Friday 21st November

KLAK TIC, ABIGAIL HOPKINS,
ERIK BUCKLEY, EDD GARRATT

THE SPICE OF LIFE
8pm - £5

Klak Tik
After a couple of years of writing, recording and touring with 6 Day Riot, Danish Søren Bonke is now working on his solo project Klak Tik. The music is organic, acoustic, multi layered sounds of guitars, vocals, ukuleles, mandolins, violins, trumpets and whatever else can be got, all played by Søren himself.
Part of the philosophy behind the music is to retain the freedom of improvisation and first expressions even in a multi-tracking environment, and performances are for the most part first-takes.
File somewhere between Neil Young, Beirut, Rufus Wainwright and Bright Eyes - if that spot's free, of course.
www.myspace.com/klaktik

Abigail Hopkins recorded her debut album Smile Road in 2002/3, which was described by the press as “spine tingling”, “intriguingly alternative jazz” and a “warped and trippy debut”. It was a heady and confusing mix of jazz, folk, trip hop and rock. Determined to keep her song writing at the forefront, Abigail then followed her debut up with the slightly softer jazz-focused album, “Blue Satin Alley” in 2005/6 although all the tracks still threatened to cross-over into different genres and styles. Her new album, "The Memoirs of An Outlaw” is a collection of left-field folk and jazz songs about love and marginalized characters who live on the edge of life.
"The Memoirs of an Outlaw, a wonderful listen and Abigail Hopkins, a captivating and intriguing musician."
Rock N Reel
The thrill of making music for Abigail, is the sheer fascination with experimenting with sound, and weaving lyrics into a tapestry of sonic landscapes, often very left field, but always built on classical jazz, folk, and rock foundations.
www.myspace.com/abigailhopkins

Erik Buckley
Singer-songwriter Erik Buckley combines a quirky blend of pop hooks and laidback ballads with the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar to deliver an unforgettable performance.
www.myspace.com/erikbuckley

Edd Garratt
Clearly influenced by the subtle fragility of Ryan Adams and Jeff Buckley, Edd's music shows a great deal of crafted balladry, in addition to his ghostly vocals. Understating to the ears, this songwriter shouldn't be balked at.
www.myspace.com/eddgarratt

Saturday 22nd November

BRUISE, SHABBY ROGUE, KELLY'S HEELS

THE SPICE OF LIFE
8pm - £5

Bruise are Isobel Morris (vocals and guitar), Jim Kimberley (drums, vocals & samples)
Isobel's songs reflect a life of diverse experience. She has crossed continents several times. From her native Yorkshire, Isobel has travelled via the pork fields of Iowa to the ice fields of the Alaskan wilderness. It was in Anchorage that Isobel stumbled across her own glorious broken-stringed, open-tuned style. A little bit Patti Smith, a little Nico, but then again something all together other. Accused of singing "morbid songs about sex and death"l, she experimented with musicians in various combinations and situations but nothing really clicked until she was introduced to session drummer Jim Kimberley. He'd been recording and touring with the likes of Squeeze, Nick Harper and Nick Heyward.
Bruise play to audiences from York to Guernsey & Belgium to the USA and have shared the bill with Feeder, Reef and Terrovision and supported Hawkwind. In 2005 and 2007 they played The Glastonbury Festival on the right thinking Green Futures Stage. See them live and know the glorious gritty pioneering pop that is BRUISE.
www.myspace.com/bruiseuk

Shabby Rogue
'The Rogue recall a galliant wardrobe of 1960s heroes from Arthur Lee to Bob Dylan, while imprinting their influences with fresh emotions and ideas. As an introduction to an outrageously good live band you could do far worse than investigate this beautiful and troubled album [Hair, Nails & Beauty]...' Artrocker Magazine
www.myspace.com/shabbyrogue

Kelly's Heels
Throw the melodies and harmonies of the 60s up in the air, smash them into submission with the full-on attack and energy of punk, add a distinctive vocal style a la Costello or Tilbrook, and you have Kelly's Heels. Led on guitar and vocals by Bob Kelly, supported by the ferocious drumming of Jim Kimberley and the groovy bass lines of Isobel Morris, the band has a live show you can't afford to miss. Though you can hear the influences of the British greats - The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who - in the music, the band blends those influences into a mix that is both highly contemporary but also timeless, producing a rich variety of stunning songs. Whether it's the energy and punkish swagger of Decide, or the heart-rending poignancy of the ballad Walk Alone, the versatility of Bob Kelly's songwriting is a revelation.
www.myspace.com/kellysheels

Friday 28th November

MILQUD, SHOES, BITTER RUIN

THE SPICE OF LIFE
8pm - £5

Milqud are one of the hottest new unsigned indi rock around right now. Already attracting/arousing interest from Chrysalis Music, the band are winning fans from across the globe.
www.myspace.com/milqud

Shoes
Somewhere between Motown and a drizzly day in London, Shoes are already displaying signs of genre disregard on this, their debut single. Sans bassist, they create a tight, shadow boxer of a sound with just the drums and guitar, while singer Ron McElroy broods like a pissed off Brando. If So Far Down gets the rock rolling, it's B-Side Troy that stumbles drunkenly for the light switch between melancholy and hope. It could easily have been stringed to death aka The Drugs Dont Work, but in being sparse it actually leaves something to the listeners imagination- and how often does that happen?! (clue- not very often) Ric Rawlins - Artrocker
www.myspace.com/goodytwo

Bitter Ruin are an explosive, theatrical acoustic duo with grasping lyrics filthy with energy and anger. Renowned for their intense and dramatic live performances, their audiences are mesmerized by Georgia’s vicious, complex vocals and are left desperate to hear more of Ben’s brutal vocal attack and cutting, jagged acoustic guitar.
www.myspace.com/bitterruin

Saturday 29th November

DREDLUNADARE, SMALLER THAN YOU,
LOSE:LEARN KARATE:WIN

THE SPICE OF LIFE
8pm - £5

Dredlunadare
WE COME BEARING GIFTS FROM THE MUDFLATS
Origin of Barking, Canning town, Dagenham and Rainham, the continuing estuarian members of the dare fight to erradicate the scum of imperial commercialism of 'pop' music and its evil empire. Fighting for this rightious cause from the banks of the town of the stretch of rainham beach, somewhere along the estuary of the luna valley where the sea meets the sewage. So it seemed clear to the estuarians that the distance between the Luna's would have the same ratio as a continuous frequency. To them, the Dred system consists of three triangles revolving around an energy, a locked frequeny of life. You may know it as 'the zone'. Each tri gives off a sound projectile, forcing a Dare of harmonious noise to produce different tones and moods combining energy and emotion into a beautiful harmony of DredLunaDare. And so they were sentenced to become keepers of the estuary, bounty hunters of the mudflats of the east. They were PRIMED & READY like a ..terrific moon of defiance.
www.myspace.com/dredlunadaremusic

"Fearless sound experimentalists something like John Bonham drumming for The Fall then produced by Steve Albini. Buckle up and take the ride."....the good people at the Bull and Gate

"shellac'ish noizeniks who stir up a crazed angular ruckus which is several orders of magnitude more interesting than many of the Math Rock clone acts currently hogging London stages".......Damnably.com