York Gigs

£6 ADV

Shaped by a love of music stretching from Elvis to Ed Sheeran, Johnny Cash to Cypress Hill, Leon makes music from the heart. ​

​His songs feature toe-tapping rhythms and hooks to get audiences on their feet and singing from the get-go.

Based in Harrogate, he has performed at the spa town’s famous theatre, the Harrogate Blues Bar and become a seasoned veteran of the open mic circuit.

This is BAD (that’s the song title not a personal opinion)

Doors 8pm, get Venue Info
.

£??

PERCY return to the wonderful Woolpack for an evening of punchy punk pop tunes and visual adventures. https://soundcloud.com/sister-of-percy

We are very excited to announce that we will be joined by the awesome talents that are THE BLACK LAGOONS https://soundcloud.com/the_black_lagoons “heavy psychedelic sludge to spooked garage surf”

and Lewis Mennell’s marvellous duo THE ESTUARY DWELLERS from Hull. Excellent observational and entertaining stuff. https://www.facebook.com/EstuaryDwellers/

7pm, get Venue Info
.

£12 BUY TICKETS

Over to Kurt Cobain, “When I finally got to see SHONEN KNIFE live, I was transformed into a hysterical nine-year-old girl at a Beatles concert”.

“Objectively, they can only play in a rudimentary fashion, their songs are ludicrously simple and it’s not new. Objectivity can fuck right off, because Shonen Knife are brilliant” – Artocker

Ground-breaking all-female Japanese pop-punk rock trio formed in Osaka in 1981, inspired by late ‘70’s punk-pop particularly The Ramones. Inspired, the band crafted their own idiosyncratic songs, fashioned brightly coloured outfits and DIY albums and signed to Sub Pop.

“Rocks like Motorhead designed by Hanna-Barbara” – Uncut

“There are two types of people: those in to thrashy Japanese girl-punk, and those with something wrong” – The Independent

“Pumping out prototype riot grrrl, thrashing together early punk sounds with pop melodies” – Music OMH: 8/10

The cream of the of the alt. rock scene (Sonic Youth / L7 / Redd Kross) covered their favourite Shonen Knife songs on the tribute album ‘Every Band Has A Shonen Knife Who Loves Them’ and the girls toured with Nirvana (on the ‘Nevermind’ tour), The Breeders and as part of Lollapalooza. They even recorded sessions for John Peel and appeared on MTV’s ‘Beavis and Butthead’.

fast forward to 2009 and appearances at Matt Groening’s curated ATP, Summer Sundae festival, Incubate, Le Guess Who? Handmade Festival and, quite literally, worldwide touring alongside acclaimed albums Supergroup, Freetime, Osaka Ramones, Poptune and Overdrive. Oh, and regular BBC6 Music sessions for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe.

Recently celebrating thirty five years in rock, Shonen Knife show no signs of slowing down!

This is I Am A Cat

Support from Sewage Farm + Fond

Doors 7.30pm, get Venue Info
.

£6 ADV BUY TICKETS

Joshua Burnell & his 6-piece folk-rock band have shaken the world of folk music with their epic fantasy ballads and fiddle tunes bolstered with the swirling distortion of the Hammond organ. Join them for the launch of the brand new album: Songs From The Seasons.

Joshua’s previous album, Into the Green, was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews – ‘A giant of an album that should be on everybody’s summer listening.’ (Liverpool Sound And Vision) – and to follow it up, Joshua set himself his most challenging project yet: to release a folk song every week for a year.

This is Sing For The Island

Doors 7.30pm, get Venue Info
.

£15 BUY TICKETS

SALAD have reformed and they’re playing the ’90s hits, plus a few new numbers too! Full electric and full band show, of course.

Formed ’92 in London by Marijne van der Vlugt, Paul Kennedy, Pete Brown and Rob Wakeman, they released three albums (2nd one ‘Drink Me’ debuting at No.16) and toured extensively, notably supporting Blur in 1994. The first two singles came out on their own Waldorf label with subsequent releases on Island.

And all Salad members are on board, including Charley Stone (who joined Salad in 1997), but sadly not drummer Rob (writer of Drink The Elixir), however he hopes to contribute a song or two for the new album in 2018.

Donald Ross Skinner (Julian Cope guitarist and producer of Salad’s last album Ice Cream, 1997), has joined the band on drums.

Support from S*M*A*S*H

Doors 7.30pm, get Venue Info
.

£10 ADV BUY TICKETS

This spring will mark the tenth anniversary of the death of York drummer Howard Sparnenn, prompting his family to stage a charity memorial concert in aid of Brain Tumour Research.

Concert organiser Jeanette Sparnenn, Howard’s widow, says: “Howard lost his fight against brain cancer on May 4 2008. He was well known throughout the region as a great advocate and promoter of York music. Being responsible for many of the long-running jam sessions, he was also personally instrumental in building up the York pub music scene, persuading many landlords to lean towards trying live music.

“This anniversary occasion will be marked by a Sunday afternoon charity memorial gig on April 29, when Howard’s friends from a selection of bands he played with during his long career will reunite to honour his memory. This will include Rocket3, Freeway, Smart Move and Flight, a group that back in the 1970s could regularly be heard on BBC Radio 1 and were one of the most prevalent local bands of their time.”

York band Mostly Autumn, fronted by Howard’s daughter, singer Olivia Sparnenn Josh, will make their own small musical dedication to close proceedings.

Doors 3.30pm, get Venue Info
.