Jon Gomm
+ Imlac
Jon Gomm is a singer-songwriter and acoustic solo performer based in Yorkshire, UK, known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style. This involves slapping, tapping and retuning as he plays, producing a huge, multi-layered sound filled with bass, drums and near-orchestral depth and complexity from a single guitar.
His songs are often deeply emotive, whether with or without his soft, affecting voice. And his live performances are intimate and powerful, but always punctured by his natural North Of England wit and self-deprecation.
In 2020 Jon was voted "Best Acoustic Guitarist In The World" in the largest online poll of its type, conducted by MusicRadar / Guitar World.
Ibanez guitars launched the JGM10 and JGM5 Jon Gomm Signature Model guitars in 2021. He's the 3rd guitarist ever to design a signature acoustic with Ibanez, the previous two being Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.
In 2023, Jon's song Passionflower was placed 6th in Total Guitar's "50 Greatest Acoustic Guitar Songs Of All Time", just behind The Beatles' Blackbird and Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton.
Jon is also a passionate advocate for mental health and neuro-diversity.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Fri, 18 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Bodega
+ Gift
Sometimes you have to move backwards to move forwards. Just ask punk cultural commentators BODEGA, whose new album sees them carve a new future from fuzz-soaked, consumerism-skewering shards of their past. "It's something we've been wanting to do for years," guitarist and vocalist Ben Hozie explains of "Our Brand Could Be Yr Life"; a collection of catchy indie-rock ruminations on the slow-creep of corporate-think into youth culture, first written eight years ago. Then known as BODEGA BAY, the Brooklyn group recorded those songs as a paradoxical double album.
Now, BODEGA - completed by lead guitarist Dan Ryan, bassist Adam See and drummer Adam Shumski - have reinterpreted "Our Brand Could Be Yr Life" for 2024. "We thought of it like a director remaking one of their old films, like when Hitchcock remade the Man Who Knew Too Much, or when Yasujiro Ozu re-did The Story of Floating Weeds," says Hozie, who it's never a surprise to hear talking about music through a cinematic lens. After all, this is a creative who, in addition to his work in BODEGA, moonlights as a celebrated indie filmmaker (PVT Chat, his 2020 drama about online sex work, won rave reviews).
"When you're older and better at your craft, you can revisit the same material but do different things with it."
Cambridge The Junction, CB1 7GX, Mon, 21 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm SOLD OUT
The Lovely Eggs
The Lovely Eggs are a two piece, indie rock band from Lancaster, England.
They consist of married couple Holly Ross and David Blackwell. Ross was formerly the lead singer and guitarist in the girl band, Angelica. Blackwell is also guitarist in Lancaster drone band Three Dimensional Tanx, who have performed at Tate Britain with the artist Linder Sterling and also have been sound carriers for Damo Suzuki (ex Can).
Cambridge The Junction, CB1 7GX, Tue, 22 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Geordie Greep
+ Knats
Is "The New Sound" a tonic for these times? One hopes so: the album boasts a brand of high quality, all-embracing alternative pop fun not heard in a very long time. Maybe Associates were the last act to walk the line between the ridiculous and brilliant with such a teflon-coated aplomb.
Is the record an attempt to break away from preconceived ideas of what popular music should be? Let's ask Geordie Greep. "Music can be so much more than learning to play the same as everybody else. It can be anything you want. It's strange to me, to follow the dictates of what has 'proven to be what people like' about a particular kind of music. With recording 'The New Sound', it was the first time I have had no one to answer to. And with every impulse I had, I was able to completely follow it through to its conclusion. Being in a band (black midi), we often have this 'we can do everything' feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it's good to do something else, to let go of things."
How the record came about is another thing to marvel at. Over thirty session musicians were involved in its making, on two continents. Geordie Greep; "Some of the tracks we had recorded already, elsewhere, but it just wasn't right, so we re-recorded them with new people. Half of the tracks were done in Brazil, with local musicians pulled together at the last minute. They'd never heard anything I'd done before, they were just interested in the demos I'd made. The tracking was all done in one, maybe two days. Then we did the overdubs later, in London."
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Fri, 25 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Los Bitchos
+ Faux Real
Los Bitchos is back and better than ever! Since the launch of their much-loved debut album, "Let the Festivities Begin", with City Slang in February 2022, the London-based, pan-continental female instrumental four-piece has captivated audiences worldwide. They've performed over 200 shows, including legendary appearances at Glastonbury, and supporting tours with King Gizzard, and a legendary stint to Australia. Their dynamic live presence remains unparalleled.
