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:

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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

Folk Devils release first new music in three decades

Folk Devils release first new music in three decades

FOLK DEVILS have returned with their first new music in 33 years. The band blazed a trail across the UK’s independent music scene of the mid-80s with their unique brand of post-punk energy, known for their acclaimed indie-chart singles ‘Hank Turns Blue’, ‘Beautiful Monster’, three John Peel sessions, plus live dates opening for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Fall, The Gun Club, Screaming Blue Messiahs and others.

The 3-track Forever EP lands on 10” (clear red vinyl) and digital on 18 September via Optic Nerve Recordings and features two new compositions, the title track ‘Forever’ and ‘My Slum Soul’, plus an incendiary new version of an old live favourite ‘Ink Runs Dry’.

Recorded at London’s famous Konk Studios in North London and mixed and co-produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Rik Simpson, the re-born Folk Devils drew inspiration for new recordings from the release of their 2016 career retrospective Beautiful Monsters (Singles & Demo Recordings 1984-86) and the excellent reactions at subsequent live shows around the UK with kindred spirits Membranes, Inca Babies, The Wolfhounds and The Cravats.

Founder members, guitarist Kris Jozajtis and bassist Mark Whiteley, reformed the group by recruiting members of a short-lived 1987 version of Folk Devils; guitarist Nick Clift and drummer John Hamilton. Together with singer Dave Hodgson they soon discovered they had created a well-oiled twin-guitar juggernaut that brimmed with the same restless, twisted blues that characterized the first and second iterations of the band from 1983-87 when they were fronted by the highly underrated and now sadly-departed singer/songwriter Ian Lowery. Hodgson, a fellow transplant from the North-East, had known Lowery in the early 80s prior to Folk Devils, when the two were in their respective post-punk bands Ski Patrol and Parting Shots.

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THE FALL BOX OF TEN #2 WITH FREE BONUS DISK – OUT 17TH APRIL 2020

THE FALL BOX OF TEN #2 WITH FREE BONUS DISK – OUT 17TH APRIL 2020

The Fall were an English post-punk band, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member.

First associated with the late 1970s punk movement, the Fall’s music has always pushed & challenged boundaries, with Mark. E. Smith at the helm on and off stage, the band has always been characterised by an abrasive, repetitive guitar-driven sound and tense bass and drum rhythms, along with Smith’s caustic lyrics, described by critic Simon Reynolds as “a kind of Northern English magic realism that mixed industrial grime with the unearthly and uncanny, voiced through a unique, one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn.”

The Fall have been called “the most prolific band of the British post-punk movement.” From 1979 to 2017, they released thirty-two studio albums. They were long associated with BBC disc jockey John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career and described them as his favourite band, famously explaining, “they are always different; they are always the same.” Earlier this year, Smith died at the age of 60, effectively putting an end to the group.

No other band in the world can touch The Fall’s magnificence and sheer volume, which are captured here in ‘Box of Ten #2’. Issued on Cog Sinister, The Fall’s official label, and following on from the “Set of Ten” released last year, this is a limited-edition set (only 500 units) of 11 discs of previously unreleased live recordings, spanning three decades. The earliest recording taken from 1984 and the most recent 2014.

Live in Cork 2012 is a bonus disc and will not be available to buy separately.

Each limited edition box set contains:-

The Fall – Live in Hanover 1984 The Fall – Live from New York Tramps 1984 The Fall – Live in Motherwell 1996 The Fall – Live in Edinburgh 2001 The Fall – Live at the Manchester MOHU 2009 The Fall – Live in Newcastle 2011 The Fall – Live in Leeds 2012 The Fall – Live in Cork 2012 The Fall – Live in Nantes 2013 The Fall – Live in Dublin 2013 The Fall – Live in Nimes 2014

Gone But Not Forgotten – Gary Holton, John Peel

Gone But Not Forgotten – Gary Holton, John Peel

Today we remember a couple of people who deserve to be remembered first up is the one and only Wayne from Auf Weidersein Pet but we know him from being the lead vocalist from Heavy Metal Kids who brought us the classics ‘Shes No Angel’ and ‘Delirious’.  Gary left us on this day in 1985 after an overdose of Morphine and Alcohol.

Gary was an accomplished actor plying his trade at the old vic as well as working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and he got minor roles in Quadrophenia and Breaking Glass but it was as Wayne and performing with the Heavy Metal Kids and his recordings with Casino Steel from the Boys that really brought Gary to prominence.  In a strange twist of fate he was considered for the role of Nasty Nick in Eastenders a role that went to John Altman who later went on to front The Heavy Metal Kids after Gary.

Holton also turned down the chance to front AC/DC after the passing of Bon Scott but turned it down. Instead, he went on to front Holton / Steel who managed three albums together.  Holton left behind a string of failed relationships but he did have a son in the mid-80s.

He lived his short life to the full and experienced all the Rock and Roll cliches of the time wine, women and drugs.  Holton managed to quit Heroin and come out the other side making some memorable records and his music has been covered by some of our favourite artists His ashes are laid to rest in the small Welsh town of Welshpool.

 

It’s easy to see why people like Angus and Malcolm were attracted to him to replace Bon because Gary oozed Rock and Roll and had the looks to match his distinctive vocal style. He was a very underrated frontman and his singing was maybe overshadowed by his acting but we won’t forget Gary Holton.  Rest In Peace sir.

Another who deserves to be mentioned today is none other than broadcaster John Peel OBE.  His story is well known and his record collection was as big as the national library.  His knowledge of alternative and underground music was vast and he was also the go-to guy for championing new bands coming through many of whom became his friends and went on to big things in the industry.

 

Born just outside Liverpool Peel is forever linked with BBC late-night Radio and punk and notably The Undertones and ‘Teenage Kicks’ Up until his sudden death Peel was the longest-serving DJ on the BBC and was something of an institution doing things his own way and given pretty much carte blanche on his show. He was a massive fan of The Fall and in the 80s you hadn’t made it until you were on a Peel Sessions record released on Strange Fruit records.  The list of bands who queued up to lay down a session for John Peel is endless.

 

He has a train named after him, a stage at Glastonbury, part of the BBC is now the Peel Wing. He also sat on set with The Faces and mimed the Mandolin whilst the band played ‘Maggie May’. John is very much missed on the radio.  Why not blast out ‘Teenage Kicks’ in his honour.  After his heart attack whilst working abroad, John was only 65 and it’s now been fifteen years since his passing.  rest in peace John and yup “Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat”. but every time we hear that one we’re reminded of you.