If you were wondering about the absence of the ever awesome HKGC nights in Southsea, well after a brief spot of down time they are back. On Saturday 20th March at The Loft HKGC present a night of SUB POP covers from some of Portsmouth’s best bands in aid of charity. The acts confirmed to appear include:
YOU’RE SMILING NOW BUT WE’LL ALL TURN IN TO DEMONS
THE B OF THE BANG
BIG SQUIRREL
CHARLI REMY LEBEAU
MATTHEW CLARKE
The acts will be playing covers from the massive back catalogue of Sub Pop Records, including music by Nirvana, The Shins, Mudhoney, L7, Death Cab for Cutie and many many more. If you’re not familiar with Sub Pop you can check out the artist roster here. There will also be a Sub Pop themed raffle with loads of Sub Pop related prizes, only a pound to enter.
The event will be helping to raise money for Keef Hick’s London to Paris bike ride later this year. You can find out more details here.
Check the Facebook event for full details. Tickets only £3.
Good friends of Strong Island The Hong Kong Gardeners Club are throwing their Christamas Bash tonight (Tuesday 8th December). Some amazing acts, all with a Christmas theme, and it’s **FREE** entry. All they ask is that you dip your hands in your pockets and donate some pennies to charity. They also will have some lovely special surprise guests and some exclusive versions of some Christmas favourites.
The HKGC will be cramming the 8 piece band Revere from London in to the Edge of the Wedge to bring you some of their epic melancholy.
“But the day’s real revelations lurked on the smaller stages, notably the eight-piece orchestral rockers Revere, who combine the fiery melodrama of Muse with the rousing chamber-pop of Arcade Fire. They could, and should, be huge” The Times
“Eight piece Revere are physically and musically too big for such a tiny stage as Southsea Fest. The band bring military jackets, waistcoats, strings and a big big sound that comes from the same musical space as bands like Broken Records and Arcade Fire. Their songs sweep and soar gloriously high, powerfully evocative and beautiful. With due respect to all of the bands that have come before them, Revere stand that much taller, that much stronger and bring the most illustrious sounds we hear all day.”
Breaking More Waves review of Southsea Fest
Ribbon
Wedgewood Rooms Showcase 2009 winners and amazing songsmiths, Ribbon will be providing us with some gorgeous melodies to keep you warm on an Autumn evening.
Caz Batten
Portsmouth singer-songwriter Caz Batten brings her country tinged acoustic melodies to join in the HKGC party.
Also on 8th December we will be holding our HKGC Christmas party at Little Johnny Russells. More details on that to follow shortly…
Abbie and Sarah
The Hong Kong Gardeners
The Hong Kong Gardeners Club are hosting Portsmouth’s own You’re Smiling Now but we’ll all Turn Into Demons‘ album launch as part of their Thursday residency at the Fat Fox. As well as the band playing the evening will also feature the following:
Elapse-O
‘Oxford’s Elapse-O tap into a world before language. Elapse-O live is like a time-warp back to your childhood, back when you were attempting to make sense of all the sonic clutter around you, except that there is nothing immature about this band. It’s exhilarating – big bright lights exciting.’ – Drowned In Sound
Invasion
Two girls and a guy, Invasion are metal, but not as we know it. “Invasion are pretty much the most exciting thing happening in UK metal right now” NME
Some of the band members will also be DJing during the evening too. More details over at the Facebook event.
P.S. Just want to say that the poster artwork by Chaos vs Cosmos is incredible. Not often you see poster/flyer artwork you want to keep and frame.
Hong Kong Gardeners Club’s Thursday residency at The Fat Fox tomorrow features The Deads plus Chris Perrin & the Minor Falls and Mr Tom Dangerous playing a solo blues set.
The Deads
“After a brief hiatus and flirting with other bands Clym and the boys have returned by popular demand, they are certainly one of the best live bands in Portsmouth and should not be missed!”
Chris Perrin & the Minor Falls
“Neil Young meets Sting at Ryan Adams’s house party! BIG melodies, intimate deliveries, insatiable musical hooks, and a glaze of honesty – captivating!”
“Chris Perrin has long been a man with obvious potential. From his early days fronting post-grunge rockers Thirst, to solo performances, before returning to the rock sound he had perfected with the excellent Zuma, he consistently showed an ability to rise above the standard indie-rock flock”
All for a modest £3 in advance from the bands or The Fat Fox. For more information see the Facebook event.
