We love new bands down here in the Londonist Music dungeon, so far this year we've brought you The Sways, The Delta Blues, Eighteenth Day Of May, and Kaibosh, amongst others and there'll be plenty more to come. But no one loves new bands quite as much those lovely folks at Plum Promotions do. For the last five years Plum Promotions have devoted themselves to booking the finest new and upcoming bands. Firstly at The Water Rats in King's Cross, then later at The Betsy Trotwood on Farringdon Road, and recently they've taken on the new Marquee in Leicester Square and Plan B, just round the corner from the Brixton Academy.
And a damn fine job they do of it too if you don't mind us saying so. Tickets are never more than £6 and if you keep your eyes posted on their listings you'll find the odd surprise, known name turning up from time to time as well as the opportunity to discover your new favourite band.
Next week (12th - 16th September), Plum are holding The London Now Breakthrough Festival across five venues. The festival is all about the very best of new music, both unsigned and recently signed, about to hit the public consciousness.
This year, Breakthrough gigs will take place at The Marquee, Level 5 at The Marquee, The Water Rats, The Betsey Trotwood (also celebrating her third birthday), and also at new Brixton venue Plan B. Bands playing this year include THE ALPS, CORD, THE MAD STARING EYES, BRINKMAN, THE LONG WEEKEND, NEATPEOPLE, KIOSK, DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!, THE SHAKES, KODY, EYE, HORDES, SCHMOOF, TINA DICO, ED LAURIE, with nights hosted by the likes of CLUB FANDANGO, AKOUSTIK ANARKHY, and CLUB AC30.
What makes this different from all the other new band events? Take a look at the track record from last year. One year ago, the first Breakthrough festival took place at The Marquee, to celebrate its launch. Bands who played then included the likes of THE MAGIC NUMBERS, TOM VEK, DO ME BAD THINGS, THE HIDDEN CAMERAS and ART BRUT. Where are they now? Releasing top ten albums and top forty singles all over the place, with a few major festivals here and there and a heap of industry acclaim, that's where.
They’re also giving away a load of FREE TICKETS to Plum members, via their new forum, and to the bands themselves. Visit the site for details. So any excuses for not turning up can be placed firmly in the bin where they belong. The full line up is listed over the jump.
Breakthrough shows at THE MARQUEE CLUB, 1, Leicester Square
Nearest Tube: Leicester Square
Advance Tickets from Ticketweb + full gig previews with photos available at plummusic.com
Telephone bookings via Ticketweb on 08700 600 100
Doors 7.30pm
Mon 12 Sep £6/£5
THE MAD STARING EYES + DISTOPHIA + BRINKMAN + CHEAP HOTEL + DJS:SING SING
THE MAD STARING EYES: Guitars that jangle and spike, with shouty vocals. Great.
DISTOPHIA: Perfect pop welded to cascading swathes of white noise and
feedback
BRINKMAN: pop lyrics and clever little tunes with harmonies in the right places
Tue 13 Sep £6/£5
CORD + THE LONG WEEKEND + NEATPEOPLE + KIOSK +
DJ:MARCIO CUZZ
CORD: 4 piece from Norwich causing a stir with their intensive and full throttle assault on your emotions with their music
THE LONG WEEKEND: Epic sounding rock with added groove
NEATPEOPLE: Refreshing, trend-bucking Nu-Brit Pop sounds influenced by Dexys and XTC
KIOSK: savvy and stylish girl fronted 4 piece with choppy fuzzy guitar and a punk rock bite
Wed 14 Sep £6/£5
THE ALPS + DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! + THE SHAKES + KODY + DJ:SING SING
THE ALPS: three-minute gems that look set to barge their way into
mainstream consciousness
DEAD! DEAD! DEAD!: Musically mature, elegant & well read, Dead! Dead!
Dead! could easily be the best band you haven't yet heard. (Drowned in Sound)
THE SHAKES: hot S.E. London five piece crash out pop classics
(tiscali.co.uk)
KODY: Think a British Pixies, Pavement, Pearl Jam and an American Bush
Thu 15 Sep £8/£7adv/conc
CURIOUS GENERATION featuring: THE VIBRANTS + THE HITCHERS
+ COMPUTER MAN + KEIRETSU + DJ:TRUE CONFESSORS
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Breakthrough shows at LEVEL 5 AT THE MARQUEE, 1, Leicester Square
Nearest Tube: Leicester Square
Advance Tickets from Ticketweb + full gig previews with photos available at plummusic.com
Telephone bookings via Ticketweb on 08700 600 100
Doors 7.30pm
Tue 13 Sep £6/£5
by arrangement with XL artistes: AKOUSTIK ANARKHY
featuring: LOOSE CANON + THE EXPORTS + SAM AND ME
LOOSE CANON: combine the best elements of The Beach Boys, JAMC & The
Fall's styles
THE EXPORTS: a band united by their love of all things Punk and Rock n Roll
SAM AND ME: simply beautiful, literate, pop that flows in its own sweet time (Channel 4)
Wed 14 Sep £6/£5
LES RUPRETTES + SILVERY + LA FRANGE
LES RUPRETTES: Ukulele rock - a Medieval Nirvana
LA FRANGE: village idiot punk rawk, death-defying rock'n'roll
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Breakthrough shows at THE WATER RATS THEATRE, 328, Grays Inn Road,
London, WC1
Nearest Tube: Kings Cross
Advance Tickets from Ticketweb + full gig previews with photos available at plummusic.com
Telephone bookings via Ticketweb on 08700 600 100
Doors 7.30pm
Mon 12 Sep £5/£4
EYE + HORDES + CHRISTIANSILVA + DJ:JIM DOC
EYE: atmospheric pop with angular rock sounds
HORDES: eopsychedelic pop revivalists, Faith-era Cure meets Psychedelic Furs
CHRISTIANSILVA: all drama and piano and depth and symphonies and sex
(playlouder.com)
Wed 14 Sep £6/£5
CLUB FANDANGO in assoc. with Rocksound featuring: BRIGADE
+ SAVE OURSELVES + [MASSE] + DJ:JONNY
BRIGADE: It's indie guitar rock at its most compelling - join the
Brigade
SAVE OURSELVES: four Surrey teenagers making a big noise
Thu 15 Sep £5/£4
WARM ELECTRO CLUB featuring: SCHMOOF + E-BRU + ARTHUR & MARTHA + HEY, ZEUS!
