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Huge run of 2021 live dates on sale now
The Lounge Society‘s debut EP Silk For The Starving is out now on Speedy Wunderground. With a run of BBC 6 Music-playlisted singles under their belts – including most recent single “Cain’s Heresy” – the band also have a packed live schedule of UK headline tour dates to come, including support slots with The Cribs and The Orielles.
The Lounge Society – who met at their local high school in nearby Mytholmroyd (otherwise famous as the birth-place of poet Ted Hughes) – explore a raucous sound. It’s a sound shot through with the adrenalized and undeniable youthful surges that informed both proto- and post-punk, with The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Fat White Family cited as shared influences. On their debut EP Silk For The Starving there’s a rawness which belies a self-assured songwriting slickness that is almost alarming for four teenagers.
In tracks such as “Cain’s Heresy” and their pulsing, paranoid reverb-laden debut single “Generation Game” (released as a limited edition seven-inch on Speedy Wunderground in March 2020) there’s a sense of the anthemic too. The latter track, with its “What will the US do?” tag-line was bursting with so many ideas it was split over two sides of the same piece of vinyl. One reviewer remarked on it being a collision of Beta Band ambition, Fat Whites rabble-rousing and early Roxy Music sheen.
“Burn The Heather” struts with brittle A Certain Ratio/Tom Tom Club-style funk and takes its title from the annual local ritual burning of the moor-top heather by the rich rural landowners for their lucrative grouse-shoots (and which those down in the valley blame on causing frequent flooding), while also recycling a line from a Lawrence Ferlinghetti poem. “Our lyrics are a call-to-arms for people who share our dismay at the dismal future being carved out for people like us,” the band explain. “We want each line to be a brick through the window of just the right people.”
The complex spikey prog-punk arrangements of “Television” meanwhile, most recall the band for which the song is named, but with the type of ragged groove that Happy Mondays might have stuck on for hours in their early garage days. This is music that follows a strong north-west lineage whose roots reach deep into Manchester’s past, yet without ever once resorting to nostalgia. It’s future-facing. Elsewhere there’s plenty of sardonic sloganeering akin to Mark E. Smith were he lost in the rolling news of Twitter feeds that tell of corrupt presidents, useless Prime Ministers, race hate, rising debt, online trolls, empty celebrity culture, poisonous ideals and the general sense that the Western world is in a tailspin freefall towards complete disintegration.
Make no mistake, this is the sound of young England: articulate, enraged and energised. And – perhaps crucially – highly danceable too. It should give hope to anyone who has lost faith in the future. The Lounge Society make a strong case for ones to watch through 2021.
The Lounge Society are: Cameron Davey (vocals/bass), Herbie May (guitar/bass), Hani Paskin-Hussain (guitar/bass) and Archie Dewis (drums).
Speedy Wunderground is Dan Carey, Alexis Smith & Pierre Hall.
The Lounge Society – UK headline tour dates + festivals 2021
Sun 27 June Widnes Library, WIDNES UK – Socially dist. [buy tickets here]
Thu 01 July The Ferret, PRESTON UK – Socially dist. [buy tickets here]
Mon 12 July Manchester International Festival MANCHESTER UK
Thu 29 July The Trades Club HEBDEN BRIDGE UK – SOLD OUT
Fri 30 July Base Camp Plus, YORKSHIRE, UK
Sat 07 Aug RivFest WARRINGTON UK
Sat 14 Aug Lune Attack LANCASHIRE UK
Fri 27 – Sun 29 Aug Down The Rabbit Hole Festival, EWIJK NETHERLANDS
Wed 01 Sept Esquires BEDFORD UK [buy tickets here]
Thu 02 Sept The Snug ATHERTON UK [buy tickets here]
Fri 03 Sept The Piece Hall (supp. The Cribs) HALIFAX UK [buy tickets here]
Sat 04 Sept Manchester Psych Fest MANCHESTER UK
Sat 18 Sept Wide Eyed Festival LEICESTER UK
Fri 01 Oct Kazimier Stockroom LIVERPOOL UK [buy tickets here]
Sat 02 Oct The Head Of Steam NEWCASTLE UK
Sat 03 Westgarth Social Club MIDDLESBOROUGH UK – SOLD OUT
Tue 05 Oct Hyde Park Book Club LEEDS UK – SOLD OUT
Wed 06 Oct Sidney & Matilda SHEFFIELD UK [buy tickets here]
Thu 07 Oct Hare & Hounds 2 BIRMINGHAM UK [buy tickets here]
Sat 09 Oct Chameleon Arts Café NOTTINGHAM UK [buy tickets here]
Sun 10 Oct The Hope & Ruin BRIGHTON UK [buy tickets here]
Tue 12 Oct Crofters Rights BRISTOL UK [buy tickets here]
Wed 13 Oct Castle Hotel MANCHESTER UK – SOLD OUT
Thu 14 Oct Castle Hotel MANCHESTER UK – SOLD OUT
(ticket buyers will be moved to this date)
Sun 17th Oct Wild Paths Festival NORWICH UK
Tue 19 Oct Heartbreakers SOUTHAMPTON UK [buy tickets here]
Wed 20 Oct The Windmill LONDON UK – SOLD OUT
Thu 21 Oct The Windmill LONDON UK – SOLD OUT
Thu 23 Oct A Slow Education YORK UK – SOLD OUT
Sat 30 Oct Beat Connection READING UK
Sat 13 Nov Stag & Dagger GLASGOW UK
Sun 14 Nov Stag & Dagger EDINBURGH UK
Tue 16 Nov Roisin Dubh GALWAY IRELAND [buy tickets here] *
Wed 17 Nov Academy Green Room DUBLIN IRELAND [buy tickets here] *
Thu 18 Nov McHughs BELFAST UK [buy tickets here] *
Fri 19 Nov Kasbah Social Club LIMERICK IRELAND [buy tickets here] *
Fri 28 Jan 2022 University SU (supporting The Orielles) NEWCASTLE UK
[buy tickets here]
Tickets on sale from Wed 23 June at 10am
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
