FUTURAMA FESTIVAL EASTER 2021 – A UTOPIAN FESTIVAL FOR DYSTOPIAN TIMES

FUTURAMA FESTIVAL EASTER 2021 – A UTOPIAN FESTIVAL FOR DYSTOPIAN TIMES

THE RETURN OF THE FUTURAMA FESTIVAL EASTER 2021 – A UTOPIAN FESTIVAL FOR DYSTOPIAN TIMES

THE LEGENDARY 2-DAY POST-PUNK FESTIVAL RETURNS TO LIVERPOOL APRIL 3-4, 2021

SECOND WAVE OF BANDS ANNOUNCED!

HEAVEN 17 ARE SATURDAY NIGHT HEADLINERS WHEN THEY PRESENT ‘THE FUTURAMA YEARS 1979 -1983’

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM SEE TICKETS HERE:

www.futuramafestival.com

Futurama, the legendary post-punk festival is back after 40 years and takes place at the Invisible Wind factory / Make Arts Centre and Ten Streets Social in Liverpool over two days, 3rd and 4th of April 2021.

With promising news on the horizon regarding the vaccine roll out this week, the Futurama Festival’ has announced a second wave of bands to play the influential festival in Liverpool next Easter.

Undoubtedly one of the most famous electronic & synth bands of all time, Heaven 17 had hit after hit back in the 80’s with their incredible albums ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ and ‘The Luxury Gap’. This extraordinary success means their gigs are as popular as ever and they consistently sell out shows in the UK and abroad. The original Human League split in 1980, when Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left to set up their BEF production company and recruited Glenn Gregory to help create “music of quality and distinction”. Taking their name from the disco in Clockwork Orange, Heaven 17 had immediate success with hits such as ‘At the height of the fighting’, ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ and ‘I’m your money’. ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ would become a landmark album that defined the 1980’s.

For their unique performance at the Futurama, Martyn and Glenn will perform a Heaven 17 set and will also revisit some of those classic early Human League songs. By re-imagining them and keeping the original spirit, they hope to recreate the futuristic ambience and immersive atmosphere of the early days. As Martyn says he ” loved the wider theme of dystopian science fiction that the Futurama touched upon and he always envisaged the Human League growing up in a science fiction noisescape”. Human League were scheduled to play the original Futurama in 1979 but for one reason or another, it sadly never happened.

As well as Heaven 17’s back catalogue, Martyn Ware can call on the astonishing early records of the Human League. The first Human League albums ‘Reproduction’ and ‘Travelogue’ were two of the most influential synth albums of all time. It cannot be underestimated how important the sound of young Sheffield 78 -83 became in post punk Britain with the Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and Vice Versa (Later ABC) leading the way. They were the first wave of British bands to mix machines and electronic noise. Their music reflected their environments, the urban decay and industrial decline of this period.  A bleak but beautiful soundtrack.

“Heaven 17 are really looking forward to the Futurama show, it holds so many fantastic musical memories for us both as performers and audience, states Glenn Gregory. “It’s fantastic that we have the chance to be a part of the future of Futurama”

“Brothers, sisters don’t just sit there on your ass!” Join us as we fix this historic error and go back to the Futurama with Heaven 17

Peter Hook and The Light are the Sunday night headliners and will be performing the ‘life changing’ Joy Division set from the 1979 Futurama in Leeds for the first time in 40 years. Another world first for the return of the Futurama in 2021. Peter Hook and the Light as well as the historical set will back it up with all the classics that they have delivered across the world in recent years to such acclaim. Two very special headliners for the return of the Futurama. They are joined by legendary Factory band Section 25 and the Expelaires who played the first Futurama in Leeds in 1979.

The AF Gang have confirmed their first acts for their All Is Love / Goth Kitchen stages with up-and-coming London punks Chubby And The Gang who have just signed to Partisan Records (Idles, Fontaines DC, Laura Marling) and TV Priest who have just signed to legendary American label Sub Pop. Other bands they’ve picked are Genn, The Pleasure Dome, Ditz & Frauds who the AF Gang have been championing for some time.

