Spring Antifolk Festival 2007 Announced
Details of the 2007 Spring Antifolk 2 day festival at the 12 Bar Club in London.
Venue: 12 Bar Club, Denmark Street, Soho, London WC2.
Times: Doors open 6:45pm, music at 7:00pm both nights. Ends very late.
Dates: Friday 18th and Saturday 19th of May 2007.
Cost: £6 per night, or £10 for the whole weekend. Advance tickets from the 12 Bar Club (020 7240 2622).
The line up appears below. Details could change before the event..
Friday 18th May
Hosted by Vis the Spoon & Richard Tyrone Jones
7.10 Alex McConnell
7.35 Ben Anstis
8.00 Steve White
8.30 Mertle
9.00 Candythief
9.40 Spinmaster Plantpot
10.00 Milk kan
10.40 Paul Hawkins and Thee Awkward Silences
11.20 Hoovervile
12.00 Queen of Uncool
12.30 Popular Tyre
1.00 Starvation Box
Saturday 19th May
Hosted by Caroline Clifford & Holly Walsh
7.00 James Severy
7.20 Lucy Joplin
7.50 Little Things
8.30 Thee Intolerable Kidd
9.00 Albino
9.40 Fran Landesman
10.20 David Cronenberg’s Wife
11.00 Extradition Order
11.40 Shooting Marcelle
12.20 Stuart James
12.50 Vis the Spoon
1.20 Dana Immanuel
2.00 TV Personalities
Alex MacConnell
Anti-folk newbie Alex impressed Filthy Pedro so much at Filthy’s last Chalk Farm escapade (a gig, not a brothel visit), we invited him over to start the next fest.
Ben Anstis
Ben Anstis’ voice has the intensity of a machine gun and the integrity of a cathedral. You won’t need a translator working on behalf of Amnesty International to tell you that he sings in the language of the oppressed – when you hear a Ben Anstis song you’ll know. Scientists have calculated that if a soup kitchen was to provide the homeless with an amount of actual food comparable to the volume of spiritual nourishment contained in an average Ben Anstis song they’d need to serve enough soup to drown a small whale. Ben Anstis hopes that you will listen to his music responsibly.
Steve White
Steve would love to write songs about love, loss and heartache, but that’s
just lead to endless dull hours sat in front of an empty sheet of paper.
Instead he writes songs about politics, fast food, drink and drugs, Leyton Orient, fire service cuts, osteopathy, bad movies and basically anything thats
getting on his nerves.
Mertle
mertle (small m please) is scared of the big city and this the first time that without her big bad husband larry pickleman (who’d have thunk it?). Just give her a stiff drink and a packet of fags and she’ll be fine. mertle writes some of the most delicate, childlike lovely songs in antifolk’s existence, Kimya et al included. First CD ‘Bored Housewife’ is worth a pop of anyone’s money.
Candythief
Candythief consists of Diana singing and playing guitar, Jem playing drums and singing, and Malcolm playing the stand-up bass. Diana grew up bumping along pothole filled roads in south east Spanish sierra, and was raised on an aural diet of her mum’s Dolly Parton cassettes and her dad’s medieval madrigals and Mozart in the back of the car. She started out musically as a lead guitarist in various rawk bands and is now happily muddying the waters between folk, blues and variously psychadelic alt-ness. Jem grew up in London and plays the drums in a LOT of very good bands. Malcolm wears his skill on the bass lightly and is a fount of jovial good sense on most topics. He comes partly from Wales and knows about super eight film, and other esoteric things. That is all you need to know for now.
Spinmaster Plantpot
Did you see Spinmaster Plantpot on GMTV and Channel 5 on the same day? Well, late risers (most antifolk fans?) maybe missed his interview with Lorraine Kelly (this is all honestly true) but hopefully you saw him in the C5 documentary ‘Short Angry Men’. But things are looking up for SP. At just under 5 feet maybe things have to. He’s been featured in ultra-cool Plan B (Nirvana biographer and Plan B editor Everett True is a big fan) and has supported names as various as Pete Doherty, Franz Ferdinand, Wreckless Eric and Bonky Squirrel. Eric slagged him off on his website though which wasn’t cool. But it’s all just a ride for the original a-capella punk, famous for his quick fire 15 minute sets of obscenity.
Milk Kan
After major airplay in late 2005 on, amongst others, Chris Moyles Breakfast Show, with their debut single Bling Bling Baby, Milk Kan had a sniff of the music industry and decided it was not for them. But that’s no way stopped them – they’re back with a bang and a new single- ‘Here Ya Come Again & Again’- a limited edition white label 7″, featuring the legendary Dolly Parton. It’s already grabbed single of the week on the Steve Lamcq show.
