CLINIC, POLTERGEIST, BLUE ORCHIDS, ALIEN BALLROOM

Event information

Un-Peeled 1. The opening slavo in the Un-Peeled season of shows for John Peel Day is a ridiculously good line-up. It features welcome returns from Clinic who headlined the first Preston Un-Peeled in 2011 and Blue Orchids who headlined last year's all-dayer in Manchester! Please note that, unlike the rest of the programme, this gig is at the Mad Ferret on Fylde Road, which will have had a refurb and will be renamed 'The Ferret' by the time of the show.

CLINIC
Clinic formed over Easter in Liverpool '97, from the ashes of Pure Morning who had already been John Peel favourites, scoring several sessions. First single 'IPC subeditors dictate our youth' appeared that October, on their own Aladdin's Cave of Golf label. As an opener it set the stall out for how their unique sound would progress; pounding rhythms, heavily distorted organ and intense vocals, a cryptic mix of surf punk with a mutant house beat. The single was top ten in John Peel's festive fifty and ironically in both NME and Melody Maker. In an indie sense, the band had arrived (despite their ambitions lying elsewhere).

After two more Aladdin's releases (both voodoo based), Clinic signed with Domino in '99 and set about constructing the extreme dementia and peace that would become 'Internal Wrangler'. Their first album proper, 'Wrangler' easily delivered on the promise of the early singles, sounding like nothing else extant, your planet or mine. A London NME astoria show followed, with the band in full Pearly King gear playing to an appreciative audience. A true celebration of the capital.

The second long player 'Walking With Thee' came in 2002. A much spacier take on their sound but still containing the fuzzed organ freak out of the title track. Surreally and deservedly, the album was nominated for a grammy, through a year of growing intrigue in America. This included the genuinely disgraceful and captivating Beatlesesque appearance on the David Letterman show. Not for the faint hearted.

After a spate of living dangerously in '03/'04 'Winchester Cathedral' began to take shape. A dense mass of psyche and senseless music hall, it was Clinic doing what they do best - ignoring the tenets and trends of the music industry. It was a British triumph, borne out of several joyous rural events and circus happenings.

October 2006 saw the release of a new record, 'Visitations'. 'Funf', a compilation of b-sides from the last ten years was released in June 2007.

Since then, Clinic have put out 'Do It!' in 2008, 'Bubblegum' in 2010 and 'Free Reign' in 2012, which had an accompanying vinyl remix set orchestrated by American synth auteur Onehetrix Point Never. Clinic were one of John Peel's true favourites, scoring numerous sessions and once described by him as "one of Britain's best bands".

https://www.facebook.com/Clinic
http://www.clinicvoot.org/

POLTERGIEST
Poltergeist are an instrumental dynamic power trio featuring original Echo & the Bunymen members Will Sergeant on guitar, Les Pattinson on bass, and also featuring Nick Kilroe on drums.

Echo and the Bunnymen were another massive favourite of John Peel and his listeners, scoring 8 sessions over the years and numerous Festive 50 appearances.

“We create a form of rock music with its toes paddling in the progressive ocean foam of the sixties and seventies and its head in the bone dry air of the present day" said Sergeant. "There are 12 notes in a scale and we intend to use most of them."

Their debut album, "Your Mind is a Box" was released this Summer to rave reviews. Will Sergeant is a lifelong exponent of psychedelia and this band is perfect for Psych Peel.

http://www.daspoltergeist.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Das-Poltergeist/385050834903785

BLUE ORCHIDS
Originally formed in 1979, after Bramah had departed The Fall, Blue Orchids is viewed, by many commentators, as one of a handful of post-punk outfits that delivered quality material with great songs and a mesmerising live act, and which has consequently stood the test of time.

Martin’s most recent band, “Factory Star”, had been playing a number of Blue Orchids songs in their set and the positive reaction to these meant the move to recreate the Orchids sound was highly anticipated.

Bramah, on lead vocal and guitar, uses the core of the Factory Star band with the addition of Ann Matthews of Ectogram and Fflaps on guitar. John Paul Moran (aka Hop Man Jr) plays keyboards, Chris Dutton plays bass, and Chris Connolly, a recent addition, is on drums..

Gigging around the country over the last six months the band has consistently received a rapturous reception wherever they have played. With a selection of material from the bands four main albums – The Greatest Hit, The Sleeper, Mystic Bud and Slum Cavern Jest – Bramah’s shamanic stage presence is not to be missed, as he delivers his songs with the fevered intensity of a travelling preacher man.

Backed by a tight rhythm section, the signature Orchids keyboard sound, and Matthews’ guitar, the band both respects the source material but takes it to a new and contemporary level. Classic tunes like “The Flood”, “Work” and “Bad Education” are delivered with equal measures of passion and venom to create a singular and memorable live experience.

“………songs sound utterly timeless and that swirling keyboard is still the defining feature of those great haunting songs that echo through the decades.” John Robb, Louder Than War

https://www.facebook.com/groups/128792067300972/members/

ALIEN BALLROOM
Say hello to The Alien Ballroom, the combination previously known as Koolaid (Global Tyranny). "Huh?" you may think, "What has happened to Koolaid???" Let's be perfectly clear about this: there is a current market glut of "koolaids". The group, therefore, have sensibly altered their nomenclature and are henceforth known as The Alien Ballroom. You may recall Agitated Records "I'm So Convoluted" compilation - or you may not. Rest assured friends, there is guaranteed conceptual continuity here. On their new Agitated Records long player Zero PAC A.D. the mystrionic Alien Ballroom plant their seeds and pitch their balls on the lush interzone betwixt the vintage and the cutting-edge to create a seven song album that fuses Atomic Age pop foppery with Neolithic year-zero sanguinity. Aficionados of their previous releases will find much to enjoy in this new recording - or perhaps they won't. Frankly, it vexes the band not. Of course, we really should have made some mention that this album is "song based" and not just relentless "space-rock-riff-battery" - is it as weird and leftfield as the Koolaid album? Probably not ...or maybe it is. Very different but very similar perhaps – we will leave it up to you.

Alien Ballroom include Bob Parker (who recorded several Peel sessions with Liverpool acts The Mel-o-tones and Walking Seeds), and members of Mr Ray's Wig World who recorded a Peel session in 1992). It's been an ambition of Tuff Life Boogie to tempt Bob out of his lair in Liverpool's Probe Records for a show, and I'm proud to present Alien Ballroom's first show outside Merseyside!

http://agitatedrecords.com/