Ut announce first UK tour in 20 years
aaamusic | On 06, Aug 2011
UT
UK TOUR – SEPTEMBER 2011
INCLUDING LEXINGTON 23 SEPT
“It isn’t rock anymore. But what is? There’s no one like them” – NME
“Every gig these three… played between migrating to London in 1981 and splitting in 1990 felt like it could be their last, such was the force of their emotion, their unwillingness to compromise. Guitar strings were coerced, battered, detuned, retuned – and maybe only then returned, bruised and bewildered, to their original state.” – Plan B – Everett True
Ut set out on a UK tour this September with a series of dates that include London’s Lexington on 23 September 2011, their first in the UK in over 20 years (with the exception of a short, unannounced show at the Luminaire in London in July 2010).
23 September: The Lexington, London – £8 from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/119541
24 September: The Croft, Bristol – £7 from http://www.bristolticketshop.co.uk/
25 September: The Prince Albert, Brighton – £7 from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/122290
26 September: The Pavilion, Cork – http://www.pavilioncork.com/
27 September: Soup Kitchen, Manchester – http://soup-kitchen.co.uk/
28 September: Stereo, Glasgow – £7.50 from http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_scotland&query=detail&event=457361&interface
Ut was formed by Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young in New York City in December 1978. Sprung from the downtown No Wave scene, inheriting the fertile collision between rock, free jazz and the avant garde that first manifested itself in the Velvet Underground, Ut soon became a serious force within the New York music scene and a seminal influence on later bands like Sonic Youth.
The band were joined briefly by film-maker Karen Achenbach in 1979 before resuming as a three-piece and migrating to London in 1981. Ut toured the UK with bands such as The Fall, The Birthday Party, The Raincoats and Pigbag. Originally releasing albums on their own label, Out Records, distributed by Rough Trade Records, the band became a favourite of John Peel’s (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/artists/u/ut/) and recorded sessions for his show in 1984 and 1987 before joining forces with Blast First in 1987.
Ut never softened or diluted its force, or abandoned its restless confrontation with the boundaries of rock.
The critically acclaimed In Gut’s House was originally released in 1988 and made NME’s Top 50 that year. As The Washington Post exclaimed, “With In Gut’s House, Ut has scraped and droned one of the finest underground rock albums of the year… The tightly interwoven, firmly focused sound… is rich, spooky, urgent and quite unexpectedly beautiful.”
In 1989 the band recorded and released the album Griller. Engineered by label mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut’s raw aesthetic, Griller captured the gripping intensity and sheer power of the Ut experience.
In Gut’s House and Griller are available now on Mute / Blast First.