Milk Kan shows have already become the stuff of legend – Scrappy Hood kicking it, Jimmy Blade on the guitar, Loz Vegas banging it out some heavy time, Nathan Bass keeping it all together – glasses of beer flying, Milk Kan mascot and best friend Medders jumping on stage, sweaty bodies dancing and a scene, generally, of mayhem. It’s been a year since their last fest appearance, so catch em now at their hottest…
Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences
Hawkins is the most unlikely of rock stars – unkempt ginger-ish beard, Santa Claus frame, an early life on the operating table, and 3 years in a monastery (ok, we made that last one up). But whatever the look, or maybe because of it, the songs stand up as some of the most compelling, unusual and imaginative being written today. Recently described as “the drunk British Tom Waits” (indiefolkforever), Paul’s songs evoke the emotional primacy of Nick Cave, the imaginative storytelling of Jonathan Richman and the wit of Jarvis Cocker to produce dark fantastical narratives on subjects ranging from teenage boys who throw themselves into nuclear reactors in the hope of gaining superpowers to lonely outsiders who don medical coats and operate on unsuspecting bystanders. His new single ‘The Evil Thoughts’ got recently played on Huw. Stephen’s Radio 1 show and is out soon folks! “Ace antifolk superstar” (Time Out)
Hooverville
Joey Herzfeld started writing songs when he was about twelve, mostly Monster Mash style novelty stuff about werewolves, voodoo dolls, satanically possessed hotrods and the like. He’s written hundreds of the things but the early novelty material is consigned to the vaults. Now that he’s in his embittered dotage, Joey scowls to think of such youthful follies – his latterday subject matter is the stuff of life – disappointment, repetition, dementia and futility. Still prolific, he daily vomits up torrents of cynicism to gratify an undeserving public.
This incarnation of Hooverville has been gigging for a couple years now, playing rock venues and retro cabaret clubs. Tight yet loose, rocking yet understated, eclectic yet distinctive – the band inspires envy and resentment in all who witness its power. Apt chords and lyrical insights are delivered with a dangerous, sometimes fatal precision. Of course stretchers and paramedics are on hand but still many punters attend gigs unaware of the risks.
Queen of Uncool
The Queen of Uncool resides in darkness, the queen of uncool bathes in light when she can… but all is pure.
Popular Tyre
Antifolk debut for country-electronica-folk rock band. ‘Jammy donuts around my ballsac’. Sounds like Nathan Barley’s band.
Starvation Box
It just wouldn’t be right to have Soraya Allen’s grunge punk band on any earlier than midnight. Perfect simplicity (just vox, guitar, drums), terrifyingly good songs and a Daniel Johnston cover thrown in and reimagined for good measure. You have to stay around for this one. There’s nothing to get up in the morning for.
Sat 19 May
Spring Antifolk Fest Day 2
Hosted by Caroline Clifford & Holly Walsh
Vis the Spoon
Vis is THE man on all things do-it-yourself front. Host of the best open mic in town (spoonful of poison every Monday night at the Rhythm Factory), frontman of punk band Electricity Comes From Other Planets, performance poet and all-round good guy, it has taken Vis a while to get round to actually perform at the big small ol’ world of antifolk. This is put right with a double dose of Vis – he’ll be hosting Friday and doing some of his poetry to kick off Saturday.
Lucy Joplin
Rock-chick with rock-kicks makes a welcome return to the fest with her songs about success, failure, and those aged 27…
Shooting Marcelle
Formerly known as Belt Motel, Shooting Marcelle is solo musician Karl Brummer, who takes many influences from “Blues” to “Jazz” to various forms of “Folk” music through out the world, and combines them with inspiration from many authors and poets to make music, sometimes with the help of some other musicians.
Kev 2 Sheds
Hello,myname is Kev,and I’m 40 something. I write ever so quirky love songs and I play my guitar, and I grow vegetables. I’ve got a song about courgettes and I’ve got a song about a launderette But nobody seems to notice me. They’ re all too busy writing their own quirky love songs and uploading themselves onto You Tube. But I’m gonna tell you about the highlight of my rock n roll career.I saw Hugh Cornwell in his underpants, At the wasted punk festival in Blackpool. And I once did a gig with Billy Bragg, one December and I went ALL the way to Cambridge on my own. And I found out that life at the top was very lonely. Just an empty room, a fridge, some Red Stripe and my mobile phone. I thought that I was on the up. But a look in Billy’s eye said, ‘Why not just give up? Go back to your gooseberry bushes and your mange tout peas. And sit in your shed with your memories’ AND I’VE GOT MEMORIES ! Yes,I saw Hugh Cornwell in his underpants, at the wasted punk festival in Blackpool.through a key hole.