Planet X, Liverpool’s infamous goth and punk club have Balaam & The Angel headlining its stage with Dr Diablo & the Rodent Show, Peter Bentham & The Dinner Ladies, Feather Trade,
the Gentle Scars,  Three from Above & The Webb supporting. Also, confirmed are Girls in Synthesis, Ist Ist, Dream Nails, Liines, Gravves, Klamp, Coughin Vicars & Deh-Yey.  All in all, it’s shaping up to be one of the best line-ups of every year.

As promoter Marc Jones, says ‘fingers crossed, the timing could be perfect, we all desperately need something to look forward to after one of the hardest and most difficult years ever! 2020 has seen the festival and live gig circuit decimated by the pandemic. It could one of the first festivals post Covid restrictions and it would be a real boost to the Liverpool music scene and the independent venues involved and perhaps a real starting point for and hopefully a much better year in 2021″

New Early Bird December from SEE tickets HERE: 1st payment 7th December with subsequent payments in Jan, Feb and March 2021

There will be a last wave of bands to be announced in January when day splits and full stage line ups will be announced.

Other acts confirmed to appear include Theatre Of Hate, Warmduscher, The Chameleons, The Blinders, The Lovely Eggs, Spizz Energi, Imperial Wax, Just Mustard, Membranes, Evil Blizzard, Sink Ya Teeth, John, Heavy Lungs, We Are Not Devo, DSM IV, Bob Vylan, Billy NoMates, Witch Fever, Tokky Horror, Pozi, Crows, St Agnes, LibraLibra, Courting, Crawlers and Joe & Shitboys, with the world’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll and punk magazine Vive Le Rock and respected website Louder Than War hosting the main stages.

For more info head to: futuramafestival.com

THE RETURN OF THE FUTURAMA FESTIVAL – EASTER 2021

THE RETURN OF THE FUTURAMA FESTIVAL – EASTER 2021

  A UTOPIAN FESTIVAL FOR DYSTOPIAN TIMES

THE LEGENDARY 2-DAY POST-PUNK FESTIVAL RETURNS TO LIVERPOOL APRIL 3-4, 2021

PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT CONFIRMED TO PERFORM JOY DIVISION’S SET FROM FUTURAMA 1979!

TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM SEE TICKETS HERE:

Website

Futurama, the legendary post-punk festival is back after 40 years and takes place at the Invisible Wind factory / Make Arts Centre and Ten Streets Social in Liverpool over two days, 3rd and 4th of April 2021.

The Futuramas were a series of ground-breaking and innovative post punk and electronic music festivals in the late 70’s and early 80’s. They were the brainchild of one-man, John Keenan, a legendary Leeds promoter who has put thousands of bands on over 40 years at his famous F Club. In 1979, he decided to do a 2-day festival at the Queens Hall in Leeds and put on all of his favourite up and coming bands and curated the first alternative indoor festival in Britain. Nearly all of Britain’s most important and influential independent bands played these festivals and many of them went onto considerable success in Britain, Europe, and the US. The roll call reads like the greatest who’s who of alternative music and they include Joy Division and New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, PiL, Killing Joke, Teardrop Explodes, Bauhaus, The Fall, The Smiths, Gang of Four, Sisters of Mercy, Theatre Of Hate, The Psychedelic Furs & even a fledgling U2. The Futurama festivals caught the zeitgeist perfectly and not only put on many female fronted bands, including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Young Marble Giants, Bow Wow Wow & Altered Images, but also many of the new wave of electronic & synthesizer acts including Soft Cell, Cabaret Voltaire, OMD, Simple Minds, Clock DVA & Vice Versa who later became ABC.

The post-punk era still casts an enormous influential shadow over contemporary music, making the timing perfect for the festival to return, combining both legendary acts from the festival’s history with the absolute best in up-and-coming talent.

pic by William Ellis – www.william-ellis.com

Bringing Futurama full circle, Peter Hook & The Light are confirmed to perform Joy Division’s set from Futurama 1979 in full, promising to be an absolute thrill for fans of the iconic band.