The excitement continues with their new single, "La Bomba", setting the stage for headline shows across the US, UK, and EU starting in September through autumn 2024.
Serra Petale (guitar), Agustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass), and Nic Crawshaw (drums) hail from various corners of the globe but were united by all-night house parties and mutual friends. Their unique sound - a retro-futuristic blend of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych, and surf guitars - binds them together. They've already made waves with their much-loved album, 'Let the Festivities Begin,' which cemented their status in the music world. If 'Let the Festivities Begin' was just the pre-party, then with their new single and upcoming music scheduled for 2024, the party is truly about to begin.
Cambridge The Junction, CB1 7GX, Mon, 28 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Michael Head And The Red Elastic Band
+ Samya
Static-fuzz seventies guitar riffs, cowbell and bursts of brass herald the imminent arrival of Michael Head and The Elastic Band's latest album as they release the glammed-up, Bowie and Ronson-indebted rush of "The Human Race". Aptly evoking the renewed artistic vitality of the cherished songwriter, who this year celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of his first album with The Pale Fountains, the track came ahead of the release of the 12-track, "Loophole" album, released on Fri 17 May 2024 on Modern Sky.
As much matter-of-fact documentarian of life as it passes in front of him as he is a poet and healthy, new world-conjuring fantasist, Head's work rate has accelerated to provide fans with an unprecedented two albums inside two years. With a catalogue of well-documented missteps and blameless, release-delaying mishaps dotted through his life with not only The Pale Fountains but also later, feted bands Shack and The Strands, a sense of personal and artistic equilibrium arrives at the same time as his timely suite of beautiful new songs.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Thu, 31 Oct 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Joshua Burnell (full band show)
Joshua Burnell makes retro pop-rock for the modern world. His latest album, Glass Knight - which according to the Financial Times, "plays like a lost out-take from Spiders-From-Mars-era Bowie" - won over a lot of new fans upon its release in 2023. Expect hooky melodies drenched in warm, retro-synth textures, reverbing guitars, lush harmonies and words that make you think. Imagine The War On Drugs meets Genesis with "lashings of Peter Gabriel stylings" - The Guardian.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Wed, 6 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Benjamin Francis Leftwich
+ Nadia Kadek
Artistic transformation is often associated with a blast of fanfare - the dramatic unveiling of a new look, or lofty announcement of the revelation that prompted such a change. In the case of Benjamin Francis Leftwich, reinvention transpires with significantly more subtlety on his latest album, "Some Things Break".
Fans of Leftwich's earlier work will associate him with a rich but pared-back acoustic singer-songwriter sound. Hit songs such as "Atlas Hands" and "Shine" - both from his Top 40 debut "Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm" - were infused with a charming wistfulness, and the yearning for sweet escape. Fans and critics alike were struck by this new artist's disarming honesty; his lyrics were lauded for their candidness and vulnerability.
Norwich Puppet Theatre, NR3 1TN, Thu, 7 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Steph Strings
+ Liza Lo
Steph Strings is an Australian based singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Victoria. With influences from the John Butler Trio, Kim Churchill and Ziggy Alberts, this young story-teller has combined fingerstyle guitar with bursts of percussion, Celtic, blues and folk. Her music and stage presence continue to captivate audiences around the world.
Following the release of her "LION" EP in 2023 Steph has toured both domestically and internationally selling out shows in Australia, the UK & Europe and Canada. Steph also supported The Cat Empire on their European Tour in 2023 as well as opening for Vance Joy across huge shows in Europe.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Thu, 7 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Benjamin Francis Leftwich
+ Nadia Kadek
Artistic transformation is often associated with a blast of fanfare - the dramatic unveiling of a new look, or lofty announcement of the revelation that prompted such a change. In the case of Benjamin Francis Leftwich, reinvention transpires with significantly more subtlety on his latest album, "Some Things Break".
