July 24th: The Hayman Kupa Band album launch show

Advance tickets from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings

THE HAYMAN KUPA BAND When Darren Hayman (Hefner) and Emma Kupa (Standard Fare/ Mammoth Penguins) decided to make a duets record, we knew the results would be great, but we didn’t expect them to be THIS great. Gathering together a rhythm section consisting of Michael Wood (Whoa Melodic/Singing Adams) on bass and Cat Loye (Fever Dream) on drums, The Hayman Kupa band create brash, bold and effortlessly melodic power pop. Sharing writing duties and sometimes singing each others words, lines are blurred and creativity explored in a wonderfully exuberant collection of songs. The album, recorded in three days at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate, is an exploration of relationships and, at its heart, it’s the sound of a friendship being made.

WOLF GIRL Wolf Girl are Becky, Chris, Carl and Christabel - a garage pop four-piece based in South London. Having met each other through being in awkward teenage bands in the South East, they eventually formed in September 2013. With admirable authenticity, they record and rehearse in an old garage called Bucket East that backs onto the river Wandle, staying faithful to their garage-rock tendencies. It’s been said that they both do and don’t sound like the Ramones, and have also been compared to both the Shop Assistants and Bratmobile. Wolf Girl have their own trademarks though, offering a spirited take on powerful, melodic and jagged indie pop that often recalls the noisier aspects of C86.

SCHANDE A London trio, Schande are known for writing discordantly catchy, melodic indie rock- that joyous blend of 90s indie at its best, mixed with a unique element of the unknown. Jen’s take on Schande’s sound is simple: “We’re not story tellers- the music is landscape where literal meaning is irrelevant. We’re inspired by memory, by experience and by those undefined tangents and planes linking the two. Those tensions between space and location- that’s what we soundtrack.”

Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures

We're thrilled to announce that Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures will be playing at The Shacklewell Arms on Tuesday 27th August! Support on the night comes from Freschard. This show is a sneak preview of their upcoming album, out on Fika Recordings early 2014 and tickets are now available to purchase from WeGotTickets. We're happy to have the capable hands of Scared To Dance joining us on promotional duties for the show too!

Stanley Brinks is the current identity of André Herman Düne, formerly of the French folk rock band Herman Düne. He has recorded and played shows in Europe, the UK and the US under various other names such Ben Dope, Ben Haschish, Klaus Bong, John Trawling, Lord Stanislas.

Since leaving Herman Düne in December 2006 he has been championed by the likes of Jeffrey Lewis (who wrote a song about how Herman Düne were better when André was still in them) and in 2012 he collaborated with The Wave Pictures for their debut joint release. The follow up album is due to come out on Fika Recordings next year.

Stanley Brinks will be joined by The Wave Pictures as his backing band for this show. The Wave Pictures are David Tattersall, Franic Rozycki and Jonny “Huddersfield” Helm. Formed in 1998 when Franic and David lived in a village called Wymeswold, the band played with several drummers until Jonny became a permanent member in 2003 replacing Hugh J Noble. In the beginning the band learned to play together by covering Jonathan Richman songs.

They have released a twelve studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. Their new album, City Forgiveness, will be out in October on the Moshi Moshi label.

Freschard is the musical vehicle for the solo artist Clemence Freschard. She writes songs deftly combining folk music, urban daydreams, acoustic sounds and electronic programming.

Growing up in a farm in French Burgundy, she moved to Paris at the age of 18 where she baked pies and cakes in a café. There, a local musician and regular customer called André Herman Düne wrote a few songs for her to sing.

In 2004 she moved to Berlin, where she recorded her first LP Alien Duck with a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds. Her second album Click Click, recorded in 2006, features a drummer (Leo Bear Creek) and electric guitars by Stanley Brinks. On her third album, Moonstone she plays the drums herself. She works as a sound engineer and records her friends’ music. She also has a calypso cover band with Stanley Brinks, called Kreuzberg Museum.