On the 16th of May we're hosting Steven Adams & The French Drops, following the release of their new album Virtue Signals on Hudson Records.
Support comes from Mammoth Penguins. Advance tickets are available for £10 from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings.
Steven Adams & The French Drops on tour: Wed 2nd May - Castle Hotel, Manchester Fri 4th May - The Cluny 2, Newcastle Sat 5th May Fulford Arms, York Sun 6th May - The Shakespeare, Sheffield Wed 16th May - Boston Music Room, London
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.”
We're putting on a very special gig in the beautiful confines of St Pancras Old Church to celebrate the release of the debut album from Enderby's Room. And we're delighted to be able to say both The Wave Pictures and Emma Kupa will be playing full sets in support of Enderby's Room.
ENDERBY'S ROOM
Enderby’s Room is fiddle player Dan Mayfield, once from rural Lincolnshire, but he has now found home living in London. His folk tinged songs reflect on his traditional folk upbringing. Mayfield has played violin for many artists including Daniel Johnston, Darren Hayman, The Wave Pictures, Allo Darlin’ and the Belles of London City morris dancers. Over the past ten years he has gently built up a collection of his own songs, which he performs with his band Enderby’s Room. The name comes from an Anthony Burgess character called Mr Enderby who composed his prose inside the toilet. The band’s make up has been constantly evolving; around 30 different individuals have been a part of Enderby’s Room over the last decade, before settling on the current 5 piece lineup. Enderby’s Room’s sound features a Victorian pedal harmonium, together with French horn, double bass, ukulele, guitar and percussion.
“Unfolding gently, the quiet grace of Enderby’s Room seems to draw on the folk tradition while taking brave chances of its own.” Clash Music" "At times they capture the sumptuous melancholia of Low; at others, they're finding new shapes for indie folk" How Does It Feel “their delicate harmonies, unusual instruments and vivid storytelling are intricately woven and desperately beautiful” Green Man Festival
THE WAVE PICTURES
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 but soon David was writing lots of original material. They have since released six studio albums to critical acclaim and played numerous sessions on BBC 6 Music, Radio 1 and Xfm. Interest generated from these recordings has enabled The Wave Pictures to play shows all over the world with artists including Jeffrey Lewis, Darren Hayman, Stanley Brinks, Freschard and Herman Düne.
EMMA KUPA
Emma stepped into the limelight as the lead singer, bass player and songwriter for much loved (and missed) indie heroes Standard Fare, and has since been a front woman in Without Feathers, Mammoth Penguins and The Hayman Kupa Band. What she lacks in quality band names she more than makes up for in intensely personal and irresistibly hummable pop tunes.
BELLES OF LONDON CITY
An innovative and unique blend of morris dancing, song, music and foolery with a modern edge, with Enderby's Room's Dan Mayfield on fiddle.
Advance tickets available from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings.
Come and join us on the 26th of April - we're hosting Stanley Brinks and Enderby's Room.
Stanley Brinks Enderby's Room at Paper Dress Vintage (Mare St, Hackney Central, London) April 26th 20:00-23:00
Advance tickets £8.50 from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings Tickets £10 on the door
Come and join us on the 26th of February at Moth Club for a very special evening with Bill Botting & The Two Drink Minimums to launch their debut album Better Friends. And what better way to do it, than invite a very special bunch of the band's friends to join them on stage on the night. We can't reveal much more than that yet (all will become clear soon!), but we promise you this is one show you don't want to miss. We'll be announcing some names and the very special support act shortly... but in the meantime, here's all the info you need:
26th Feb 2017 Moth Club Old Trades Hall Valette Street E9 6NU Doors 18:00 Ends 22:00ish Tickets £7adv / £10 on the door Facebook event
Not long now until we host Owl & Mouse and Model Village at the start of their tour, with support from Deerful. Advance tickets available from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings
November 4th MARSEILLE, France - La Machine a CoudreNovember 5th ARLES, France - Le Magasin de jouets November 23rd METZ, France – Bar 7/7 November 24th TBA November 25th NANCY, France - Home sweet home festival #4 November 26th REIMS, France - TBC November 27th REIMS, France – Quartier libre (tbc) November 28th PARIS, France – L'Olympic Cafe November 29th ZÜRICH, Switzerland – New Zitrone December 1st FREIBURG, Germany – White Rabbit December 2nd MANNHEIM, Germany - Altes Volksbad December 3rd WAIBLINGEN, Germany – Fidel's Fitz at Kulturhaus Schwanen December 4th BAERENBACH,Germany – Shorty's
Not long now until we host Owl & Mouse and Model Village at the start of their tour, with support from Deerful. Advance tickets available from wegottickets.com/fikarecordings
Come join us on the 23rd of November at Haunt N16 to see Owl & Mouse kick off their tour alongside Model Village. Joining us will be Deerful.