Fans of Leftwich's earlier work will associate him with a rich but pared-back acoustic singer-songwriter sound. Hit songs such as "Atlas Hands" and "Shine" - both from his Top 40 debut "Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm" - were infused with a charming wistfulness, and the yearning for sweet escape. Fans and critics alike were struck by this new artist's disarming honesty; his lyrics were lauded for their candidness and vulnerability.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Fri, 8 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Billy Mahonie
+ Yoke + AV Sunset
Lauded by many as one of Britain's Finest Live bands in the late 90s and early 00s, Billy Mahonie are back on tour. Taking in many of the towns and cities previously played (Glasgow, Leicester, Cambridge, London, Brighton) and some newer places, the band members have never felt so stoked to get out on the road.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Tue, 12 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Califone
After the breakup of his former band Red Red Meat, frontman Tim Rutili formed Califone as a solo project. Rutili's solo effort soon became a full-fledged musical project with a regular and rotating list of contributors, including many former members of Red Red Meat and some members of other Chicago bands.
According to Rutili, Califone started as a home project: "The statement of intent would have been 'easy listening' compared to what we were doing with Red Red Meat. This was supposed to be making little pop songs out of found pieces. It was supposed to be just a little home project, and it slowly grew from there. Now it seems like just about anything goes."
Califone's sound is a combination of Red Red Meat's blues-rock and experimental music, with inspiration drawn from early American folk music, pop, as well as electronic and groups like Psychic TV. Listeners familiar with Red Red Meat can quickly tell that Califone is not an attempt to revive the old band; elements from a number of musical styles contribute to their distinctive sound.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Wed, 13 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Naima Bock
Most of the writing of Naima Bock's second album, "Below A Massive Dark Land", was a solitary affair. It may not sound it - it's made up of strong, purposeful arrangements with a huge host of musicians; filled with cradling space and warm light. This will also come as a surprise to anyone who has seen Naima perform in the time since the release of her 2022 debut "Giant Palm", undoubtedly a communal experience.
With a band of ten, three, or even just solo, when Naima plays there's a rare bond between the musicians on stage and the audience. In their interview with her, The Quietus declared "after every song the applause and cheering is immense, so immense in fact that it seems to be coming from a different place than the usual formalities of a live show, a link between performer and artist forged somewhere deeper and more personal."
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Thu, 14 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Nick Harper
"Earth Day Blue" Tour 2024
Recorded in Abbey Road Studio 2 on Earth Day 2024, "Earth Day Blue" is the 14th studio album release from Nick Harper, the wildly talented and much loved singer-songwriter.
With John Leckie in the producer's chair (Stone Roses, Radiohead, Muse etc.) and Tchad Blake mixing (Tom Waits, Crowded House, Peter Gabriel etc.), the album is a flash mob of high calibre talent assembled for a few hours' collaboration in a very special space.
But this was not the first time Nick and John had been in session together in Studio 2. It was way back in 1973, in the very same room, that Nick was given his 'big break' in the world of music. The duo first 'worked' together when Nick, aged 8, recorded his first ever songs with John whilst Nick's father Roy was recording his own seminal album "Lifemask" with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. So the circle has been squared off and the journey is complete!
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Thu, 28 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Daft Funk Live
Daft Funk Live are one of the world's most prestigious Daft Punk tribute bands: diligently constructing a 'live' rendition of Daft Punk's legendary performances and appearances. They incorporate their own synchronised light shows together with live instruments to give a truly immersive and unique experience. Their stage production is meticulously crafted, paying the utmost respect to the infamous and illusive Robots.
"...totally superb, an incredibly detailed performance giving you a Daft Punk explosion of sound and colour. Five stars." - Max Taylor
(Groove Armada, Mika, The Bays, Creepy Neighbour)
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Sat, 30 Nov 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Our Girl
+ Lemondaze
The expression of hard-fought optimism encapsulates "The Good Kind", an album exploring themes of sexuality, relationships, community, and illness. Our Girl's trademark dynamics permeate the record, from heavy guitars and soaring lead lines to ear worm choruses and intimate vocal moments. Filled with warmth and honesty, The Good Kind is a celebration of determination - of choosing to recommit to what matters, against all opposition. "A lot of the songs are about taking setbacks and turning them into superpowers" says drummer Lauren Wilson.
"I only realised then, when I thought it out loud," begins singer/guitarist Soph Nathan on "Relief", the first single released from the album, "And I feel better now". This song is aptly named, invoking a long-awaited exhale - the feeling of finally emerging from a long and lonely period of uncertainty and self-doubt. Beginning with a single airy strum, Nathan's reverb-drenched guitar attaches itself to Joshua Tyler's grounding bass chords, as Wilson's quietly insistent drum beat throws its weight behind Nathan's words of reassurance: "You've gotta see it to believe it. Well, I see it in you already."
