FORTUNA POP! presents: BEARSUIT + Darren Hayman + Milky Wimpshake + The Loves

Tue 29th Aug 2006

Fortuna POP! presents
A very special three day event to celebrate the 10th birthday of Fortuna Pop!
BEARSUIT
+ Darren Hayman
(Cannonball Jane has cancelled)
+ Milky Wimpshake
+ The Loves
+ Spiral Scratch DJs
+ Comperes MJ Hibbett
+ Doktor CocaColaMcDonalds

Doors 7.00
£8 - day ticket

"A wonderful London-based label with a truly faultless roster, featuring some of the greatest bands around today." [Cherryade]

The small dictatorship of Fortuna POP! has existed since winning its independence in the Brit-pop wars of the late 1990s. It's major export is the 7" single and the CD album, the sole produce of the country's various tribes, from the unfeasibly tall Butterflies of Love people of the east coast to the small pygmies of the Midlands known as The Chemistry Experiment.
Often unfairly grouped in the league of twee nations, the peoples of this small country are actually an incredibly diverse bunch, manufacturing everything from sixties pop psychedelia (The Loves) to stop-start riot grrrl shouty pop (Bearsuit), love songs for punk rockers (Milky Wimpshake) to sassy hip-hop sampling girl group pop (Cannonball Jane), mini-pop symphonies (Fanfarlo) to orchestral country (Airport Girl), sophisticated and elegant european art-pop (The Would-Be-Goods) to warm and literate indie (The Lucksmiths), lo-fi american rock (Finlay) to folk-prog-disco (The Chemistry Experiment), from punk-soul (Comet Gain) to classic americana (The Butterflies Of Love).

Stop-start boy-girl twee-rock cutie-killer six-piece Bearsuit have everything from cinematic waltzes to catchy electro disco and hard punk screaming riot grrl noise. A mix of Belle and Sebastian, Huggy Bear, and Sonic Youth with electronic twists and turns, and screamy art punk. Since playing their first gig in 2001, the band have notched up three Festive 50 top five hits and three Radio 1 sessions on the legendary John Peel show. The band released their debut album 'Cat Spectacular!' in America in March 2005, and in October 2005 they launched their 'long lost debut' album 'Team Ping Pong'. With six singles, an EP, two albums, and a variety of outlandish stage gear - blood soaked prom dresses, 'nurses of death' outfits and silver bear-bot wear to name but a few - Bearsuit are certainly a band to catch if you can.
“Bearsuit don’t so much define the line between genius and insanity as master both sides of it. Amazing.” [Drowned In Sound]
Bruised and bloodied, former Hefner front man Darren Hayman, crawls out from his car wreck life armed with only his battle scarred Telecaster and ukulele for protection. Darren’s been given a right kicking by the music biz, but he’s not down, in fact he’s smiling ear to ear.
In the past two years since his last album with the French Darren has worked for the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, Battersea Dogs Home, gotten married, formed a bluegrass band, put on a lot of weight and is currently studying an Art PGCE at Goldsmiths College. “If I don’t work I go nuts, I wasted 6 months addicted to internet chess.” says Hayman. This album is his best so far until the next one. Real drums and guitars mark a return to the indie folk style of Hefner, but better. “Every time I write a song its better then the last one”, continues Hayman, “I thought it was that way for everyone?”
The songs on Hayman’s debut album, 'Table for One' concern crumbling cafes, dog charities, a broken hearted Doug Yule, retiring School teachers and air hostesses plummeting to their death. It’s not fun in Darren’s head but it IS fun to watch and listen from a distance.
"London's laureate of sexual dysfunction, discomfort, and dog-eared under-achievement… the match of Ray Davies, or any of the quintessentially English masters." [The Guardian]
If you like your punk rock thrills laced with fuzzy pop melodies and intelligent, funny lyrics then Newcastle's Milky Wimpshake are the band for you. The spiritual godfathers of the North-East scene that spawned The Futureheads, frontman Pete Dale was formerly überlord of the now defunct indie label Slampt, responsible for launching a thousand fanzines and nearly as many bands, Kenickie and The Yummy Fur included.
The 'Shake themselves are most often compared to the Buzzcocks and The Undertones, with a dash of Billy Bragg's lyrical gift for combining the personal and the political with a light-handed wit. Their new album “Popshaped” follows 1997's “Bus Route To Your Heart” and 2002's “Lovers Not Fighters”, and mixes new songs with re-recordings of old deleted classics. Part of the genius of Milky Wimpshake lies in their juxtaposition of great tunes with political commentary, which can lead to a room of people jumping up and down grinning from ear-to-ear while listening to lyrics about Noam Chomsky and media distortion of US foreign policy! (Radiohead please take note) But they also do songs about girls, comic strips and scrabble.
“This (Popshaped) shares best album of the year so far with the Broken Family Band. Go see them live in a town near you very soon.” [Damn Pest]
From Cardiff, The Loves mix pop psychedelia and C86 indie with a dash of Jack Daniels and a splash of beatnik cool. Their first single was released on Radio One DJ Huw Stephens’ Boobytrap label, followed by several 7” singles and EPs for the Track & Field label and their debut album “Love”, released in 2004. In their time they’ve been adopted by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as their favourite band and flown to New York to play the CMJ Music Festival, played a Valentine’s night special for John Peel at his Peel Acres home, and megalomaniac frontman Simon Love has sacked the whole band at least twice. Their second album, “Technicolour”, will be released on Fortuna POP! later this year.
'A wide-eyed retro-chic indie-pop sextet that sound like The Monkees playing at being The Velvet Underground.' [NME]

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