SCHMOOF: catchy tunes, quirky ZX Spectrum animations and matching PVC
outfits
E-BRU: Imagine Morcheeba and Kosheen having a fight with guns and cars
ARTHUR & MARTHA: gilbert & george, disguised as the carpenters, steal
the hits of kraftwerk and bash them out on a an old moog
HEY, ZEUS!: 2 dans and a big muff who make electro funk with a dash of pop and a dribble of industrial
Fri 16 Sep £5/£4
CLUB AC30 featuring: TBC + TBC + XERO-KLINE + DJ:CLUB
AC30
XERO-KLINE: Continuing the tradition of experimental British guitar
music
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"Breakthrough shows at THE BETSEY TROTWOOD, 56, Farringdon Rd, London
EC1R
Nearest Tube: Farringdon
Advance Tickets from Ticketweb + full gig previews with photos available at plummusic.com
Telephone bookings via Ticketweb on 08700 600 100
Doors 7.30pm
Mon 12 Sep £5/£4
TINA DICO + CASS + SAMANTHA MARAIS
TINA DICO: ex-Zero 7 singer, with comparisons to Joni Mitchell
CASS: pure soaring vocals from a new and talented singer
SAMANTHA MARAIS: female acoustic with a sweet captivating voice
Tue 13 Sep £3
SONGS IN THE DARK featuring: LADYFUZZ, JEREMY WARMSLEY, SIMON
MASTRANTONE, EMMY THE GREAT, NIALL SPOONEY-HARVEY AND JAMES KETTLE
LADYFUZZ: Angular like a sharp turn around to turn the gas off before
the annual holiday to nowhere
JEREMY WARMSLEY: Half-French singer-songwriter playing folk, art-rock, electronica
SIMON MASTRANTONE: blues that will appeal to those who think Tim
Buckley's difficult middle period was his best
EMMY THE GREAT: the aural projection of perserverance
Wed 14 Sep £5/£4
CHRIS SPRING + JONT + GRAY DAD
CHRIS SPRING: suitable mellow yet passionate & edgy
JONT: Emotional and earthy acoustic-based songs from a man with a voice that just deserves to be heard (BrynR,peoplesound.com)
Thu 15 Sep £5/£4
ED LAURIE + SAM BEER + MARCEL'S PERMANENT WAVE
ED LAURIE: Iconic solo artist delivers classic tunes with an honesty and passion unparalleled amongst singer-songwriters today
SAM BEER: Ambitious contemporary songwriter, immersed in his craft
MARCEL'S PERMANENT WAVE: a basis of instinctive, passionate, honest and intelligent songwriting
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Breakthrough shows at PLAN B, 418 Brixton Road, London SW9 7AY
Nearest Tube: Brixton
Advance Tickets from Ticketweb + full gig previews with photos available at plummusic.com
Telephone bookings via Ticketweb on 08700 600 100
Doors 7.30pm
Plan B is a fantastic new 300 capacity venue in Brixton, only 2
minutes from Brixton tube, already a favourite on the club scene in the area playing host to the likes of Mike Skinner, with a 3am licence.
Tue 13 Sep £5/£4
WEWEREFOR + THE BASICS + CALCULATOR + DJ:TBC
WEWEREFOR: contagious, anthemic tunes, and original and unpredictable
instrumentation
THE BASICS: London based band embracing the live circuit with conviction and dangerously infectious songs
CALCULATOR: styles of Neil Young's After the Goldrush and Ziggy-era
Bowie
Wed 14 Sep £5/£4
"Plug & Play @ Plan B" featuring: SUPERSTUDIO + HOTEL MOTEL +
DJS:PATRICK & ANEET
SUPERSTUDIO: the band eloquently describes their sound as ‘Punk Bling’
HOTEL MOTEL: Stylish electronic pop with a moody retro-futurist
atmosphere