An all-ages matinee show, from 13:30 - 16:00.
Fika Recordings proudly presents the return of annual Winter Sprinter! Four nights and twelve bands - the perfect antidote to the January blues in the intimate surroundings of The Lexington.
Tickets £14 adv + bf from WeGotTickets. Under 18s are free - but must be accompanied by an adult. Please note The Lexington’s licensing terms require all under 18s to be off the premises before 17:00.
Winter Sprinter 2023 Spotify playlist here
BALLBOY
Favourites of the late John Peel, who invited them to perform five sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show 2000-2004 as well as featured them many times in his Festive Fifty chart, ballboy are a cult indie-pop band from Edinburgh whose warm, whimsical and savagely witty speak-sung songs about bored sex, DIY drugs, civic shame and polar bears helped to define a generation of fiercely independent Scottish music around the turn of the millennium.
ballboy are Gordon McIntyre, together with Nick Reynolds (bass), Gary Morgan (drums) and Alexa Morrison (keys, vocals), the latter of whom joined the band in 2004, replacing original keyboardist Katie Griffiths (pictured above). Evoking shades of The Wedding Present, The Field Mice, Arab Strap and Billy Bragg, Club Anthems 2001 helped to break ballboy to an international audience and saw the band go on to tour widely around the US and Europe, as well as release four full-length albums – A Guide for the Daylight Hours (2002), The Sash My Father Wore and Other Stories (2003), The Royal Theatre (2004) and I Worked on the Ships (2008).
THE JUST JOANS
A stripped back set from The Just Joans, with Katie, David and Fraser.
The Just Joans were formed in Glasgow in 2005 by songwriter David Pope. Naming the band after Daily Record agony aunt Joan Burnie’s ‘Just Joan’ column, work immediately began on a number of lo-fi tracks dealing with love, rejection and everyday angst. As he advanced from singing sad songs in his bedroom to singing sad songs live, David recruited Chris Elkin as a guitarist. Shortly after, he would add younger sister Katie Pope as a vocalist, alongside bassist Fraser Ford – with all four remaining in the band to this day. It is the more recent additions, Jason Sweeney on drums and multi-instrumentalist Arion Xenos, that have helped elevate the band to a new level - both in terms of the studio and the stage. Completing the journey from shambling two-piece to accomplished sextet, the band continue to win fans with their mischievous lyrics and tender melodies. Embracing Scottish culture at every turn, the band were perhaps best described by Is This Music as ‘the missing link between The Magnetic Fields and The Proclaimers.’
ALISON EALES
Alison is a long-standing member of the band Butcher Boy, playing piano, accordion and other keyboards as well as arranging for choir and brass. The band have made three studio albums: Profit in Your Poetry (2007), React or Die (2009) and Helping Hands (2011). All of these albums have been well-received, with React or Die featuring in The Times’ top 100 pop albums of the 2000s. The band have also released two EPs. A compilation album, You Had A Kind Face, was released on Needle Mythology in 2022, along with three new songs, with tracks mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. Butcher Boy have supported bands including Belle and Sebastian, Scritti Politti and The Wedding Present.