The Destroyers by Pete Ashton
Brummie band of the moment The Destroyers are to launch their UK and Ireland tour with a Summer Gypsy Ball in the new Digbeth music venue The Crossing at South Birmingham College on Milk Street. The gig this Fri 4th June will also feature a performance from East London’s Urban Vodoo Machine, live visuals from Syzygy and DJ sets from the Jibbering collective and Marc Reck.
Tickets are £10 in advance from The Ticket Sellers or £12 on the door (though I suspect this may sell out beforehand). If you can’t make what promises to be a seriously cracking gig, the action will be live streamed via The Destroyers website. As I’m on me holiday, I’m going to be well lazy and copy and paste rest of the press release below. The Irish Post have also done a feature on the gig.
The Destroyers by Pete Ashton
The Destroyers’ Summer Gypsy Ball coincides with the beginning of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in the UK and will pay homage to a nomadic culture rich in both tradition and musical exploration. With careering Klezmer rhythms, Mariachi brass, Balkan strings, traditional Irish melodies, uptempo ska, gypsy jazz and punk-polka amongst other ingredients, The Destroyers have embraced this genre defying approach, and in doing so reflect the cultural and musical make-up of their home city as well as a love of gathering and interpreting new and established influences.
On debut album Out of Babel, the song Torregaveta paid tribute to two young Roma sisters, while the lyrics “Intorno al mondo la musica attraversa la frontiera (around the world music crosses the frontier)” sung in Italian by band member Leo Altarelli in Questa Canzone has become an unofficial mission statement for the group.
“Gypsy music has been a source of immense inspiration for us – the word gypsy itself conjures up many things. Firelight and painted caravans. Swirling skirts and stamping feet. Hand clapping and stirring guitars. A people for whom music is life-blood. I don’t have to be a fortune-teller to predict that The Destroyers’ Gypsy Ball with the Urban Voodoo Machine is going to be one whirling spectacle of a gig. Only the dead won’t dance!” Paul Murphy, The Destroyers
Urban Voodoo Machine, described by the Washington Post as “Nick Cave in a dark mood fronting a drunken Dexy’s Midnight Runners” supported veteran Irish folk-punk band The Pogues on their recent US tour, have recorded a cover of AC/DC’s Hells Bells to Classic Rock magazine’s Back in Black 30th anniversary tribute album and host the regular Gypsy Hotel night at Barden’s Boudoir in London.
Between them, Jibbering DJs and Marc Reck are responsible for programming and promoting some of Birmingham’s most eclectic and groundbreaking events, including the sell-out Mr Elephant nights at hip venues The Rainbow and Hare & Hounds and have brought internationally renowned artists such as Keith Murray, Horace Andy [Massive Attack] and The Black Seeds to the city.
“Dirty hooks meet boho laughs…a seductively dangerous and unique listen’ Clash Magazine
2009 saw The Destroyers release debut album Out of Babel and embark on a 24 date tour, which took in single launch parties in London and Birmingham, five shows at Glastonbury in four days, an impromptu set at a tiny Norfolk village fete as well as triumphant shows at Trowbridge and Shambala Festivals.
Out of Babel was produced by influential recording engineer Gavin Monaghan [The Editors, Scott Matthews, The Twang] and Louis Robinson, a founding member of The Destroyers, at the Magic Garden Studios in Wolverhampton. Following its release the album garnered critical acclaim, including a four star review from world music bible Songlines.