Advance tickets for the London show are available from WeGotTickets.
23rd Nov - Haunt, LONDON N16 26th Nov - Moat House, ROCHESTER 27th Nov - JT Soar, NOTTINGHAM 2nd Dec - The Blue Moon, CAMBRIDGE 3rd Dec - The Waiting Room, COLCHESTER 4th Dec - The Old Crown Inn, SHEFFIELD
We're very excited to announce that Tigercats are back! Following the success of their debut album Isle Of Dogs in 2012, they'll be playing a show for us on Saturday the 24th of May, at The Shacklewell Arms in London to preview material from their upcoming album before they head over to Spain to play the Primavera festival. Support comes from Fika favourites Fever Dream and Mammoth Penguins.Tickets are available now from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/269947.
TIGERCATS Tigercats return for their first London show in almost a year having completed recording the follow up to 2012’s debut album “Isle Of Dogs”.
Tigercats are a band from East London who make pop music with guitars, keyboards and drums. After previous band Esiotrot shambled to a halt, songwriter Duncan Barrett sought a leaner, lither framework for his open-hearted songs. He asked his brother and long-time producer Giles to join on bass, who was soon followed by Jonny on drums, Laura on keyboard and Paul on guitar. After early singles on Haircut Records and WeePop, their debut album Isle of Dogs was released in 2012 on Fika Recordings and Acuarela Discos. In their short life Tigercats have played across most of Europe, including sets at Primavera Festival, appearances on Spanish TV (RTVE Radio3) and Indietracks. Across innumerable mini-tours they have shared stages with: Allo Darlin’, the Wave Pictures, Darren Hayman, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Standard Fare, Let’s Wrestle, the Lovely Eggs and Milky Wimpshake, amongst others. They recently completed their first trip across the pond and toured the USA and Canada with labelmates the Smittens and Making Marks in spring 2013, culminating with a headline appearance at NYC Popfest. They played End of the Road Festival last summer with the likes of Belle & Sebastian, Dinosaur Jr and Sigur Ros, and they are currently working on their second album, which they hope to have out in time for summer 2014.
“Tigercats are a very, very good band. The kind of band that make you want to be a teenager again, so they can be your band.” The Sunday Times
“there’s something unconsciously authentic about Tigercats... this could be a band to listen to obsessively” Drowned In Sound
“Their songs betray no ulterior motives of forced cool, only an enthusiastic young band in love with making songs. Excellent, alive, and bright.“ Artrocker
FEVER DREAM If post-punk bashed heads with shoegaze - you'd probably end up with a band that sounds like Fever Dream. Frantic shreds of guitar over that bass sound held together by tight as drumming. Easily one of the best live bands around at the moment.
“Taking inspiration from the noisy 90s, ie: Sonic Youth, Pavement and My Bloody Valentine they create intriguingly varied tracks. They range from gushing dream-pop melancholia on ‘This Waste’ to scuzzy, guitar and skewed rhythms on ‘Poyekhali!’ and messy, snarly post-punk on ‘Suspense’ – think Ride meets Fidlar.” This Is Fake DIY
MAMMOTH PENGUINS Infectious, scrappy lo-fi indie rock from Emma, Mark and Tom. They're a 3-piece indie-pop/alt-rock band from Cambridgeshire.
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.
