Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have spoken to NME about the new reissue of their classic 1999 comeback album ‘No Exit’, and how the future of the band could look following the death of Clem Burke.
Released tomorrow (Friday October 31), the remastered and expanded Deluxe Edition of ‘No Exit’ celebrates album that marked their return after a 17-year hiatus and contained the chart-topping hit ‘Maria’. It will be shared on vinyl for the first time, and arrives alongside remixes, updated artwork from Rob Roth, new liner notes, and ‘Hot Shot’ – a track previously released only in Japan.
“It’s been an idea that’s been hatching for a while, but it’s only just come to fruition now,” iconic frontwoman Debbie Harry told NME. “It took a while putting it all together and getting the remixes.”
“It was coming up to the 25th anniversary, so I guess it marks the halfway point of our 50 year career,” guitarist Chris Stein added. “Plus there’s a lot of cool material on it that went under the radar. ‘Maria’ took up the spotlight for that album and period, but there was a lot of other really cool stuff on there too.”
The 2025 edition of ‘No Exit’ was completed before the passing of founding member Clem Burke. The drummer, who was recruited by Harry and Stein shortly after they formed in 1975, died in April following a battle with cancer. He was aged 70.
Check out our full interview with Blondie below, where Harry and Stein tell us about putting together one of the most celebrated comebacks of all time for ‘No Exit’, as well as the artists inspiring them in 2025, advice for emerging talent, new material on the way, and how the band will return to the stage without Burke.
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NME: Hi Debbie and Chris. ‘No Exit’ marked a huge new chapter for Blondie as it was both a comeback album and a record that reflected the sound of the ‘90s at the turn of the decade. How did you seek to capture that vibe?
Chris Stein: “Well, we’re always caught up in the momentum, so I don’t know if we were thinking about making a capsule vision of that period. We were just doing it to get the band back on track because, when we got the band back together then, we didn’t have the kind of elder statesman status that we have now. We are in a different public light at this moment to how we were then, so that may be reflected in there.”
Whatever it was, it paid off. ‘Maria’ became a global hit and the album introduced you to a new generation of fans. What was the secret was to having such a successful comeback?
Stein: “It was because we came back with viable material. That song ‘Maria’ was hugely successful, so that underpinned the whole thing. It was very gratifying.”
Any words of advice for Oasis who are now back on the comeback trail themselves, playing their first shows in 16 years?
Debbie Harry: “[Laughs], I personally don’t think they need any advice! They have such a large exposure and they’re much more recent. I guess I would say maybe having somebody who’s like a mediator involved. That could help them a lot along the way.”
Stein: “ They have a tremendous fandom and it’s generational. I think if the Talking Heads ever got back together, it would be almost equal to the Oasis phenomena we’re seeing now.”
Debbie, you said recently that you can’t imagine going back on stage as Blondie. Is that still the case?
Harry: “Well it was Chris, Clem and myself who were the only original members doing live shows. We just lost Clem, and Chris isn’t playing anymore… but maybe that could change.
“Essentially, I don’t know. I’ve never liked it when there was just one original member performing and everybody else there is a stand-in. [That said,] the guys I’ve been working with until this last tour are terrific. I’ve been working with them for at least five years in most cases, and it’s been a privilege to work with [Sex Pistols’] Glen Matlock, but I just feel like they deserve more of the identity somehow.
“Maybe if I were to rename whatever version it is using Blondie as an umbrella term… like ‘Blondie Presents’ I’d be tempted. But, I just don’t feel comfortable marching out on stage without my original guys and calling it Blondie. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
There is an album of new material on the way that you wrote with Clem. What can we expect from that and when?
Stein: “ We thought it was going to arrive at the end of this year, in the last quarter, but now it’s moved to next year. I think it’ll maybe be in the first or second quarter of next year. But the sound? I like it.”
Harry: “[Laughs] You like it? I like it too! I think that it’s a traditional Blondie composite of sounds and styles of music. That’s a format we’ve stuck with from the get-go. Over the years we’ve gotten better and better at it, and we’ve also taken a few outside tracks from outside artists. We have a track from Johnny Marr, and we have one from Glen [Matlock] too. Chris did a lot of writing for this one, and I did a lot of lyrics.”