“Futurama was one the first festival experiences I ever had,” remembers bassist Peter Hook. “John Keenan the promoter became a lifelong friend. He was one of the first legends. The gig was the first time I’d ever seen caravans used as dressing rooms indoors, but it had a great atmosphere. It really put Joy Division on the map and the groups on the bill were very well matched to the audience. There weren’t many indoor festivals prior to Futurama so it was quite ground-breaking for the genre in the north. Funnily enough it gets talked about a lot even now. John became a legend and, in many ways, so has the festival. Let’s hope we can capture that wonderful atmosphere again.”

Also linking the festival’s history are Kirk Brandon’s Theatre Of Hate who will be celebrating their 40th anniversary of playing Futurama 3 in 1981, returning in 2021.

With a headliner still to be announced, these iconic acts join a host of bands from the many different strains and spectrums of alternative music, with respected website Louder Than War hosting the main stage on one day, and the world’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll and punk magazine Vive Le Rock the other day, whilst The AF Gang (the IDLES legendary fan club) host the up and coming stage.

There are 4 stages at the Futurama.

Invisible Wind Factory Main Stage: Headline acts and supports

Substation Downstairs in IWF: Electronic, synth and experimental noise

Make Arts Centre: Some of the best new and vintage post punk bands on the circuit

Ten Street Social: The AF Gang hosts the up and coming stage plus DJ sets

Other acts confirmed to appear include Warmduscher, The Chameleons, The Blinders, The Lovely Eggs, Spizz Energi, Imperial Wax, Just Mustard, Membranes, Evil Blizzard, Sink Ya Teeth, John, Heavy Lungs, We Are Not Devo, DSM IV, Bob Vylan, Billy NoMates, Witch Fever, Tokky Horror, Pozi, Crows, St Agnes, LibraLibra, Courting, Crawlers and Joe & Shitboys, with many more to be announced.

Tickets are Early Bird £80 for the weekend from See Tickets HERE:

£20 deposit scheme and four payments scheme in place

For more info head to: futuramafestival.com

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Even a pandemic has a silver lining if you look hard enough and during this lockdown period there has been some really good Rock and Roll records released and today we’d like to bring you some that have come out recently.

first up Richard Davies & The Dissidents with their Lockdown shot ’21st Century Man’ taken from their album ‘Human Traffic’ 

 

Another new album that only got released this past weekend is the awesome Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard with their debut album ‘The Non Stop EP’.  their latest video for ‘Hollywood Actors’ is here.

Finally reviewed last week is the impressive new album from The Blinders ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath’ and here is the video for ‘Mule Track’

The Blinders – ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath’ (Modern Sky)

The Blinders – ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath’ (Modern Sky)

Here we have the second outing from The Blinders, definitely one of the brighter stars of the modern day Post Punk revival. ‘Fantasies Of The he Stay At Home Psychopath’, the follow up to the fantastic 2018 debut ‘Columbia’.

The band are often compared to contemporaries Idles and more recently Fontaines DC, though this does not do them justice. The band themselves are quite young but certainly have something to say, as a result showing the others on the scene to be almost juvenile and of their time rather than timeless.

For me, the songs on this release give off a rare quality where the listener can already envisage what they’ll be like live. First track ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ sends me somewhere mentally akin to being a teenager at a festival experiencing these songs first hand with an ultimate sensory thrill.
If track one was euphoria the next, ‘Forty Days & Forty Nights’ is a call to arms ending it’s barrage as quick as it started. As the album goes on more and more I’m hearing riffs comparable to eighties Cow Punk, differing somewhat from their first album but adding further dimensions to what was already a solid sound.
The trio offers us a brief ‘Interlude’ to catch our breaths. A laid back Cool Jazz number that wouldn’t be out of place alongside Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’. You have very limited time to dust yourself off before you’re back in the throng again with recent single ‘Mule Tracks’. This is certainly the standout song on the record, even with no apparent chorus it grabs the listener with vigor.
The second half of the record continues at this pace, never faltering the listener even for a moment. ‘Black Glass’, another remarkable single with almost ‘Heroin’ esque Velvet Underground guitars hitting you with a desolate psychedelia.
Final track ‘In this Decade’ opens as you have awoken from a surreal dream, entering a beautiful new tomorrow in the form of this early Dylan style number. It leaves you reflective of the fanatical decadence that has preceded it and wondering timidly whether you dare put yourself through it again….. but can you resist?

buy ‘Fantasies Of A  Stay At Home Psycopath’ Here

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Adding a little ray of sunshine as lockdowns are ignored across the western world how about we get lost in some great rock n roll music? This Monday we bring you one from the fantastic Low Cut Connie from their new album ‘Private Lives’ we bring the title track.

