BRISTOL: The Thunderbolt

Friday 26th April, 2024

7:30pm

Event information

"If you have never heard the Doctors of Madness, you should.
Musically they are the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls
with shades of glam, hippie, prog and punk all rolled into one, yet are still totally original.
Vastly underrated, they should have been huge. Pure genius"
Vic Reeves (Comedian and Artist)
Exploding onto the music scene in 1975 with their theatrical, William Burroughs-inspired Sci-fi nightmare, they were misunderstood by many, but those who knew understood the importance of the band’s dangerous, uncompromising approach to lyrics, to music and to performance.

Among the many fans of the band were acts as diverse as The Damned, Vic Reeves, Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Spiritualized, Julian Cope, The Adverts, The Skids, Howard Marks, Harlan Ellison and Simple Minds. The Sex Pistols supported them, so did The Jam. Oh, and Joy Division. They were the first British band to combine the avant-garde approach of The Velvet Underground with a distinctly European aesthetic. The blue hair, exotic stage-names, the lyrical themes of urban decay, political propaganda, mind control and madness were all taken up by the punk bands who followed in their wake.

Doctors of Madness were trailblazers, pioneers, adventurers…pushing the boundaries of rock music and theatre to see how far it would go before it bust. What happened after them was due, in no small part, to what they achieved in three short years.
Now, forty-five years after they imploded, they are back, with a UK tour announced for April 2024, which will feature material from all four of their albums, including their latest release- Dark Times, an album seething with lyrical anger and passion. Dark Times is the most potent and incisive musical dissection of modern life and contemporary politics released in the last decade. With tracks titles like “So Many Ways To Hurt You”, “Sour Hour”, “Make It Stop!”, “Dumb” and the ground-breaking sonic assault of the title track “Dark Times”, Richard “Kid” Strange proves once again that he has his finger firmly on the pulse of our times, just as he had when he founded the band in 1974.

Produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses, Pink Floyd, XTC, Simple Minds etc), the latest album, Dark Times, features contributions from Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Sarah Jane Morris (Communards), Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Tindersticks etc.), Steve ‘Boltz’ Bolton (The Who, Scott Walker, Atomic Rooster, Paul Young Band etc) and the young protest singer Lily Bud.

With him on stage for this tour will be the thunderous rhythm section who helped him make this record – Japanese musicians Susumu Ukei (bass) and Mackii Ukei (drums).
Support from Madame Mutante
Madame Mutante are: Sadie Morningstar (Mudd Club), Jen Chambers (The Ropeburns), Bex (John E Visic) and Heidi Heelz (The Fallen Women). Expect sex and death, melodrama, Velvets dirge and sleazy glam!
https://www.facebook.com/madamemutante
MILKFIZ
Maximalist post punk skronk, ffo James Chance, Sleaford Mods and X Ray Spex. Recent support slots for The Miki Berenji Trio, Charley Stone (Desperate Journalist) and Madame Mutante have sealed their reputation a a thrilling live band!