Upset
The Rhythm presents…
TERRY
THE HOMOSEXUALS
RUSSELL WALKER
Tuesday
18th September
Moth
Club, Old Trades Hall, Valette St, Hackney Central, E9 6NU
7.30pm
| £9 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/445421
TERRY is getting ready, combing his
hair, buttoning his jacket, turning the key in the door. "I'm doing
fine," sings Terry out loud, he knows. Divide him into four and you get Al
Montfort (UV Race, Total Control, Dick Diver etc.), Amy Hill (Constant Mongrel,
Primo, School Of Radiant Living), Xanthe Waite (Primo, Mick Harvey Band) and
Zephyr Pavey (Eastlink, Total Control, Russell Street Bombings). Inevitably,
Terry likes to make a noise. Drums, guitars and all his voices come into play,
making a solid raft for Terry's inner musings to navigate the languid rapids.
This all unravels at its own pace, sometimes drifting into glam punk and
country backwaters, always conducting a conversation with the commonplace.
Terry also make us a bit queasy at times, singing about police beatings and
nationalism and all that. But they’re not out to hurt you. They’re like the
kindly bearer of bad news. There’s some awful stuff going on around the world.
Terry puts it in terms that speak to all. It’s a tragicomedy. I’m pretty
certain Terry isn’t perverse, they’re just the harbinger of the encroaching
perverse world. I’m pretty certain Terry wants to be my friend, and your
friend. Our friend, Terry. ‘I’m Terry’, the band’s third album in three years,
is out this summer through Upset The Rhythm.
THE HOMOSEXUALS are the inspired focus
of Bruno Wizard! Bruno Wizard is an underground music luminary, an iconoclast,
an evangelist for DIY practice, who formed The Homosexuals out of the ashes of
The Rejects in 1976. The Homosexuals were a strange prospect. Seemingly, their
music should fit into a similar spot as that of angry young men like Wire and
Magazine who carried their penchants for art-school angst in the midst of
proto-thug posturing, like badges of authentic alienation. And of course, in
many ways, these bands were alienated at least from what had been passing for
British rock prior to 1976. However, L'Voag (aka Jim, Amos, and now, Xentos),
Anton (aka George Harassment) and Bruno were also part of a different scene,
where more "progressive" notions of artistic protest were at stake:
This Heat, Family Fodder and Chris Cutler's bands Henry Cow and the Art Bears
were some of the names going at it in these circles. Their music was a
sprawling bag of angular power-pop, quasi-dub, garage-punk and other stuff I'd
liken to Faust or some such lunatic mob. Releasing a few 7”s, a tape and a
posthumous LP by 1984, the band then called it a day. Bruno continues though,
having reformed the band since 2003 with a variety of new lineups. 2016 saw The
Homosexuals release their ‘Important If True’ record collecting new and
unreleased recordings from the band committed to tape in NYC. Bruno also
starred in ‘The Heart Of Bruno Wizard’ documentary about his creative life that
premiered at Cannes in 2014.
RUSSELL WALKER, known as the uncanny
lyricist/vocalist for The Pheromoans, Bomber Jackets etc, treats us to an
exceedingly rare solo live appearance. Walker released his solo album proper in
2016 through Vitrine, contributed to a recent compilation on Kye and has a
spoken album due out on Chocolate Monk soon called ‘Half Time 1916’.
Walker also published his latest book ‘When New Towns Act Tough’ in 2016, well
worth tracking down on Larching Books!
