LZ#3

local art.photography.writing.music

hello. welcome to LZ#3.

in this issue we take a look at some of the hidden sides of Leamington, including urban exploration, architectural oddities and underground music. There’s also articles on local venues and promoters, as well as our regular listings. There’s a lot more to this town that meets the eye, and if you have something to share then please get in touch.

we hope you enjoy, LZ

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WHITE TRASH White Trash Promotions are Leamington’s brand new gig/club promoters, bringing the topsy-turvy world of Gypsy Folk, Balkan Beats and Electroswing to venues in and around the Midlands. Inspired by the festival and freeparty scene, their nights are dedicated to offering something a little different - think inflatables, trolleys, paper mâché heads, fancy dress and circus skills, not to mention lots and lots of dancing.

They return to Leamington on the 28th March at with another ‘Gypsy/Balkan Knees-Up’ at the Zephyr Lounge, featuring Birmingham hippies JamTidy. A passionately diverse mash-up of genres and positive vibes, they play ridiculously good gypsy swing with reggae roots and hiphop lyrics. The band will be followed by specialist Balkan dance-floor DJs, plus circus performers, hula-hoops, face-paint and more.

If all this nonsense sounds up your street, you can find White Trash Promotions on Facebook for more info.

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MIDLANDS MUSIC Marshmallow Palace Who: DALLEY (drums), GRIFFITHS (vocals/ keys), HARDY (guitar), STEIN (guitar), TELFORD (bass) What: Enigmatic distorted synth rock Where: facebook.com/MarshmallowPalace A shadowy band of reprobates brought together by the taps of their spiritual home, the Zephyr Lounge, Marshmallow Palace are the latest Leamington band threatening to spread their wings outside of the sleepy spa town. Nurtured by Coves’ John Ridgard, who occasionally drops by to play the power drill alongside recording and mastering their early material, the band have been attracting a fair bit of attention from the press and industry following their recent jaunts to London’s Electrowerkz and Buffalo Bar. At first sight, the Palace (as absolutely no one refers to them) are an odd proposition, with minimal online presence, an obsession with goal-line technology and a worryingly joke band name.

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Thankfully underneath the endearingly ramshackle veneer lies some deeply catchy synth rock tunes, a fever dream combination of Interpol and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that quickly dispels any notion of novelty with its brooding vocals and fuzzed up breakdowns. Debut track ‘Brody’ is a prime example of what they do best, bass grooves and clattering drums exploding into the best chorus to both reference Jaws and feature power tools since, well, ever - a 3 minute slice of outsider rock that’ll be ringing in your ears for weeks.

As anyone who’s seen them live with attest, it’s odd, it’s unusual, but it works better than you could have ever imagined, like Bailey's on cereal. With new material in the works and debut festival appearances lined up for the summer we’ll see how long their pledge to ‘never leave Leam’ holds, but in the meantime make sure to catch them whilst you can.

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LAMP 1

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BIRTHDAY

It's both terrifying and delightful that last week Lamp celebrated its first year of existence. In a climate where arts centres and music venues throughout the country are being closed down, Leamington Spa has been moving defiantly against the grain.

An independent start-up arts centre situated near the bowling green at Riverside, Lamp's mission is to support and develop interesting, exciting, and innovative performance art and music in any genre. Over the past year we've been lucky enough to have performances from the likes of John Etheridge, Russell Howard, Nizlopi, Funki Porcini, Simon Munnery, Attila The Stockbroker and many more. We can boast the midland's highest quality new material comedy night (Reckless Comedy Club) and the UK's best curated film screenings (Leamington Underground Cinema).

However, the thing that really stands out as the greatest achievement is the support from the regular volunteers that helped Lamp launch in the first place, and have allowed it to grow over the past year.

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Hundreds of people have donated to help fund the expansion of the arts centre, and several philanthropic bands have even donated their fees to help develop the project.

So rather than write a promotional piece on the events we have coming up I just want to say thank you. Lamp wouldn't have happened without the phenomenal support from the community, and it wouldn't have worked if you hadn't come to gigs, screenings, and club nights. This is a testament to the ferocious will of Leamington's gig goers and artists, and we're here to support you.

Here's to another great year.

Pip Burley - Programme Manager at LAMP

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LISTINGS A small selection of what’s on in the local area, check out individual venue websites for more. If you’d like to have your event featured please get in touch.

13th March John Bramwell (I Am Kloot) – folk – Assembly – 7pm Tom Wrigglesworth – comedy – Warwick Arts Centre -7.45pm

14th March Official Receivers – soul/funk - Zephyr – 7.30pm Boots N Cats – hiphop/bass/funk club – Zephyr – 11pm Luke Concannon + Jimmy Davis – acoustic/folk – LAMP 8pm

15th March Clever Peter – sketch comedy – Royal Spa Centre – 7.45pm

19th March UFO – heavy metal/hard rock – Assembly – 7pm 20th March The Selecter – 2 Tone/ska – Assembly – 7pm 21st March Young Knives – indie/rock – Zephyr Lounge – 7.30pm Two Man Ting + Jabba Cartel – world/electronica – LAMP 8pm

22nd March Dub Pistols – hiphop/dub – Assembly – 7pm Grass Routes + Electrik Custard – indie/rock – LAMP 7.30pm

23rd March Stiff Little Fingers – punk – Assembly – 7pm 14

27th March LUC Film Bingo – Cask and Bottle – 7pm Roots To Shoots – short film – LAMP - 7.30pm Bonafide - blues/rock - Zephyr Lounge - 7pm The Orb - electronica/house - Assembly - 7pm 28th March JamTidy - gypsy/Balkan club - Zephyr Lounge - 10pm Albany – folk/indie – LAMP – 7.30pm Lifesigns - prog/rock - Assembly - 7pm 29th March Cocktail – Pop-up cinema – Cask and Bottle – 9pm Noe & The Pastel Frontier – indie/alt – LAMP – 7.30pm 3rd April Blackfish – film screening – LAMP – 8pm Sean Hughes - comedy - Royal Spa Centre - 7.45pm 4th April The Swaps – blues/folk – LAMP 7.30pm The Beat - 2 Tone/Ska - Assembly - 7pm 5th April The Bonnevilles - blues/rock - Zephyr - 7.30pm Norman Jay - DJ - The Clarendon - 9pm 6th April Toseland - classic rock - Zephyr Lounge - 7pm 10th April Sam Brookes – singer/songwriter – LAMP 8pm 11th April Tom Brosseau – indie/folk – LAMP 8pm Hawthorne Heights - alt/rock - Zephyr Lounge - 7pm Half Man Half Biscuit - indie/rock - Assembly - 7pm 15

contributors: jyoti rajput (1) amelia ryan (3) cornelia ellis (4) polly gregson (5) aman sahota (6) alex wells (7/10/11) namita cariappa (8) katy olly (9) pip burley (12/13)

leamingtonzine@gmail.com: questions and contributions get sent here

facebook.com/leamingtonzine

issuu.com/leamingtonzine

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