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[Dead Anyway]

El Presidente: plus support Girl Said No & Eric Euan
Sunday 17 April 2005 - Café
Tickets £6 (£4 concessions & regulars)
Doors Open: 8pm
Show Starts: 8.30pm

"El Presidente is composed of some very unusual characters - imagine the Royal Tenenbaums as a rock'n'roll band, only we have great songs and some sort of sartorial sensibilities!"

Whilst the enigmatic figure that is El Presidente is the epitome of perpetual movement, constantly endeavouring to avoid the glare of publicity and the sinister intentions of his opponents and enemies, he does, on occasion, decide to grace us, his followers, with some carefully chosen words of wisdom:

"In The Republic, resources were very limited. I was restricted to what was available. The songs always evolved from an awesome drum loop or a dirty bass groove. From there, the musical cauldron started to bubble...."

This is El Presidente revealing how the foundations for his musical career were laid. He found that he was constantly buzzing with fresh and original ideas, unsure of how to channel them creatively whilst struggling with the political complexities of running His Republic.

"I grew up with black market copies of Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, T Rex and Sly Stone. This music was banned in our house. So I locked myself away with my brother in an underground resistance shelter and listened to these records, while trying to find our own musical direction. Before long, my brother and I found we had written a bunch of fantastic songs in a really short space of time. The oppressive climate we had been forced to work under had seemed to fuel our creativity and we were really pleased with what we had produced.

Following El Presidente's protracted revolution, the songs he had written found an outlet, a medium to bring the music to his loyal populace. A local DJ picked up the songs in The Republic who pumped them out on his state sanctioned frequency. The proles were enthralled.

"It's crucial to me that El Presidente are a great live band. I thrive on the energy and emotion required for a really good performance. Having done only two gigs though, we are obviously still finding our feet both as comrades and as performers. However, the start we've made is encouraging, and the signs for the future evolution of El Presidente are good."

"We are all excited by what we are achieving in the studio, but we want to make it even more exciting on stage, that's what we will be striving for in the coming weeks and months. As well as the sounds we create, this collective is about creating an aesthetic ethos on which to build our Movement."

[Alan Cynic]

I would be there, but I'm playing elsewhere....looks a great line-up!

[Sundance]

How does one claim their regulars freebie ticket for this gig?

[Jamie]

Too late for El Presidente now, but for future refaernce just show your card or state your name at our Box Office.

Next Regs freebie is Keith James this Wednesday:

Keith James: The Songs of Nick Drake: + Jo Mango
Wednesday 20 April
Tickets £7.50 (£5 concessions & regulars)
Doors Open: 8pm
Show Starts: 8.30pm

Keith James brings his acclaimed and loving tribute to Nick Drake, in which the entire performance is dedicated to the work of one of the most enigmatic and influential of all English singer/songwriters. Nick Drake recorded only three albums in his short lifetime; Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later and Pink Moon, none of which made a major impact when they were released in the early 70s. Thankfully his work has been rediscovered by new generations of listeners in the last decade and accorded its true importance. Performing with double bassist Rick Foot, Keith James more than does justice to one of the most emotionally powerful back catalogues in British music.