In support of the infamous Alan McGee’s Musicians Against Homelessness, a bunch of Swindon’s musicians are doing their bit for this most worthy of causes with a gig at The Victoria on 22nd September. Haiku wielding, zen-drummer and all round good egg Brendan Hamley has gathered a wonderful collection of musical tricksters and mercurial creative for quite possibly the line up of the year. Even if this wasn’t for such a great cause it would still be something you really need to get to, just for the sake of your own musical education.
Trip Dress
An occasional music gathering, a local supergroup, an underground wonder, a puzzling roots collective…Trip Dress are all of these things and more.
Between them they’ve shared stages and studios with the likes of XTC, Shriekback, Robert Fripp, Iggy Pop, Andy Partridge, Jen Olive, Future Sound of London, Meat Beat Manifesto, Dennis Bovell, Dr John and more.
Together they create dense, improvised and intense interpretations of the blues and primal roots music that grabs you in places you didn’t know you had. Mix this with a tendency towards the angular and avant garde and you get a devilishly compelling combination like nothing you’ve heard or seen before.
Diagonal People
One of the most interesting young collectives to have emerged on the local scene for a long time. Diagonal People are a fascinating bunch of multi-discipline creative, sometimes filmmakers, sometimes writers, on this occasion musicians. In a previous era they would be gathered in a 60’s Greenwich Village coffee house or a 70’s Ladbroke Grove squat, the fact that we find them in 21st century Swindon is just another unpredictable part of the story.
Musically they are also wonderfully multi-genre in their tastes, soul infused rhythms carry skewed indie vibes, squiggly electronica and a pained garage rock vocal that vies with sweet pop choruses for ownership of the song.
Kid Calico and The Astral Ponies
I will just refer you to what we said about this wonderful band last time they popped up on the radar…
“… theirs is a world where the important issues are biscuits, hats, choice of paisley shirt, the occasional smoking jacket and a sort of corner of the allotment, pastoral, Zen tranquility. It is also one of crazy, fun and creative music. At its heart is Dave Corrigan’s lilting folky-Americana songs of travel, quiet contemplation and simple pleasures then the band around him take the music down a line that links old time music hall with 60’s psychedelia, New World country-rock with Old World folk and late night jazz bar sounds with incendiary blues. As their badges proclaim it’s “Ace to Be Astral,” We never doubted it for a moment.”
Bobby The Persuader
Heading into his 20th year as a vinyl spinning, festival favourite and local living legend, Bobby’s skills lie not in anything as showy as this modern fad for mixing songs together, scratching tunes or other such gimmicks but with the sheer precision and taste with which he picks his playlist. It’s both as simple and as complicated as that.
