Membranes and friends, 5/5 Manchester BAND holiday weekend
Last year, The Membranes & Friends show was a roaring success. This year they are back, taking over The Ritz in Manchester and curating another amazing bill of top artist for an all day event on Saturday 5th May with The Lovely Eggs, Evil Blizzard, The Cravats, One Sided Horse, LIINES and Sink Ya Teeth. Scroll down for some mates rates tickets!
Led by the man, the legend, that is John Robb (Membranes, Louder Than War), they will also be joined on stage by a twenty piece choir debuting songs from their forthcoming, new double album. Look out music lovers - this is large!
TheZineUK : What was the original inspiration/intention for creating and curating the first Membranes & Friends?
"We love trying to do ambitious things - we have played a gig at the top of Blackpool tower, we have played gigs in Europe with choirs in places like Estonia and Portugal, we are trying to do stuff out of the box and the Ritz is a big venue but an amazing space - our favourite place in Manchester and we have such a big sound especially with the choir that we need all that space to make it breathe and come alive.
Also being someone who writes about music all the time, it was an opportunity to create a bill of bands that we love as well - every band is on the bill for a reason - we think they are all great and urge the people who are coming to get there from the start to see Sink Y teeth and LIINES - who are amazing new bands - the whole day is a shared experience."
What were the defining moments from last year for you?
"Just making it work and seeing some of the bands who never get to play the big stage, and through big PA systems, get to play in that sort of space. Bands like The Nightingales looked and sounded fantastic in that environment."
The Membranes have a new double album dropping in September. What’s in store for us? Collaborations? Any surprises?
"We have quite a few tracks recorded with the choir and I’ve been playing rough mixes of a couple of them to people and they have been blown away - there is something about the collision betweent the choir and our sound that really works - we use the choir in a glacial Scandiniavian/Estonian way; beautiful dark drone melodies that fit really well over our bass driven post punk. It's been really exciting putting this together. The album sounds epic.
We also have Chris Packham (TV's Nature presenter, 'Springwatch' etc) on one track talking about the beauty and violence of nature which is the theme of the album - there are songs about crows, the powerful sensual attraction of scent on a song called A Strange Perfume - we are making our own perfume through LUSH for this song, songs about Georgia O’Keefee and voluptuous flowers, songs about he ocean, songs about the city versus nature, songs about opening Pandoras box - a whole double album around the theme of nature and then beyond."
The Ritz is one of my favourite venues in the UK. Tell us about the efforts to raise funds to restore the old girl.
"They are getting there - it would be great to see such a wonderful venue get the embrace it deserves..."
How did you decide who you were going to invite to play for 2018?
"That’s the hard bit - so many great bands around these days - would have loved to have invited some of the really good Russian bands that are coming through at the moment like Shortparis and Lucidvox, but money and visas and politics are getting in the way... "
Will The Membranes & Friends become an annual pilgrimage event for us music lovers?
"That’s the plan!
The promoter has just given us 20 mates rates tickets for the Membranes & Friends on 5th May! A very limited amount" - BUY NOW before they run out: Via This Link
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