The Hanging Stars + Lee Rogers - Hove

Twenty Music Roots Presents 

The Hanging Stars + support from  Lee Rogers live at The Brunswick, Hove, on Thursday 16th November 2023 

Ticket Price: £13 + booking fee 
Age restrictions:  18+ 
Location: 20 minutes walk from Hove station or 25 minutes from Brighton station 

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The Hanging Stars 

Blending folk pastoralism with swampy 60s Americana, The Hanging Stars sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the grey skies of London Town. The album was recorded between LA, Nashville and Walthamstow, with each of these vastly different places leaving an indelible mark on the songs. Their debut album Over the Silvery Lake came out in March 2016.

The band is made up of songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson, Sam Ferman on bass, Paulie Cobra on drums, Patrick Rally on banjo, guitar, keyboards and assorted instruments, with pedal steel courtesy of Horse and Joe Harvey Whyte.

The Hanging Stars place themselves firmly as part of a long folk tradition encompassing European and North American influences – as a continuation rather than a pastiche of these styles.

On the back of their album release, The Hanging Stars played sold-out shows at The Finsbury in Manor House and London’s The Lexington for an end of year extravaganza. They also shared the stage with Teenage Fanclub at their sold-out show at Islington Assembly Hall and played at the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia.

“An album with enough of a hazy, sun-dappled charm to make the capital’s dreariest weather bearable.” The Times 4*s

“A promising debut from London’s The Hanging Stars, who switch deftly between deliciously sentimental Americana and swaggering psychedelia.” Uncut

“A hazy, desert-dream of a song, nicely sharpened with steely-eyed guitars, Mersey-laced harmonies and just a whiff of the Gun Club.” – Guardian

“Swampy psychedelia that recalls the Medway Delta as much as the Mississippi, the band’s new single neatly conjoins these influences.” – Clash

Lee Rogers 

Based in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Lee Rogers produces sounds as emotive, inspiring and mysterious as his home turf feels. The contemporary songs with strong Americana influences contained on ‘Gameblood’, his second album, display a masterful musical craftsmanship while showing off open-hearted, lyrical storytelling. Rogers is an experienced singer-songwriter with his soul on his sleeve; a rare and authentic artist whose music is as timeless as he is.

​Lee Rogers began his career writing music and performing in his native Northern Ireland seven nights a week, until he signed a recording and publishing deal with Cambridge based record label ‘Zenith Café’.

Lee’s debut album ‘Drawing Clocks’ (produced by Marco Canepa) gained extensive airplay on Radio 2, XM worldspace, Sirius & BFBS amongst many others. Songs from this album also featured in ‘La Mano De Dios’ [Maradona documentary], TV show ‘Friends & Rivals’ and Hollywood movies including ‘The River King’.

‘Drawing Clocks’ was set to be a juggernaut of a release until the ground was shaken for both Lee and Zenith Cafe, when a (now infamous) banking scandal involving HBOS Reading, sadly drew an immediate stop to the project in 2007.

Lee turned his creativity towards tattooing and let his music take a back seat while he opened up his own studio in Country Antrim in 2008. He lived a hellishly colourful personal life during this time until Zenith Café set the wheels back in motion to pick up where they left off.

Spring 2020 saw Lee’s return to music and the release of his beautifully haunting cover of The Beegees classic ‘Stayin’ Alive’.

Recording throughout 2021 Lee Rogers took ‘Stayin’ Alive’ and a handful of his more deviant songs and grouped them together for a digital and 10” vinyl EP entitled ‘Dark Notions’, showcasing a collection of twisted tales and sinister moods.

Drawing on the skills of his recently ended tattooing day-job, Rogers himself has created the distinctive artwork for the EP and its associated single releases.

On his fifth major recording and third official release, Gameblood, Rogers comes across as a tender yet macho Noir outcast, honestly giving musical solidarity to fellow wounded exile-pioneers holding similar relational and existential pain. The experience and talent displayed on this album make him worthy of recognition alongside other leading singer-songwriters.

Rogers admits that he wasn’t in the greatest of places when he started this album, and its songs have themes of things hard to visit, but that he was able to harness and heal a little through the process.

Recorded at Sycamore Studios with his regular band (and produced by Gareth Dunlop), Rogers himself describes ‘Gameblood' as “a visit to those hard places that most people put to the back of their psyche and build a wall around. This album is a truer reflection of myself, my stories, where I’ve been and where I hope I am now”.

The result is a thought-provoking and earthy masterpiece.

Based in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Lee Rogers produces sounds as emotive, inspiring and mysterious as his home turf feels. The contemporary songs with strong Americana influences contained on ‘Gameblood’, his second album, display a masterful musical craftsmanship while showing off open-hearted, lyrical storytelling. Rogers is an experienced singer-songwriter with his soul on his sleeve; a rare and authentic artist whose music is as timeless as he is.

Lee Rogers began his career writing music and performing in his native Northern Ireland seven nights a week, until he signed a recording and publishing deal with Cambridge based record label ‘Zenith Café’.

Lee’s debut album ‘Drawing Clocks’ (produced by Marco Canepa) gained extensive airplay on Radio 2, XM worldspace, Sirius & BFBS amongst many others. Songs from this album also featured in ‘La Mano De Dios’ [Maradona documentary], TV show ‘Friends & Rivals’ and Hollywood movies including ‘The River King’.

‘Drawing Clocks’ was set to be a juggernaut of a release until the ground was shaken for both Lee and Zenith Cafe, when a (now infamous) banking scandal involving HBOS Reading, sadly drew an immediate stop to the project in 2007.

Lee turned his creativity towards tattooing and let his music take a back seat while he opened up his own studio in Country Antrim in 2008. He lived a hellishly colourful personal life during this time until Zenith Café set the wheels back in motion to pick up where they left off.

Spring 2020 saw Lee’s return to music and the release of his beautifully haunting cover of The Beegees classic ‘Stayin’ Alive’.

Recording throughout 2021 Lee Rogers took ‘Stayin’ Alive’ and a handful of his more deviant songs and grouped them together for a digital and 10” vinyl EP entitled ‘Dark Notions’, showcasing a collection of twisted tales and sinister moods.

Drawing on the skills of his recently ended tattooing day-job, Rogers himself has created the distinctive artwork for the EP and its associated single releases.

On his fifth major recording and third official release, Gameblood, Rogers comes across as a tender yet macho Noir outcast, honestly giving musical solidarity to fellow wounded exile-pioneers holding similar relational and existential pain. The experience and talent displayed on this album make him worthy of recognition alongside other leading singer-songwriters.​

Rogers admits that he wasn’t in the greatest of places when he started this album, and its songs have themes of things hard to visit, but that he was able to harness and heal a little through the process.

Recorded at Sycamore Studios with his regular band (and produced by Gareth Dunlop), Rogers himself describes ‘Gameblood' as “a visit to those hard places that most people put to the back of their psyche and build a wall around. This album is a truer reflection of myself, my stories, where I’ve been and where I hope I am now”.

The result is a thought-provoking and earthy masterpiece.