Here come The Phugs!

• 18th May 2004

It’s that time again, Glasswerk London is back in Highbury on Thursday for another quality line-up. XFM band of the week… tour support for Snow Patrol… and neither of those are even headlining!

Should be a great warm evening so don those summer togs and amble on down to Highbury and Islington, have a couple of pints, and enjoy some quality bands

Thursday May 20th
Upstairs at the Highbury garage (opp. Highbury and Islington station)
The Phugs, The Ghears, Kandinski, Enter Shikari

A preview of all the bands is below but in the meantime have a look at the site:
link

There’s a review of the last Glasswerk gig with the awesome Audio Einstein, live reviews of Haven and Dogs Die in Hot Cars as they hit the big smoke, the new Gomez album, The Icarus Line, and of course numerous local bands including Accelerator, Perico, Patio Sounds and Hed:Strong

But it’s too nice a day to listen to my drivel so here’s the band promo for Thursday. Be great to see you all down there

The Phugs (22.15)
Our headliners tonight are pretty difficult to describe. Very different than any other band at this years Punk Aid festival, where they supported the likes of The Damned and Marky Ramone but if you think punk, folk, pop, rock & roll..they’ll all be somewhere in there.

Powerful protest anthems, along with the mature thought-provoking and the funky & ironic, they show a variety and deftness to their songwriting that can only catch your attention. One to catch, one to watch…

The Ghears (21.35)
It is great pleasure that Glasswerk host The Ghears tonight. One of the most respected bands on the circuit, The Ghears closed 2003 on tour with Snow Patrol, and have also toured with The Reindeer Section and Fightstar. Their album was mixed by Rafe McKenna (Ash, Madnesss etc…) and was co-produced with Iain Archer (Reindeer Section/ex-Snow Patrol)

The Ghears new album is called “Until You Feel What We Mean”. After recieving the album, Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol lead singer said…”Truely awesome”

The following link leads to a BBC review and interview of the band:
link

Kandinski (20.55)

Kandinski have enjoyed a remarkable start to the year, culminating in them being named band of the week on XFM just a couple of weeks ago. Drowned in Sound’s review of tem probably sums them up better than anything else…

“While everyone else has been busy obsessing over all things 1980s, London boys Kandinski are gooey-eyed over an entirely different era. The answer to exactly which period that may be, though, seems to shift from minute to minute. With irresistible chamber-pop choruses and baritone vocals that recall The Divine Comedy, you’d initially have them pegged as ‘60s throwbacks. But mesh that together with a dab of Specials-brew ska and a guitarist whose Angus Young shapes and sheer technicality would put The Datsuns to shame, and you end up with quite the killer cocktail.

While I’d be the first to point out that musicianship is anything but a guarantee of great songs, the dreamy ‘Fubar’ and particularly the excellent ‘Bullet 65’ are ample proof that this band has hidden depths.

If Kandinski can focus on what they do best – creating sublime melodies that are at once achingly familiar and just a tad unpredictable – they’ll have the foundations of something very special indeed.”

Enter Shikari (20.15)

Enter Shikari are one of those progressive-melodic-emo-beatdown types that have been working hard on the Mid-Herts scene gaining London shows under their belt. They play exciting, aggressive, passionate and intricate rock with eerie and atmospheric electronics.

“This band is simply amazing and no doubt you will be seeing a lot more of them in the near future. See these guys before they get too big (Ska Punk and Hardcore) “If there’s any justice in the world they’ll get signed” (St Albans Observer)