aaamusic | On 11, Aug 2010

Membranes

Live in London

At the Lexington in Islington

On November 5th

First London show for 20 years!

?Bonfire Night Special?

With the Wolfhounds and Monkey Island

Tickets from http://www.wegottickets.com

The legendary eighties UK underground, discordant, noisenik band the Membranes, who reformed last year for a triumphant gig at All Tomorrows Parties festival, will be playing a special one off gig in London on November 5th.

The band, whose command of noise and invention of ?bass science? saw them record a series of key, influential releases in the eighties have been playing choice gigs trying to keep up with the international demand generated by the ATP show. With gigs already played in Istanbul and others lined up in Brazil, China and the USA the band?s reputation has grown internationally since their stint in the eighties.

Formed in Blackpool in the punk era the Membranes went on to release several groundbreaking records in the post punk period which pre dated and were a massive influence on the American post hardcore noise scene of bands like Big Black, Sonic Youth etc. The early Mercury Rev were formed after seeing a Membranes show at CBGB?s and even Melvyn Bragg once described the band?s 1985 ?Death To Trad Rock? EP as one of the greatest ever art rock records. Their appearance on the Tube in 1985 galvanised a whole generation of like minded noisy British bands who have been recently documented in the recent critically acclaimed ?Death To Trad Rock? book.

Since the band split in 1990 they have been mentioned as an influence by people as diverse as industrial bands, post punkers, rock bands like Therapy who covered one of their songs, punk bands and even unlikely figures like Beck and the aforementioned Mercury Rev.

In the eighties the band were critical faves with several front cover features and John Peel plays and were recognised in America as a key band,  They signed to Homestead records in the USA and toured several times there and their albums were recognised as top ten year end critical favourites.

Pioneers of the discordant sound and with songs driven by the heaviest bass sound ever recorded, the Membranes recorded four albums, the first of which ?Gift of Life? was released by Creation records who the band were going to be the first signings to until they discovered that Creation couldn?t afford to put them in the studio. Their best selling album, ?Kiss Ass Godhead?, was to be the first record that Steve Albini recorded due to a mutual respect between Albini and the band.

The ?Kiss Ass Godhead? album itself has been repackaged and will be re-released this autumn.