. They were our friends, and we loved their music, and they were into ours. So we just asked him to come up to the studio a couple of years ago and play some guitar and just jam. So he came up and he played, and it was great."

"[For 'Exterminator'] we asked him to mix a track called 'If They Move Kill 'Em,' and he did this fantastic remix... which is now on the album. It's called 'MBV Arkestra.' After that, we said, 'Do you want to come out and play some guitar live?' And he was like, 'Yeah, okay.'

"It started off with three or four songs, then five songs, then it's like for the whole set. So it's great. We have a guitar army. But it is great to play with Kevin. He's incredible." [RealVideo]

Dates you can catch Primal Scream on its upcoming tour:

  • 5/26 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
  • 5/27 - Boston, MA @ WBCN Radio Festival
  • 5/28 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
  • 5/30 - Toronto, ON @ Guvernment
  • 5/31 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall
  • 6/1 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
  • 6/3 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Live
  • 6/4 - Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
  • 6/6 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
  • 6/8 - Los Angeles, CA @ House Of Blues
  • 6/10 - San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore