TIM GUNS FOR BANNED BABY COVER CRITICS - SUNDAY MAIL 3/08

SINGER Tim Booth of James has hit back at the ban on their new album, Hey Ma.

A shock image of a baby reaching for a loaded gun is featured on the sleeve.

The title track - an anti-war song inspired by the Iraq conflict - has the chorus "Hey Ma...boys in body bags coming home in pieces".

But the album has been banned from some poster sites.

Tim said: "The record company freaked out.

"The image is amazing because we are a race with nuclear weapons and the ability to destroy ourselves - yet in many ways we're the emotional and moral age of a baby.

"So a baby playing with a loaded gun seemed the perfect metaphor for the world.

"Hey Ma was written about the consequences of voting a neanderthal into The White House.

"It didn't seem so terrible until he chose to go into Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The chorus is a slap in the face because US media now ban footage of soldiers coming home in body bags as it's bad for morale."

Hey Ma, featuring the new single Whiteboy, will be out on April 7.

James play Edinburgh Corn Exchange on April 24 and Aberdeen Exhibition Centre the following night.

Tim said: "We reached a compromise of having an outer sleeve with a baby reaching for a toy gun.

"People will rip it off to reveal the real image.

"Most new movies are about guns and killing and this gets ingrained into kids at a young age.

"I'm NOT a protest writer. I'm not moaning.

"It is an uplifting song. I wrote about this because it was driving me f****** crazy."

Tim can't wait to showcase Hey Ma in Scotland.

He said: "We always have great gigs in Scotland. Audiences listen closely to what we're doing. If you don't cut it they let you know.

"Scottish crowds always bring out the best in us."