Stein: “The lyrics are terrific. It’s very, it’s great, sophisticated, mature, and also accessible.”
Clem is all over this forthcoming album. Does it feel like this could be the end of Blondie after this album comes out?
Stein: “Clem was OK when we did this new record. His situation was very sudden and very fast. It shocked everybody… so It’s hard to say. I don’t know. I’ve been dealing with health bullshit, so I don’t know if I’ll get back to making music… hopefully at some point I’ll get back at it.”
Harry: “When it comes to another Blondie album [after this upcoming LP], I think it’s probably the same thing that I said about doing shows, maybe it would be ‘Blondie Presents’ or something like that. I haven’t really ironed it out yet…”
Who has been inspiring you at the moment?
Stein: “I like a lot of modern pop music right now. I really like Doja Cat, and ‘Espresso’ by Sabrina Carpenter I’ve been playing to death. I get caught up in all that stuff, but then I also listen to more weird, obscure stuff. There’s Napalm Death and Slipknot, and Amyl And The Sniffers who are some of my favourites. It’s pretty broad, the stuff I’m listening to.”
Harry: “I still really like listening to rock. I’m not listening to pop music so much these days, although I have to say that there is a lot of really incredible stuff around. But for me, there’s something I like about the roughness of rock. Pop stuff is clean and clear and perfect, but I like the animal version of rock n’ roll. I think my appetite for that was always cured by being on stage and doing live shows because it’s rougher.”
Debbie, you got people talking recently by naming Florence Pugh as the actor you’d like to see portray you in a biopic. Have you thought about who could play the rest of the band?
Harry: “ No, not really. And I sort of regret having mentioned Florence because, I think that she’s wonderful, but I think it was premature to have said it because people have now latched onto it.”
If there were to be a biopic, is there anything filmmakers could shed light on that people might not know about the band?
Harry: “ I feel like we’ve been very exposed, but I think if our backstories were put on film and done in a very realistic way, that could be interesting. Back then we were just kicking around and wanted to be in a band because that was everybody’s dream. It was all just a matter of getting exposure. We got away with doing a lot of things that nobody was ever gonna see except the 25 or 30 people that came to see us at a club.
“There are staggering numbers at play [for new artists] now and the potential of reaching millions of people immediately. That doesn’t allow for that homogenous growth, or time to let things mould together and develop naturally. Now you can make three songs on a computer and reach a million people instantly… but there’s something great that comes with fermentation… as we can see with good glass of wine.”
Did having that time to ‘ferment’ and build a local scene help Blondie find their sound?
Harry: “Yeah, and it was about not being sculpted or made into something that somebody thinks is marketable. I’ve said in the past that the idea of doing something that’s wrong and repulsive is probably the best idea you can ever have. It’s about finding and building on that – not thinking of fitting into a format or a genre. I think that comes from strength of character or eccentricity.”
Could a band like Blondie make it today?
Stein: “Well, when Blondie started, we were referencing all this different material, and putting together all these components that hadn’t previously been put together. That for us was a new approach. Everything’s together more now, and while there are some paths of creative juxtaposition that maybe didn’t happen before, it [feels like] everything’s so fucking self-referential now.
“I don’t know how people are gonna go out on their own and start doing something completely different like we did. There are no bands that sound like Suicide now, for example.”
What advice would you share with new artists?
Harry: “ I think that persistence is very valuable, and you have to hold onto your instincts. I still feel privileged to have music be such a big part of my life. I truly never expected that. I was just a wannabe, but I just kept plugging along.
“Fortunately for me, my partner Chris Stein, he made life fun. And although sometimes it was hard and horrible, for the most part we worked our way through it. Kudos to Clem Burke too, because we met him at a time when we were at a really low point, yet he sparked us.”
Stein: “ My advice is that you have to listen. We knew a lot of the music that came before us. We had been immersed in all this pre-history, and that made us [find our sound]. I think anybody who’s just listening to the Top 40 now and basing what they’re doing on that is missing the boat.
“You have to maintain a sense of humour too. I think once you start getting too serious about stuff that’s, that’s when it becomes self-defeating.”
The Deluxe Edition reissue of ‘No Exit’ is on Friday October 31 via BMG. Pre-order it here.
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