Phobophobes + support

Psych/garage rock band Phobophobes emanate from the South London scene which includes Fat White Family, Shame, Meatraffle, and Goat Girl. The band have released a well-received new album ‘Miniature World’ (Album of the Day on BBC 6 Music recently ) and single ‘Human Baby’ which was Steve Lamacq’s single of the week. They have just finished a tour with Killing Joke. 

“Psychedelic garage rock with gust” – Drowned In Sound 

“An amalgam of Nick Cave, garage rock and surf pop” – Indie Is Not A Genre

 “Dishevelled, provocative, unruly, rock and roll debauchery” – The 405

With March 2018’s release of Miniature World it has been a far more positive time for Phobophobes than recent years. Support across the UK, Europe and the U.S has grown significantly over the last eight months since the release, as well as the band itself. Now a six-piece, their sound is tumultuous, big and beautiful.

Phobophobes currently consists of frontman Jamie Bardolph Taylor, keyboardist and vocalist Chris Olivares Chandler, drummer Nathan Ridley, guitarist Jack Fussey, bassist Bede Trillo and lap-steel maestro Elliot Nash, their previous bassist. Having just come off tour with Killing Joke, and playing their final date at London’s Roundhouse, Phobophobes are running at full speed. With a new album nearly complete, 2019 is set be as exciting for them as for their fans. Their influences are widespread – and atypical – with the music closer to the spirit of apocalyptic garage rock than it is to consumer pop. Think Wall of Voodoo, Joe Meek and Leonard Cohen via Monty Python and Rhubarb and Custard.

Jamie and Chris, both south Londoners, founded the band in 2013. The intervening years have played out anything but smoothly: they’ve been through three managers, four producers, five studios and eleven band members. 2016 brought with it tragedy. George Bedford Russell, who played guitar, passed away. “He was a beautiful person and a close friend,” says Jamie. “He suffered from severe depression and as a consequence self-medicated. His prescription drugs alone didn’t provide any kind of long-term solution.” For Elliot Nash, the band’s previous bassist and one of George’s closest friends, staying in Phobophobes proved too difficult and he left soon after. Having had some time off, however, the rest of the band decided to go on. “We spoke about it a lot and think it’s what George would have wanted,” says Jamie. “His mother told us he had some of his happiest times playing in the band. Being told that kept us together.”

George’s spirit is ingrained in every song on their debut album – the first lines of the dark, gritty opening track included. On Where Is My Owner?, Jamie sings lines from one of George’s poems: “I do not sink, I do not fall / The ground is a friend to all”. Even their new album has George’s playing embedded within it. “George lived in fiction. He was always reading books and poetry,” Jamie remembers. “He had huge admiration for Will Self, both for his writing and for the way he dealt with his addictions.”

The band asked writer Will Self if they could record him reading one of George’s poems. Happily, he agreed. Steve Lamacq played the corresponding single “Human Baby” on BBC 6 Music every day for a week, along with further support across 6 Music for all subsequent releases from the album, including Miniature World being featured as 6Music Album of the Day.

Phobophobes are now as settled as a band as they have ever been and “Miniature World” served notice that a new era had begun. From this, they gained more and more attention. Lauren Laverne has regularly played the band’s tracks on BBC 6 Music, while the album was mixed by Youth, of Killing Joke. Since then they have gone on to record their second album with Youth, due for UK release in 2019, and have fully embraced the return of the previous bassman Elliot Nash, this time on lap-steel and baritone guitar.

Phobophobes are a reminder that rock’n’roll can, even as the last embers fade, continue to mean something beyond an Instagram post and the search for five minutes of fame. They are at their best when performing live. With beautiful keyboard, soaring vocals and stunning guitars and rhythms, they appear committed to the intensity of whatever moment they find themselves in.

Support from The Glitter Shop and Pin Ups

The Glitter Shop are a grunge-pop outfit from Bury St Edmunds (featuring past members of Fortunato and Suburban Minds). Taking influences from artists such as The Vaccines and Turnover, fused with a love for electronic sounds and synths. They recently supported Pip Blom at The Waterfront in Norwich.

https://soundcloud.com/theglittershop

Pin Ups is based between London and Norwich – with Jesse and Louis Baker on drums and bass respectively and Josh from London on guitar. All three share singing. The band take their influences from The Buzzcocks, Pulp, Peggy Gou, Steely Dan and The Soft Boys. The boys just try to make their gigs exciting and visceral – they want to make an impact on people when they see them play. Trying to describe their sound… it’s Wonky-Grunge-Indie that’s inspired by Yacht Rock. 

“Pin Ups sound is both uncompromising and irresistible. Their singles ‘You Make Me Feel So Sick’, produced by Rory Atwell (The Vaccines, Palma Violets, Childhood) exudes energy evident in the frenetic guitars and matched vocal delivery that carry the track through its three-and-a-half minutes, while earmarking Pin Ups as not only one of the freshest and most exciting bands doing the rounds at present, but perhaps one of the most idiosyncratic as well. Expect to see much more of them soon”- Louder Than War.

Tickets are £7 in advance, available from the Box Office on 01449 774678 (10am-2pm weekdays) or online through our ticket partner, 

WeGotTickets (10% booking fee applies) 

here - https://www.wegottickets.com/event/469763

Also available on the door for £9.