The Disconnected

August Bank Holiday weekend, so often a washout, is always a risky choice for outdoor events. Some people however cannot be put off. Anton, the charismatic frontman of Bleak, along with Yvonne, the drummer and song-writer, once again overcame the elements and held another War In The Park, the guerrilla acoustic and poetry festival held annually in a London Park, the location of which is kept under wraps until days before the event.
Perennial favourites plus WITP newcomers braved the risk of rain (and overcame it when it happened with the use of a large piece of blue tarpaulin) and took over a corner of Burgess Park in south London yesterday. Compered by the superb Andrew Hobbs, and fuelled by a multitude of ales, ciders and wines, WITP 2010 was a triumph of bloody-mindedness and artistic endeavour.

Highlights included SP Howarth’s ‘festival first’ with stage diving at a poetry recital. A very drunk Pete Boyd of I Am Immune littered the performance with profuse apologies and nearly fell off his wall. Death Boy broke the traditional acoustic mould and played some electronica from their iPod (modern tech is great). Steve TT was great, opening a cappella, and continued with folksy set of anti-the-man, and was surely was one of the best acts of the day. Djevara closed the set with accompanying home-made pipe bombs masquerading as fireworks, provided by a very chuffed Anton. And Bleak themselves gave a barnstorming set that was one of the overall highlights, with Anton ceremoniously taking a ‘herbal Viagra’ to close, with the promise that anyone present who wished to test its potency would be more than welcome to bring it on. Jokes of ‘my third leg’, and ‘Is it working yet?’; ‘Yes. But not on you’, would haunt the rest of the proceedings.

Events like these mark the Underground, not as a collection of wannabes struggling to make their voices heard in the mainstream, but as a vibrant eclectic and very relevant scene of challenging, intelligent, sometimes belligerently creative artists, who don’t need the approval of The Man to make their voices heard.

Geoff

@LFD_Geoff on Twitter

Djevara (Redux), Bleak, She Makes War, This Is Radio Silence and a host of other artists play at guerrilla festival WAR IN THE PARK in Burgess Park on Sunday afternoon. There is quite a stunning range of acts who’ve decided to leave the mics and amps behind and bring along acoustics to make war.
It shall take place here http://bit.ly/daPVl5
Come rock your bones under the tress…

What a weekend!  Tonight (sat 28th August) sees Djevara return to one of the best small venues in South London, The Fox & Firkin (Lewisham), with an astonishing line-up which includes our absolute favourite band Thumpermonkey Lives! (new record out on GENIN on Mon 6th Sept! It’s awesome!) and Poino who feature Chuckles (of The Display Team, who also have a fantabulous record out through the Genin stables!).  Could be too awesome for words.

September is rolling up to be one heck of a musical month with two more exciting, underground releases promised: Thumpermonkey Lives! new record “We Bake Our Bread Beneath Her Holy Fire” be up on 6th September through Genin Records.  The album is not anything but phenomenal, without question the best underground release this writer has ever heard – ingenius and witty songwriting, beautiful production, astonishing execution and utterly rocks.  It’s hard to describe, but imagine Frank Zappa, David Bowie and Queen were asked to collaborate to do a B-movie soundtrack for metalheads and you’ll be in the ball-park area, but with only a fractional idea of how good it is.  Honestly a loss to anyone who doesn’t hear this.

Order from : www.genin.co.uk / Band Website : www.thumpermonkey.com

On 1st September solo female DIY artist She Makes War releases her long-awaited debut “Disarm” after an impressive online video series of singles.  Excitement has beeen buzzing all over the net, and little wonder – with its own unique style and character, this is fantastically earthy, grungey alternative pop straight from the underground, like a crossbreed between the sounds of Nine Inch Nails, Carina Round and with a hint of the spirit of Riot girl, but with a feisty, independent London edge.  The London DIY scene is desperately under-representative of female artistry and this is a record which will deservedly assert to redress the balance!

Order from : www.shemakeswar.com (Also check out for: videos, previews, etc.)

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/87716

Djevara are fund-raising for Palestine in their last London show before heading into the studio this coming Friday 30th July.  The band are donating £1 from each ticket sale to Welfare Association (http://www.welfareassociation.org.uk) for their vital work in the region.  The show is taking place The Water Rats (328 Grays Inn Road, Londn, WC1X 8BZ) and kicks off at 7.30pm.

Tickets are available from here:
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/87716 )

Just passing on the wonders of the DIY underground this weekend, there’s just so much and it’s all well worth checking out:

FRI 23 JULY:

Nought, Sly & The Family Drone, FO Batman, The ReactorCore

@ Zenith Bar, 125 Packington Street, Islington

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132678380106459&index=1

… or …

Mayors Of Miyazaki, Cutthroat Convention, Segment

@ Fiddlers Elbow, Camden

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139568156056698

… or …

TERRYFEST 2 with Palehorse, Secta Rouge, Jackie Treehorn, Nitkowski

@ Unicorn, 27 Camden Road, London (FREE!!!)

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127836180586956&ref=ts

…

SUN 16 JULY:

Silent Front, Art Of Burning Water, At A Crawl, It Often Takes A War

@ Ryan’s Bar, StokeNewington

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135525376475499&index=1

….

Long live DIY!

SAT 19th JUNE 2010

Djevara (Redux), the alternative semi-acoustic manifestation of Djevara, are playing one of the first in a series of ArtIsland events which host both art exhibitions and live music in the small venue of The Butcher’s Corner in New Cross.

Address is 302 New Cross Road (2mins from station). The art is all day and the gigs start in the evening.

Check out the blog site for details:

http://www.artislandblog.blogspot.com/

This coming Sat 24 April sees an unbelievably awesome live bill at The Unicorn courtesy of Genin Records: Elephant vs Leopard, Djevara, Pigshackle and Let Our Enemies Beware. Truly fantastic, and what’s more – totally FREE. So come down to The Unicorn, 226 Camden ROad at 7.15pm for a night of awesome, progressive noise… bliss!

FB event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106643496026521&ref=ts

GENIN is proud to present THE NEW BEAT No1 at The Cross Kings this coming Friday 5th February 2010.  The first GENIN night of the year will be showcasing an eclectic bill of the weird and wonderful, an alternative to the alternative, a shot across the bows of ‘rock’ music as we know and have become comfortable with.  The night will feature performances from Solar Flares, Arficeden, Tessellators and Djevara.