CHRIS DIFFORD + Swill & The Swaggerband + The Singing Loins

Fri 28th Jul 2006

Complete Control presents
CHRIS DIFFORD
+ Swill and the Swaggerband
+ The Singing Loins

Doors 8.00
£8 via email before 6.00pm. Please give us your full name and how many tickets you need
£10 on the door

Chris Difford has been writing lyrics for over twenty five years most notably with Squeeze. After 13 albums and many top 20 hits, 29 American tours, 30 UK tours and various trips around the globe, Chris decided to stop the merry-go-round and go it alone.
His debut solo album 'I Didn't Get Where I Am...' was released in 2002. Songs like 'Tempted', 'Up the Junction', 'Cool for Cats' and 'Black Coffee in Bed' still find steady air-play on UK and US radio. In June of 2005, Squeeze released 'The Big Squeeze', a compilation of singles and B sides that went straight into the UK chart at Number 8, proving the timeless appeal of their music.
During time away from Squeeze, Chris has written with Elton John, Trilok Gurtu, Marti Pellow, Lamont Dozier, Willie Mitchell and many others. In his spare time, Chris organizes writer workshops, which have been an inspiration to everyone that has attended. Last year he hosted a Songwriter Webcast from his studio in Sussex with bands like Turin Brakes and The Webb Brothers. Scripting the lyrics for the film 'Still Crazy' won him an Ivor Novello Award, a proud moment for the mantelpiece. The film documented the insane life of a rock band in the '70s. Something he knew a little about!
Now with his new band, Chris seemlessly blends material from his brilliant solo effort, 'I Didn’t Get Where I Am...', with Squeeze classics and other new material adding up to an unforgettable night out.
Main support comes from Swill & The Swaggerband. Stepping out from the shadows of his other life as one half of the vocal attack in legendary UK folk rockers The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Swill has made his own record, 'Elvis Lives Here', and infused it with the age old punk ethos of DIY. All of his trademark passions are present – Americana, folk, blue eyed pop and country. Imagine Glen Campbell, Kirsty MacColl and late period Joe Strummer all rolled into one and backed by the best little picking band this side of the bayou.
The Swaggerband – friends accumulated after half a life on the road – are Ricky and Jon from TMTCH on bass and drums, Tom Spencer (son of the late, great John B. Spencer) on mandolins and banjos, Bobby Valentino (Dylan, Tom Petty) a Clark Gable lookalike and fiddle player and the eerily named Ashley Halloween on guitar.
Together they have made an album that sounds like the ideal accompaniment to a good bottle of red wine with a close friend – intimate, funny and wise. All qualities very evident in their live show too.
First on are The Singing Loins, a fascinating and highly energetic hybrid of English folk music and garage band attitude (legend has it they rehearse and record in Billy Childish's bathroom). If Nick Drake and Wreckless Eric had ever met they might have sounded a little like this. Since they never did of course that makes these guys truly unique. Must be seen. “The Loins are fast becoming one of my favourite acts. They radiate originality and attack their instruments like their lives depended on it, and are absolutely incapable of a lacklustre performance. Beautifully rough acoustic music has rarely sounded this good. They produce a sound that is the most intense and superbly vital UK urban-acoustic-skiffle-punk-folk-country-blues-a-billy. Absolutely guaranteed 100% proof experience. Do not miss!” [Sean McGhee]

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