This song speaks honestly to the life-giving importance of queer community. From the warmth and immediacy of her delivery, Nathan could be comforting a friend. But as "Relief" builds from that cautious opening to a determinedly, driving force, it becomes clear: these aren't empty platitudes. Nathan believes in you, because she's learned to believe in herself.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Wed, 4 Dec 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
The Deep Blue
The Deep Blue are quietly outspoken with an air of rebelliousness and punk attitudes fused with hypnotically beautiful harmonies and intertwined instrumentations. Their lyrics range from small, detailed vignettes and musings to anthemic calls to arms, with strong elements of storytelling and always deeply personal and reflective. Coming together in lockdown, The Deep Blue burst onto the scene in May 2021 with the release of the first track from their debut EP "Taking on Water". This led to key indie press such as Dork, The Line of Best Fit and Atwood Magazine clambering to get the inside scoop on Manchester's hottest new band.
Fresh off the back of their sophomore EP, "Sugarcoat", The Deep Blue embarked on a sparkling debut UK tour, selling out Camden Assembly, London and their home-coming show at Deaf Institute. "Sugarcoat" caught the ears of tastemakers such as Dork, Rodeo, Groupie and New Wave with the title track anointed 'track of the month' on Amazing Radio and receiving some meaty airtime on BBC Radio 6. This year the band have added Y Not, Tramlines, Victorious, Greenbelt and Underneath the Stars to their touring itinerary for summer including Truck Festival, having won the Band App vote to play. Winning votes came from respected indie industry tastemakers including So Young Magazine and John Kennedy of Radio X.
Presented in association with Cambridge Folk Festival
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Mon, 9 Dec 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Old Man Boom
+ The Cain Pit
Old Man Boom is a banjo wielding singer-songwriter based in Cambridgeshire, delivering an array of songs about the darker side of life, murderers, monsters, and the Devil. His brand of alt country/murder folk will have you both singing and drinking along as he tells beautiful stories about terrible things.
Having released his début album, "Devil & Saviour", in 2022; Old Man Boom returns with "Killers, Lovers and Lore".
Cambridge The Blue Moon, CB1 2LF, Thu, 12 Dec 2024 at 8:00pm buy tickets
The Jesus And Mary Chain
One of the most influential bands of their generation and beyond, The Jesus and Mary Chain mark their 40th anniversary in 2024 with a new album, "Glasgow Eyes". This is the band's first studio album since "Damage And Joy" (2017). 2024 promises to be a bumper year for devotees of the Reids: the brothers will also unveil their autobiography, a documentary, and a world tour starting in March.
The exact point of any band's inception is hard to pin down, but for Jim, the 'wish' crystallised into reality one night in June 1984: "I always think it was the day we played our first show, because up until then the whole idea had been kind of abstract, it didn't feel real. When we played in London, there were only about six people watching, but I remember thinking, 'That's it. The band is born'."
From the moment the Reids first pressed the record button on their Portastudio in the early 1980s, the intense, sometimes brutal, often darkly romantic music they made has always felt like past, present and future smashed together, alchemising into something startling. Glasgow Eyes might mark a milestone but the Mary Chain are always looking forward. As for what fans can expect from the new release, "hopefully people will expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record," says Jim, "and that is certainly what it is."
Cambridge Corn Exchange, CB2 3QB, Sat, 14 Dec 2024 at 7:00pm buy tickets
The John Otway Band
John Otway is an English singer-songwriter who has built a sizeable cult audience through extensive touring, a surreal sense of humour and a self-deprecating underdog persona.
From the age of 9, Otway knew he wanted to be a pop star. But even at that young age, having listened to his sister's Beatles and Stones records, he knew he would never be able to do what they do. However, when his sister got the latest Bob Dylan album, he knew there was a place for him and he set about learning how to play guitar.
Otway had to wait until 1977 and the rise of punk before his dream of fame and fortune would finally become a reality. Having caught the eye of the producers of the BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, Otway's performance on that show would grab the attention of the watching audience. Otway, ever the showman, decided to jump on to the amplifier of his colleague during a performance of Bob Lind's Cheryl's Going Home. (Un)fortunately for Otway, he misjudged his leap and sent Wild Willy Barrett?s amplifier tumbling as he crashed down straddling the box under the amp.
