When: 7pm on Friday 4 February 2022
Where: YES (Basement), 38 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB

PLEASE NOTE: This show has now sold out! 

We’re delighted to be welcoming The Surfing Magazines back to Manchester!

Garage rock supergroup The Surfing Magazines have unveiled their new single Sports Bar, the first release from their forthcoming album Badgers of Wymeswold, out this summer via Moshi Moshi Records.

Consisting of one half of Slow Club and two thirds of The Wave Pictures, The Surfing Magazines’ primary influences are Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground and all the great surf guitar music of the 1960s. They burst onto the scene with their eponymous debut album in 2017, a lauded LP described by Record Collector Mag as ‘a vintage-yet-modern rock’n’roll classic’.

Marking their first release since 2017, Sports Bar combines rumbling bass, slick vocals and witty lyricism to masterful effect. In typically mischievous fashion, the band describe it as ‘like The Modern Lovers if Marc Bolan had sung lead vocals instead of Jonathan Richman, with a bridge ripped out of Pavement, only better than any of those people’s music,’ and in doing so strike a curious balance of self-deprecation and self-belief – a quality that permeates their music as well as their description of it.

Mixing the noir surf textures of 1960s garage rock along with west coast sun beaten harmony pop, the 17-track Badgers of Wymeswold follows the acclaimed debut and is to be released July this year. The London-based foursome recorded the album at Ranscomb Studio in Rochester in February last year before the start of the first UK lockdown.

Pushing their sound forward, the band utilise their garage rock ethic and have both drummer Dominic Brider and rhythm guitar player Charles Watso lead on vocals across multiple tracks. The album sees a return of freeform saxophone parts, eerie violins and piano all appear, notably on tracks Nostaw Boogie and I’m Going Out Tonight To Play Some Pool. The title track is drawn from David Tattersall’s nightmare vision about his home town’s population of self-governing people, the album artwork was also made by Tattersall and depicts a collage of his referenced dreams. The extensive LP showcases their characteristic sound at their brightest, from softer ballads such as Poppies and Silver Breasts, surf guitar rock anthem Locomotive Cheer, and to the six bar blues Pink Ice Cream.

Their first release in four years, Sports Bar sees The Surfing Magazines draw on their trademark garage rock sound with undeniable results.

Local support comes from Granfalloon – the musical project of Manchester-based artist Richard Lomax. Lomax makes a hybrid of alt-folk acoustica, and lo-fi electronica – weaving oddball elements, such as Omnichords, acoustic guitars, and vintage drum loops, into dreamy songs and cinematic soundscapes. Their latest album Positive Songs is out now.

Buy tickets now. Tickets are available from Dice.fm, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

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