LEEDS: The Brudenell Social Club

Thursday 3rd September, 2009

7:30pm

Event information

The description “cult band” usually suggests a group that has been going for a while but is only really important to a very small number of people. This definition can be applied to The Pastels, in that they are a permanent feature of student bedrooms, scouring out the back rooms of the Western world. Such an impression may be unfair, as is the fact that good fortune always seems to have eluded them. But their music has been a breath of fresh air - and a fistful of dollars - to a whole generation of musicians, and it doesn’t stop with Teenage Fanclub; Sonic Youth rate them, and JAMC and Kurt Cobain revered them. “Les Inrockuptibles” Paris, France.

The Pastels, from Glasgow, have been described as an ‘almost pop’ group. As the description implies the group have some pop elements but miss out on others and have never charted. Their early records (1982-85) for labels like Whaam!, Creation and Rough Trade had a raw and immediate sound, melodic and amateur, which seemed all at odds with the time. But an emerging fanzine culture identified with the group’s sound and image, and slowly The Pastels started to influence a new wave of groups which interested the NME and other UK media. By now The Pastels were evolving and, although part of the NME’s c86 compilation, in interviews they always sought to distance themselves from both twee and shambling developments. Their debut album Up for a Bit With the Pastels (Glass, 1987) was quite strange, moving from garage pop-punk through to ballads with synth orch splashes. The follow-up Sittin’ Pretty (Chapter22, 1989) was harder but less interesting. Reports started to appear in the UK music press that the group was splitting up.

Slowly it became clear that a new line-up was configuring around original members, Stephen McRobbie and Annabel Wright (Aggi), now joined by Katrina Mitchell. This line-up is probably the best known of The Pastels various phases, and often featured either David Keegan (Shop Assistants) or Gerard Love (Teenage Fanclub) on guitar. They signed with the emergingdomino records and completed two albums, Mobile Safari (1995) and Illumination (1997), which showed them developing an odd, particular sound - melancholic and awkward but warm and engaging. A remix set featured My Bloody Valentine, Jim O’Rourke and others - Illuminati (1998). Their most recent release is the soundtrack to David Mackenzie’s The Last Great Wilderness (Geographic, 2003) which is mostly instrumental but somehow more than just incidental. It features a track recorded in collaboration with Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.

The Pastels now operate their own Geographic Music label through Domino and are partners in Glasgow’s Monorail Music shop.

With a new collaborative album, with Japanese band Tenniscoats, released: 09/09/09 on Domino Records.
this show is definitely now one to miss.
Click here for more info... http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/pastels-and-tenniscoats/

for everyone....

The Pastels myspace = http://www.myspace.com/thepastels
The Pastels Domino Records Page = http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/the-pastels/

Venue information

LEEDS: The Brudenell Social Club

0	33 Queens Road Leeds West Yorkshire LS6 1NY
>	www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk
!	01132752411
`	Live music will generally begin around 30 minutes after doors open.