Live appearances

[Alan Holmes]

Ectogram will be playing close to home on November 14th, when we appear alongside Franco-Scots post-punk progsters The Sandals of Majesty and hotly tipped local teen femme-punksters The Stilletoes at the Anglesey Arms Hotel, Menai Bridge (on Anglesey) in north Wales.

[Alan Holmes]

the gig went very well... here's a review by Radio Wales' DJ Adam Walton (whose programme you should all check out: http://adamwalton.co.uk/)


On Wednesday night, Soundhog and I went over to Anglesey to see the Stilletoes, Ectogram and the Sandals of Majesty. We walked into the Anglesey Arms hotel just as the Stilletoes were getting going. There is a lot of excitement about the Stilletoes. In Efa they have, potentially, the finest and most charismatic frontperson to come out of Wales since, well, Cerys Matthews. They're raw and their don't give a shit attitude isn't feigned, or handed down, nineteenth hand, through the long lineage of punk opportunists whose 'don't give a shit attitudes' were all posture.

There is no posing in the Stilletoes. They look great, but it's insouciant. And they have songs too!

The sight of them battling those songs, and errant mike stands, and guitars that didn't know whether they wanted to stay in tune or not, was one of the purest and most revitalising things I have seen all year.

They deserve to royally fuck some people off and get the rest of us dancing, however inappropriate that might be [age depending].

I wouldn't expect Efa to be eating kangaroo bollocks on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here 2027, either... but, who knows? By then, with any luck, she will have chewed the bollocks off a still male dominated music industry and spat them out. Kangaroo nuts will be no problem in comparison.

Ectogram followed and shredded my sense of what constitutes a song and a gig. Again. My Bloody Valentine are doing live dates next year, but Ectogram can do it with a vocal P.A. in the snug of a hotel on Anglesey. And you don't have to wait 26 years for them to record an album.

There is a fluid quality to their music, and the way that the atonal noise modulates into sounds of great beauty and harmony, that makes them one of the most compelling bands I have ever witnessed.

And Maeyc is a fantastic drummer.

Sandals of Majesty were very impressive, but without having the soul or identity of their two predecessors. They sounded incredible, but I was a bit nonplussed by them, to be honest. Soundhog loved them. His reaction is the one you should take note of.

[Maeyc Hewitt]

I have to agree with Adam's assessment of the stilletoes.
I haven't seen such liberating freshness for a long time.

[Alan Holmes]

Another home gig coming up, in the company of Dutch groups The Bent Moustache ("socio-politically sharp and extremely well articulated mix of post punk, art rock and dub" according to "Uncut" magazine) and Dusty Blinds (Riot Grrrl / Femme punk á la Kleenex / Sleater Kinney). There will also be a rare appearence by legendary Rhoscefnhir based singer-songwriter Jack Sharp, often compared to both Syd Barrett and Mark E Smith. Should be a good evening.

[Alan Holmes]

...and for those of you who have the misfortune of not living near Menai Bridge, there are two further imminent Ectogigs confirmed:

16th February 2008: Bloom, Mezzago (near Milan)
17th February 2008: Sinister Noise Club, Rome

...hope to see you all at one or more of these events!

[Alan Holmes]

...slight update:
HELLEKIN MASCARA will also be playing at the Mezzago gig, and there will also be a third Italian date:
19th February 2008: Massa Carrara (I think the venue is TagoMago)

[Alan Holmes]

yes, confirmed the last venue... so the full itinerary is:

16th February: Bloom, Mezzago (near Milan) (with Hellekin Mascara)
17th February: Sinister Noise Club, Rome ( with Tribraco and La Calla Mojada)
19th February: Tagomago, Massa Carrara