Autumn 1904

Event information

Penny Black Music is delighted to host Autumn 1904’s first home city gig in almost forty years at The Wee Red Bar at the Edinburgh College of Art on the 1st November. Tickets are available in advance from www.wegottickets.com for £12.50 or on the door on the night at £15 (cash only please).

AUTUMN 1904

The resurrection and return of Autumn 1904 has been remarkable. Marrying a post-punk edginess with a huge pop sound, they were one of the main players on the fervent live scene in Edinburgh in the early 1980s, which also included Goodbye Mr Mackenzie and Finitribe. Briefly touted for fame, the septet had at one point eleven record labels keen to sign them, but fell apart instead because of line-up problems, leaving behind a much acclaimed John Peel Session from 1984 and just one other track which had been released on a compilation tape which had come as part of the opening issue of ‘Deadbeat’, a local fanzine.

The discovery of some old Autumn 1904 demos and live recordings by keyboardist and band leader Allan Dumbreck while cleaning out a cupboard during lockdown led to him contacting his old bandmates. An album, ‘Tales of Innocence’, which has come out on the influential Last Night From Glasgow label, and features re-recordings of the demos as well as the BBC Session, entered the Top Ten in the Scottish charts when it was released earlier this year. The reunion features, as well as Dumbreck, four other original members, Billy Leslie (vocals), Billy Bowie (bass, vocals), Keith Falconer (drums) and Ross Thom (guitar), and new backing vocalist Holly Rowlands. Autumn 1904 played a triumphant show at SWG3 in Glasgow in May, and this, their second gig since they reformed, and first in Edinburgh since they broke up in early 1985, promises to be similarly euphoric,

THE NORMANS

The Normans is the current band of Norman Rodger, the former frontman with Edinburgh post-punk cult act TV21. They released a string of excellent singles including ‘Playing with Fire’, ‘On the Run’ and ‘Ambition, as well as an acclaimed 1981 debut album, ‘On a Thin Red Line’, before breaking up in June 1982 on the night they concluded a short Scottish tour at the Edinburgh Playhouse in support of The Rolling Stones. A belated second album, ‘Forever 22’, was well-received by their small but fanatical following upon its release in 2009, when TV21 reformed for a few years in the ‘00s.

Rodger also had some success in Canada with his iband The Collector, and which spawned into Shame who released a 1990 album, ‘Sym’.

The Normans only rarely play gigs and will be performing an acoustic set, which will consist of new songs and also some TV21 classics. The Collectot played a gig with Autumn 1904 in 1984 , and this Edinburgh show will all these years ononce again put Rodger and his old friends on the same srage.

EVE DAVIDSON

Eve Davidson is a Fife-based 21-year old singer-songwriter with a growing reputation, and who has won acclaim for her stunning vocal harmonies. She will be opening the evening with a short solo set, and will also be guesting on some songs with Autumn 1904.