I will be doing a special work-in-progress and musical show with the genius avant-folk dronemadchen Laura Cannell at St Mary’s Church, Bungay, Norfolk at 10.30 am on August 3rd as part of the Black Shuck Festival.

THE RULE OF THREE with Laura Cannell and Stewart Lee
August 3 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm £10.00 “Stand-up comedian Stewart Lee tries out twenty minutes of unvarnished new material.
The musician Laura Cannell performs new music from her monthly release series ‘A Year of Lore’, conjuring animals and landscapes inspired by real and imagined folklore. Then both collaborate on a performance of Stewart’s music-enhanced comic monologue Pea Green Boat.”

At 8.30 each night sharp, Stewart Lee (“world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” – The Times) offers 30-45 unfinished minutes of work-in-progress material from his forthcoming show Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf before bringing on a headline set from one his favourite Legends of Indie at 9.30

Not to be confused with the German record producer Conny Plank, Connie Planque is a French chanteuse raised in rural isolation on Brazilian tropicalia, British Radiophonics, and vintage commune Krautrock by bohemian parents who also home-schooled her in Marxist doctrine, French New Wave cinema and Lava Lamp technology. Here Planque honours us with a rare solo show ahead of high profile dates with her band later this year.

At 8.30 each night sharp, Stewart Lee (“world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” – The Times) offers 30-45 unfinished minutes of work-in-progress material from his forthcoming show Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf before bringing on a headline set from one his favourite Legends of Indie at 9.30

A Manassas-style supergroup drawn from the fallout of the ‘80s DIY lo-fi Big Bang – Talulah Gosh, The Pooh Sticks, Heavenly, Sergeant Buzzfuzz and The Dentists. Swansea Sound reflect archly on advancing adulthood and late capitalism with intertwined indolent indie-pop harmonies and punk rock punch.

At 8.30 each night sharp, Stewart Lee (“world’s greatest living stand-up comedian” – The Times) offers 30-45 unfinished minutes of work-in-progress material from his forthcoming show Stewart Lee vs The Man-Wulf before bringing on a headline set from one his favourite Legends of Indie at 9.30

Former frontman of C86’s sharpest social critics The Wolfhounds, and mainman of the pioneering Moonshake, (surely soon to be systematically re-evaluated), today Callahan essays a distinct form of English Primitivism, manifesting himself as a post-punk Blind Joe Death, a John Fahey who rides the rails of Transport for London, with looped lone guitar in hand, in search of the dark heart of Brexit Britain.

I will be doing 30 mins somewhere at Green Man Festival

Brighton Psych Fest asked me to host and program a stage, which is reckless of them as the last thing I curated, the 2016 Prestatyn All Tomorrow’s Parties, went bust. And no, I didn’t get paid either. Nonetheless, here’s a mind-melting day out of acid-hued action from five of my favourite acts, with minimal onstage interruptions from me. I’ve tried to skew the selection towards Brighton and Hastings talent because sometimes we don’t always acknowledge the geniuses on our own doorsteps. There’s loads of other ace stuff on in other rooms too, including the shouting bloke from Black Midi and PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS.

The Bevis Frond
Nick Saloman’s enduring underground legends enter their thirty-eighth year utterly undimmed, surging inland from the seafronts of the South Coast with paisley power-pop anthems Teenage Fanclub would’ve clobbered them for, short sharp shocks of Wipers-influenced melodic hardcore, and vast electrical storms of duelling guitars that sound like the ‘70s Miles Davis band battling The Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Bevis Frond are a silver thread running through my life. Please play High In A Flat.

The Physics House Band
Like punk never happened, the Brighton trio offers ugly-beautiful instrumental progressive rock that aging King Crimson fans think no-one can play anymore, leavened with a pastoral psychedelic seasoning, a Mondrian mathematical complexity, and a sly sense of its own audacious absurdity.

Alison Cotton
Formerly a folk rocker with The Left Outsides, the Sunderland multi-instrumentalist currently essays vast John Cale-coloured string-drones with incantatory overtones, wrenching ritual music for our ruined land from the overbowed strings of her viola and the breathy bellows of the harmonium. A Nico for now.

Eliza Skelton
Like a cross between Steve Nicks and a Stygian witch that can see into your soul, this long-term low-key local legend finally goes solo, and delivers an immersive and smoothly cinematic epic acid-folk music of widescreen grandeur, wyrd enough to thrill weirdoes, yet classy enough to subversively snaffle the casual consumer.

Secluded Bronte
People who hate my stand-up often deny it even constitutes ‘comedy’. Doubtless many would wonder if the work of the veteran improvisatory trio Secluded Bronte should be considered ‘music’. Instruments may be involved, perhaps furniture, maybe even words, or all three in a chance collision of calculated heterogenity. All that is certain – time will pass, and something will happen.