 

 

One taken off the bands forthcoming album ‘Peace’ Levellers dream up an amazing video for ‘Our New Day’ well the first interview piece is original, enjoy.

Finally a new track from The Blinders album  ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psychopath’. Out next month.  You can however, Pre-order it Here – check out ‘Mule Track’ which reminds me of classic Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, any way enjoy. Facebook

And now for something completely different.  Death By Unga Bunga.  If you don’t like these and it doesn’t put a smile on yer kisser then check for a pulse. DBUB Here

Rainy Days & Mondays

Rainy Days & Mondays

Cold, Wet & Miserable no not Randy Savages the fuckin’ weather outside your window if you happen to live on Shit Island.  Worry not rockers let the sunshine in with the latest offering from Randy Savages

Next up is the first video taken from their second album ‘Fantasies Of A Stay At Home Psycopath’ which is set for release in May The Blinders ease back with ‘Circle Song;

Finally, The mysterious HeWhoCannotBeNamed has a new video for “Good Kill” off of his most recent album “The Good, The Bad, And The Brutal”. This video is so beautiful it should be hanging in a museum.

The Blinders – Columbia (modern sky)

The Blinders – Columbia (modern sky)

Dom Daley.

Firstly don’t let the cover fool you this isn’t a foray into the woods with some Black Metal loons but a well-rounded bash over the head with a sonic assault that is varied and well above average.
Starting with the punchy ‘Gotta Get Through’ with its four to the floor before the guitars wail in and the bass tries its best to summon up the dead as the vocals just repeat the song title in a manic and panicked manner.  Its a rush of an opener and quite exciting and certainly interesting because this could go all manner of ways including tits up or straight to the top of any end of year best of list.
These Northern upstarts have indeed got divine rights and it is their divine right to shout about it and shout about they shall. This island off mainland Europe can indeed drop into a cesspit of corrupt right-wing self-serving politically self-serving scumbags and every now and again the kids need to rise up and put on their shit kickers and kick some shit and maybe that time is now. ‘L’etat Cest Moi’ nicely throws its weight into the jerking rhythm of ‘Hate Song’.  At times this power trio sounds menacing in a way that Cabbage sometimes also achieve and that modern take on noise is showcased on the epic ‘Where No Man Comes’.

If there is a theme running through this album then its of a band of brothers raging against the machine and throwing stones and musical bombs until people sit up and take notice no matter if its via the preaching purposeful march of ‘Free The Slave’ taking a left turn via the beaute dan le rue of ‘Ballad Of Winston Smith’ with its 60’s style storytelling that builds and swirls majestically to ‘Et Tu’ with its heavy hypnotic riff-a-rama before ‘Brutus’ is the sound of a stressful mind twisting and turning as it comes to grips with what is going on on the streets of our austerity ravaged towns.  It’s no shock that these boys are playing with Idles and Cabbage for what would be an extremely heavyweight line up of modern rock bands who have something to say and say it well and manage to wrap it up with some awesome musicianship.

‘Brave New World’ is a rollicking song with a spring in its step not unlike who they might be alluding to in the lyrics it’s confident and brash taking Kasabian to an extreme in some ways but actually having something to say.
The album signs off with a cold and sparse ‘Orbit (Salmon Of Alaska)’ but as you hold your breath and take in the lyrics you’ll smile that finally some bands on shit island are waking up and creating music with meaning and variety and guts.
Viva le revolution – bring it on kids lets wake up the good people of shit island and show them the way through Rock and Roll for its a broad church and all are welcome.