Albino
When two young boys who were living on the roof of a factory learned that the greatest accordionist of all time, Les Patrick, had gone to be with Jesus, they cut off their limbs and blocked off their olfactory canals in an expression of irrepressible grief. Rescued by a homeopathic masseur, they were restored to health and given prosthetic stumps with which they picked up musical instruments. After a decade hey realised sounds could be made from the instruments and they began to perform power ballads and uplifting Christian military band music. Little by little, they are turning into puce birds. Recently described by Blang! (_www.blang.co.uk_ http://www.blang.co.uk) ) as: Their new album Bleeding Heart Yard is awash with grand sweeping melodies and vocals which bring to mind West Coast Elektra stuff like Tim Buckley and The Doors. As well as a quirky humour theirs an unfashionable ambition here to write something timeless and soulful.
Fran Landesman
Fran Landesman is still the poet laureate of lovers and losers: her songs are the secret diaries of the desperate and the decadent. No one can convey the bitter-sweet joys of melancholy or the exhilaration of living on the edge like Fran. The jazz world’s answer to Dorothy Parker, New York born lyricist Fran Landesman’s acid wit and penetrating insights first emerged in her 1950s collaborations with composer Tommy Wolf. Songs such as “Spring Can Hang You Up The Most” and “The Ballad Of The Sad Young Men” were picked up by Jackie and Roy and soon became standards boasting recordings by the likes of Ella
Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand and Sarah Vaughn. Nearly half a century later Fran’s lyrics are sharper and more perceptive than ever. She now lives in London and for the past 9 years has been writing superbly crafted songs with the eclectic, Welsh born, world travelled composer Simon Wallace. Music and lyrics work together to create a tough, witty, ironic expression of contemporary love and life in songs that caress the heart and remain in the head long after the music is over.
David Cronenberg’s Wife
Antifolk mainstays (excuse the pun) DCW release their first single in July (I Couldn’t Get Off/My Date With Jenna Bush) and will be going on a little hiatus after this fest, so make sure you don’t miss their last performance for a while. But a new raft of songs is promised, and maybe a new band member…
“[David Cronenberg’s Wife’s] songs are as dark and twisted as the name suggests.” (London Metro)
“The best undiscovered band in the country. Tom Mayne is a stunning lyricist who peels back the skin of humanity to reveal it’s pustulating bleeding sores while leaving piss stains on your trousers with his sardonic wit. The observational skills of a novelist. The lo-fi 2 chord soul of rock ‘n’roll.” (Sgt Buzfuz)
Extradition Order
So good on the graveyard shift last time, we invited them back at a more godly hour. We even promise to spell their name right this time. In their words: ‘We would like to be precisely incoherent. Somewhere in-between the NY Doll’s Trash and Fred McDowell’s Shake ’em on down. God knows it aint gonna happen. We are a Luddite lot. And we place our records in public libraries. Perhaps that is how you know of us.’ Fantastic manic, bitten by a rabid dog songs, played on simple Mo drums and with a gas canister guitar. We all want one.
Little Things
First fest appearance for the Little Things. Little Things are a band of four. One is a girl, and three are boys. Three Songs for Everyone is their first e.p. Their second e.p was called Swallows and Little Things.
“Each time I play these songs, I hear something new. Each time, I’m struck by the brilliant arrangements and the fantastic harmonies made by two very different voices singing on the same song. I just love it, – especially the sticky line “It’s too hot in the summer to write dancing songs, so I wrote a little song that we could all sing a-lalalala-along to” Very, very good stuff. “Lullaby” is one of the most beautiful modern good night-songs I’ve heard in a very long time.” – Knut B. Lindbjør/ Eardrums music
Stuart James
Stuart is, in his own words, aiming to be the least famous musician to have recorded the most BBC Maida Vale sessions ever – he’s done two now, and still he doesn’t get recognised in Tesco. His rapid fire urban poetry is reminiscent of Mike Skinner but the verse is more spiritual, less lost in beer, skittles and weed. He’ll be on for 30 minutes, is likely to get through at least 12 songs.
James Severy
See Alex McConnell’s description. It was a successful recruitment night.
Dana Immanuel
Antifolk regular closes the show with more Ani DiFrance/Dolly Parton-esque songs played on banjo and guitar. You may have seen her busking for the last 3 years around London. She’s got more 2 pees now than the treasury. See how now without having to rush for that rare Northern line Mill Hill East branch.
TV Personalities
Punk legends are a last min add on to the bill. 2am, the last act!
About the Author
Filthy Pedro is an Antifolk musician and founder of the British Antifolk movement. Some say he is over 10,000 years old and sees Antifolk as the evolution of folk music. Others say he is actually originally from Anglesey and first got into Antifolk when he realised the type of music he liked and made had a name.
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