The full force of the impact was absorbed by the most tender body parts, but in doing this one simple act of recklessness and his wanton disregard for his own safety, Otway was the talk of everyone who watched that evening's programme.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Fri, 10 Jan 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
The John Martyn Project
The John Martyn Project is a special project comprised of Blythe Pepino, Kit Hawes, Pete Josef, Sam Brookes, John Blakeley and Jon Short, six artists coming together to celebrate the music of John Martyn. Each brings their own story and connection to John's music which adds to the fabric of the overall experience of the project.
In the wake of a special one off, sold out show in 2018 at the Camden Jazz Café, the group decided to take the project on tour and the warm reception its received has inspired them to continue. Since then they have regularly toured the UK and mainland Europe as well as bringing John's music back to the festival circuit. Each tour they continue to introduce more of John's back catalogue from obscure live recordings to classic favourites reworked and presented with rich harmonies and diverse instrumentation.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Thu, 16 Jan 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Jim Moray
Should you care to look back over the past two decades of British folk music, one musician in particular stands out for having a singular, idiosyncratic vision that has rarely wavered in style and substance. Jim Moray may have garnered initial attention for his digitally-driven approach to traditional music, but reflecting on his seven albums and numerous production credits it's clear that imagination and invention are the real cornerstones of his work. The cinematic vision of albums such as "Skulk" (2012), "Upcetera" (2016), and his game-changing debut "Sweet England" (2003) show just how far the old songs can be taken. His arrangements of traditional songs such as "Gilderoy", "Horkstow Grange" and "Fair Margaret and Sweet William" are regarded as amongst the classics of the folk genre, while his treatment of the ballad "Lord Douglas" has become a must-learn for fingerstyle guitarists.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Thu, 23 Jan 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Emily Barker
Emily Barker is an award-winning singer-songwriter, best known as the writer and performer of the theme to the hugely successful BBC crime drama "Wallander" starring Kenneth Branagh.
Her last album, 2020's "A Dark Murmuration of Words", was produced by Greg Freeman and recorded at StudiOwz, a converted chapel in the Welsh countryside. Lyrically probing, by turns both dark and optimistic, Barker searches for meaning through the deafening clamour of fake news and algorithmically filtered conversation, delivering a timely exploration of the grand themes of our age. It garnered widespread acclaim, with Uncut calling it "...a kind of Australian equivalent of PJ Harvey's 'Let England Shake'".
Barker has released music and toured as a solo artist as well as with various bands and collaborations, most notably her long association with Frank Turner, and has written for TV and film, including composing the soundtrack for Jake Gavin's lauded debut feature "Hector" starring Peter Mullan and Keith Allen.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Tue, 4 Feb 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Hayden Thorpe and Propellor Ensemble
perform NESS with Robert Macfarlane
Hayden Thorpe is best known as the former frontman and chief songwriter for the much-loved band Wild Beasts. He returns to the stage with his beautifully singular third album "Ness", made in collaboration with best-selling nature writer Robert Macfarlane.
Hayden and Macfarlane will perform "Ness" alongside members of Propellor Ensemble, promising to be a sonically spectacular and transformational live show.
Cambridge Storey's Field Centre, N/A, Thu, 6 Feb 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
WH Lung
While WH Lung's name might suggest a nod to the likes of WH Auden and similarly austere literary figures, it actually comes from a Chinese supermarket in their native Manchester. This deliberate blurring of high and low culture is part of the appeal of the enigmatic three-piece (Joseph E on vocals/synths, Tom S on guitar and Tom P on bass), their songs juxtaposing simplicity with free-ranging experimentation. But even more key is their ability to seamlessly meld genres - krautrock, post-punk and synthpop, most prominently - to create songs that are fresh and exciting yet familiar-sounding and accessible.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Mon, 24 Feb 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Chuck Prophet
+ Our Man in the Field
For twelve long days, Chuck Prophet waited. A stage four lymphoma diagnosis had knocked the wind out of him, dragged him off the road and into surgery, and now here he was, a perpetual motion machine forced to sit still, confronting his mortality for the first time as he wondered if he'd live long enough to see the end of the year, let alone get back on tour.
"I was going through a tunnel," he recalls. "It was dark. But I had music: music to play, music to listen to, music to get me out of my head. Music was my saviour."
