Live music listings: November 2007

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

Click here for an absolutely free, no-strings attached O'Death track, and here to watch the video.

"O'Death uses old methods (in the folk/traditional vein of music, the sort that tells stories) to make beautiful new sounds that borrow as much from Pixies, The Pogues, and Tom Waits as they do toothless drunk vagabonds wandering through the mountains. This is spastic, timeless music you can't possibly ever tire of." [The Deli Magazine, US]

Fve guys, maybe three shirts between them, take to the stage. There’s a banjo, a fiddle, a drum set littered with gas cans, chains, and broken cymbals. Then they all start howling, stomping; it’s an anachronistic jug band party in a junkyard with sing-along hooks and weathered vocals from another time.

"Picture Tom Waits and Iggy Pop together in a musical touring edition of Deliverance and you might come close to figuring out what I'm talking about." [Treblezine.com]

Their fans, an ever-expanding congregation, sing along and follow the band with an almost religious fervor, and as vocalist Greg Jamie’s eyes roll back into his head there’s a sense that something almost sinisterly spiritual has overtaken everyone in the room. This is the world of O'Death.

"If your idea of a good time is a crowd of folks moshing to the sound of banjo feedback and Savage Republic drumming, then live O'Death is your cup of moonshine." [Village Voice, NYC]

Originally formed in 2003 while the members attended SUNY Purchase, the band – with Jamie on guitar and vocals, Gabe Darling on banjo, David Rogers-Berry on drums, Jesse Newman on bass, and Bob Pycior on fiddle – self-released their first album in 2004. They quickly took to the task of stirring up a wholly original scene of NY musicians with their reverently twisted take on Americana filtered through a wealth of musical influences as divergent as Bill Monroe, Prince, Dock Boggs, Neil Young, The Microphones, and The Misfits via a series of shows at the now defunct Apocalypse Lounge.

"This New York band draws from the starkness and spiritual purity of Appalachian folk, the noisemongering of punk and the rowdy theatricality of Tom Waits. With quiet pluckings of banjo and angry, anarchic hollers, its songs jumble the sacred and profane" [The New York Times]

As they gathered the songs for their second LP, 'Head Home', the band perfected their mesmerizing and riotous stage presence and took to turning their share of heads across the country, playing over 100 shows in 2006, and gracing the stage alongside acts including Battles, Dr. Dog, Art Brut, Langhorne Slim, The Big Sleep, and Old Time Relijun.

"Like a hometown carnival, O'Death is dirty, absurd and absolutely enthralling." [Austin Chronicle]

With the re-release of 'Head Home', the critically acclaimed NY act has created a perfect companion to their spellbinding live show. Part southern gothic spiritual, part moonshine fueled hoedown, these recordings, now presented with new remixes done by the band and Billy Pavone, are a timeless addition to the canon of weird old America.

"There are plenty of folk and country-tinged bands floating around America these days, but few are able to take Americana and evolve it toward something interesting or unique, something that begs to be heard, something catchy enough to dance (or stumble) to. O'Death manages to do just that, and also manages to take us to that dark and haunted place inside us that takes such enthusiastic satisfaction in being dark and haunted." [Portland Mercury News]

Click here for an absolutely free, no-strings attached O'Death track.

Supporting are George Thomas & The Owls, a former woodcutting folk scenester who ditched his guitar and bought a drum machine. Still singing the same twisted and picturesque stories of life in the hills and the city.

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