GEOFF BERNER Trio

Event information

Two sets by Geoff Berner trio with an interval.
Canadian klezmer accordionist Geoff Berner is touring in the UK in June/July 2013, accompanied by DIONA DAVIES (violin) and WAYNE ADAMS (percussion). The tour will kick-off at GLASTONBURY, where he has been invited to play on the Leftfield Stage by Billy Bragg, followed by gigs nationwide.
After several years fronting punk band Terror of Tiny Town, Geoff Berner released Light Enough to Travel (2000) which was covered by The Be Good Tanyas, who had some chart success with their version in the UK. His first full-length album, We Shall Not Flag or Fail, We Shall Go On to the End (2003) featured the track We All Gotta Be a Prostitute Sometimes, also covered by a number of artists.
Berner travelled to Romania, to study traditional klezmer music, where he suffered a severe infection and was rushed to a Romanian hospital. This inspired him to write Song Written in a Romanian Hospital released on the Whiskey Rabbi album (2005), the first of a trilogy of albums, each providing a different spin on his Jewish heritage and traditional klezmer.
The 5th studio album, Victory Party, was released in 2011. He has toured constantly since. His openness to experimentation, spirited Eastern European klezmer influences, punk rock attitude and work with producer Josh Dolgin (a.k.a. Socalled) resulted an innovative, engaging and lively album full of surprises.
“I wanted to make an album that sounded bigger, more “klezmer-ey”, and more transgressive, all at the same time. And I knew I couldn’t do it alone. In fact, I knew that I couldn’t do it without Josh.”
Josh Dolgin is an acknowledged genius of modern Jewish music. He is famous for his own albums, which fuse hip-hop and klezmer.
“I had to swallow a great deal of anxiety to be able to hand the reigns of production over to someone else. And if anything, he exceeded my expectations. He had a new idea for making a song better every 3-5 minutes.”
Berner’s live shows are a revelation, ranging from crazed, chaotic, drunken dancing and psychotic laughter to a reverential calm. He has built a sizable cult following through extensive touring.