That much is plain to hear on "Wake The Dead", Prophet's extraordinary - and unlikely - new album. Recorded with Qiensave, a band of brothers from the Central Coast farming community of Salinas, California, the collection dives headfirst into the world of Cumbia music, which consumed and comforted Prophet during his illness and subsequent recovery. The songs are intoxicatingly rhythmic, with arrangements that blur the lines between tradition and innovation, between past and present, between cultures and countries. There are flashes of rock and roll, punk, surf, and soul, all filtered through the streets of San Francisco and wrapped up in the rich legacy of a genre that traces its roots back hundreds of years and thousands of miles.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Thu, 27 Feb 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Polly Paulusma
Wildfires Tour
Polly Paulusma plays a stunning show of songs accompanied by Jon Thorne (Lamb, Yorkston Thorne Khan) on upright bass to celebrate the release of her latest album "Wildfires".
Together Paulusma and Thorne will bring you songs from across Paulusma's repertoire of six studio albums to date released since 2004 on Björk's label One Little Independent. Her latest, "Wildfires", is an extraordinary extended piece of work containing two hours of breathtakingly emotional songs interlaced with spoken word poetry. A truly immersive experience, the album has been produced by acclaimed record producer Ethan Johns (Laura Marling, Ray Lamontagne, Ryan Adams).
The musical connection between Paulusma and Thorne is something to behold; together they swoop and glide through songs from all of Paulusma's albums, but especially "Wildfires" which Thorne also recorded with Paulusma; combining their trademark bawdy humour and anecdotes with deep songs that touch on love, loss, grief and philosophical enquiry.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Thu, 6 Mar 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
The Ocelots
The Ocelots are twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson from Wexford, Ireland. Building on the folk-rock essence of their debut, the duo are excited to announce the release of their second album, "Everything, When Said Slowly", on February 7th 2025. This album unveils a richer, more expansive sound, produced by long-time collaborators Cillian and Lorcan Byrne (Ailbhe Reddy, Susan O'Neill). The narrative woven throughout the album explores themes of Irish migration, the perception of time, love, and the simple joys of cycling.
To support the album, the band are delighted to take the the road in the UK for a string of dates around its release.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Tue, 11 Mar 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Gentleman's Dub Club
Based in London but founded in Leeds in 2006, 8-piece band Gentleman's Dub Club have made an indelible mark on the live music scene. Their electronic music-infused dub and reggae and their high-energy shows garnering appearances at all major UK festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival, Boomtown and V Fest. Touring has taken the band international, and people from countries such as India, Morocco, the USA, and Iceland have been delighted by the band's infectious commitment to plugging in and leaving their guts on stage.
Their five albums have received widespread acclaim from DJs and music fans around the world, and have spent the vast majority of their time in the top echelons of the iTunes reggae charts. Their track "High Grade" from the "Open Your Eyes" EP is now a universally recognized reggae anthem.
Cambridge The Junction, CB1 7GX, Fri, 14 Mar 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
The Frank and Walters
Their recent single, "Stages", featured Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy doing a voiceover on the track; with The Franks & Walters you never know what to expect next, but you know it will be a bit quirky and great fun. Formed in Cork, Ireland they have been spreading joy and happiness with their indie-pop music for over 30 years.
"The Franks" became famous in the 90's Indie scene and have a catalogue of hundreds of songs from seven studio albums. They still play sold out gigs all over Europe.
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Sat, 17 May 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Shonen Knife
Shonen Knife's front girl Naoko was inspired to form the band by Beatles, Ramones, Buzzcocks etc. in Osaka on December 30, 1981. The origin of the band name is an old brand name of a pencil sharpener knife.
Their first album "Burning Farm", released on Zero Records in Japan in 1983, was reissued on legendary American label K Records in 1985.
Their one and only unique sound got popular in North America, UK and Europe; and their first major album "Let's Knife" was released in Japan, the US and UK in 1992.
Shonen Knife keeps on releasing their rockin albums and touring constantly worldwide!
Cambridge Portland Arms, CB4 3BA, Fri, 30 May 2025 at 7:00pm buy tickets
Shiny New Model 2025
After having way too much fun at the first Shiny New Model we wanted to build on it and bring you another line up of the sharpest cuts we can find. Keep an eye out for the line up as it unfolds!
Cambridge Cambridge Junction 1, 2 & 3, CB1 7GX, Sat, 11 Oct 2025 at 1:30pm buy tickets