Continuing the Hong Kong Gardeners Club residency at the Fat Fox on Thursday will be the following:
Let’s Wrestle
We are really lucky to have the ever so lovely artrockfolkindiepopsters Let’s Wrestle coming to play for us as part of their UK tour, hot on the heels of their Radio One live lounge performance.
Let’s Wrestle met years ago and bonded over Meat and Records after a while a band was formed and soon the world shall be conquered. Other things Let’s Wrestle like include Beer, Paul McCartney, Model Villages, Top Gear and Volvos Let’s Wrestle have influences as vast as Black Flag to Buddy Holly or Faust to Edith Piaf, But are ultimatly trying to be as raw as possible and they try to write songs that make your soul crumble aswell as making you smile, sing along and clap your hands
“Mark E Smith, Thurston Moore and Eddie Argos all bundled inside an awkward kid in sunglasses,which is basically fucking amazing” NME
Ono Palindromes
Post-punk art-rockers from Exeter. They played for us once before and we all had such a jolly good time they are coming back again!
“Sounding like the love-child of Arcade Fire, The Pixies and Art Brut, Ono Palindromes deliver a slice of fun, literature filled pop with a twist. It won’t be long until you hear a lot from the media about this band.” – The Mag
Clayton Strange
Four piece from Portsmouth whose sound takes in such diverse acts as Bloc Party, Idlewild and Foals.
Plus HKGC DJs Abbie and Keef
All for £4! (£5 on the door). Buy tickets online or over the bar at The Fat Fox.
Once again, HKGC presents live music in The Fat Fox this Thursday night. This week they provide some lullabies and sea shanties from some stunning musicians. This event will have tables and chairs so you can properly appreciate the musicianship.
Wise Children
Wise Children is Charlie Richards, Jamie Wilson and Robin Warren-Adamson. They are currently unsigned, but if we branched out into recording music, this would be the act that made us do it. Heart-breakingly beautiful music played by true musicians, with lyrics that would make the best poets jealous. The live line up varies from just Robin and his guitar to a much bigger sound with drums, cello and more…
“Astonishingly beautiful” – Phil Jackson (BBC South:Live)
“Really excellent stuff” – Huw Stephens (Radio 1)
“Fresh, engaging and beautiful… Poetically articulate lyrics …Wise Children have everything they need to achieve very big things” – Dave Jones (SouthScene)
Hometown Show
Southsea-ites Hometown Show produce a take on bluegrass which is reminiscent of the best camp fire singalongs, singing songs about late nights drinking whiskey, women, touring, running out of petrol and playing in bars, basements and backgardens…
Alex Denham
Alex Denham is a musician/songwriter, living in Southsea. He writes and plays dynamic, original acoustic songs in the vein of artists such as Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens and Damien Rice.
Tom Fossum
Keef from The Dawn Chorus solo side project, He will be joined onstage by Wit from The B of the Bang
Plus Champ of the Day will be playing an acoustic set. That is five acts for £3!
This week’s Thursday Hong Kong Gardeners Club’s Fat Fox evening will feature the inimitable Mr Joe Black bringing the Birdeatsbaby crew along with him for a night of theatrics and insanity.
Joe Black
Arch Vaudevillian man of many talents, expect a suitably theatrical and bonkers performance from our very own Mr Joe Black.
Birdeatsbaby
Not too long ago, before disillusion had taken over, shy and troubled musician, Mishkin Mullaly met shy and troubled artist, Philippa Bloomfield, in the seedy remains of Brighton’s alternative music scene. After several failed attempts to create something with guitars, the two girls accepted that their music would never quite be ‘punk-rock’, and added a violinist in the form of Keely McDonald. The Irish fiddle player, who had wandered far from her roots, suddenly found herself deep in conversation with the band’s lead singer on a shared bus route one day. And so it had begun…
After realizing their potential to form a band like no other, they coined the name Birdeatsbaby – a frightening and unforgettable title to match the songs which were quickly unravelling before their eyes and ears. After an awkward and rather timid first performance, the addition of Garry Mitchell (bass), and Ella Stirmey (Cello), completed the sound and image of this unusual, and somewhat unassuming band
PLUS Downing Street Years and DJing from Mr Joe Black himself. £3 on the door which open at 8pm. Check the Facebook event for more details.
Another last minute heads up, as mentioned previously, The Hong Kong Gardeners Club have a residency at the Fat Fox in Albert Road and tonight they will be hosting I Remember Tapes and Our Lost Infantry (both playing live) plus plus DJ skillz from The Strange Death of Liberal England DJing all night. Only £3 entry, can’t be bad. For more information on the evening and the bands check out Facebook.
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