The live music industry is facing an unprecedented crisis as independent venues struggle to stay afloat. The Brudenell is a locally owned, backbone of the music scene, providing a platform for emerging artists and a community hub for music lovers. However, the challenges they face are immense, and their survival is crucial to the future of live music. So, here is your chance to support a local venue during the festival season. And remember independent music venues play a vital role in the cultural and economic landscape. They are the incubators of talent, giving up-and-coming artists a stage to perform and grow their fanbase. Legendary acts like The Beatles, David Bowie, and Nirvana all started in small venues before skyrocketing to fame.
The Gories are an American garage punk trio that formed in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in 1986. They were among the first 1980s garage rock bands to incorporate overt blues influences. The band features Mick Collins (of The Dirtbombs), Dan Kroha (later of the now defunct The Demolition Doll Rods) on guitar and vocals, and Peggy O’Neill on drums. The band originally broke up in 1992 after a European tour, reforming in July 2009 for a reunion tour across Europe, along with co-headliners The Oblivians. The band reconvened for a second reunion tour in 2010, this time across North America. They play on Friday 12th July.
The March Violets are an English post-punk/gothic rock band formed in 1981 in Leeds, incorporating male & female singers, drum machine rhythms and echo-laden electric guitar, much in the style of fellow Leeds band the Sisters of Mercy. Seven March Violets singles reached the UK Indie Chart; the Natural History collection also was an indie hit (hitting No. 3 in 1984). They have reformed and play on Friday 19th July.
Squirrel Flower is the witch rock project of Chicago (by way of Boston + Iowa) based musician Ella Williams. Before her new album Tomorrow’s Fire, Squirrel Flower might have been labelled something like “indie folk,” but this is a rock record, made to be played loud.
As if to signal this shift, the album opens with the soaring “I don’t use a trash can,” a re-imagining of the first ever Squirrel Flower song. Williams returns to her past to demonstrate her growth as an artist and to nod to those early shows, when her voice, looped and minimalistic, had the power to silence a room. Catch her on 20th July.
Since their birth in 2018 The Klittens have climbed from the cracks of the Amsterdam underground indie and onto some acclaimed stages. Mixing the catchiness of pop and fuzz with a hint of dark post punk, they have crafted a sound that is truly and twistedly their own. What initially began as an outlet, both creatively and politically, mutated into a musical life mission for its members. Their DIY approach, from songwriting to booking shows and tour management, is what make The Klittens the ragtag bunch of misfits they are. The Klittens explore their tastes on a further scale and dive deeper into their songwriting skills that melted into a delicious EP called ‘Butter.’ They play on 23rd July.
Life’s always interesting if you are Russell Crowe. Starting in Rome at the Coliseum in June 2024, he is on the road again playing music, and he is bringing his Indoor Garden Party back to the UK and Ireland for the first time since 2017. An “Indoor Garden Party” is, he says, “an event, a band, a happening. It is fluid. The personnel changes, but it is always big. It is like a festival where I gather people I admire, musicians and storytellers, and we put on a show.” The concept started in 2009 in a pub outside London owned by the chat show legend, Michael Parkinson, and it has kept going in a haphazard, ad lib way ever since. With this configuration, Crowe brings to the foreground The Gentlemen Barbers, who he has been quietly tinkering with for the last four years. Get ready for a night of music and stories as Russell Crowe brings his Indoor Garden Party, featuring his band The Gentlemen Barbers and Lorraine O’Reilly to the Brudenell on 25th July.
