A gig held at Crofters Rights on Tuesday 22nd November. The event starts at 19:00.
18+ event.
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MODERN RITUALS - For a band who’ve tended to flesh out songs in the practice room and track live, the writing and recording of Modern Rituals’ third album Cracking of the Bulk was a disparate and protracted process. In cramped apartments and a secluded annex, sharing files over the internet and working on parts in solitude, the band have folded subtler tones into the racket of last album This is the History.
Writing for Cracking of the Bulk began at the end of 2019, in singer Harry Fanshawe’s small Bristol flat, with rough versions of ‘Western Cut’ and album opener ‘Mixxed’. Lyrics cover “frustrations with friendships, and claustrophobia from a stable but trapping living situation,” says Harry, themes clearly mirrored in the bleak grind of ‘Western Cut’s verses, but more surprising considering the gentle, breezy layers of ‘Mixxed’.
With the onset of the first 2020 lockdown, Harry relocated to the countryside annex once occupied by his grandmother – a perfect space to demo. “Having my big amp set up, with no one to complain about noise, meant I could go in and just write guitar songs,” says Harry. Recording alone and sharing tracks via Dropbox, rhythms were tapped on tables and sticks – an improvisation still present in Cracking of the Bulk’s final form. As time went on, the ennui that coloured earlier lyrics lifted, replaced with positivity for what could be waiting the other side of lockdown. Songs like ‘The Flow, “are about appreciating what draws you to your circle of people and in turn ensuring you appreciate them,” says Harry.
By late spring, Harry and partner Jess Pratten (who created the artwork for Cracking of the Bulk, along with that of Modern Rituals’ two previous full-lengths) had returned to Bristol. The new season brought rain and night-time adventures; the wistful ‘Dog Jerky Haiku’ came from this time, a melancholy folk song full of trees dripping rainwater and birdsong. Once back to old routines, though, that earlier claustrophobia began to creep back in. Tracks as diverse as ‘Nails of Love’, a driving indie rock number, and ‘Sonder’, a murky, droning sludgefest, are influenced by existing in an increasingly overcrowded and unaffordable environment, and the anxiety in losing control during external fast-paced change.
Recording delayed by the later 2020 lockdowns, the band spent downtime honing parts in their homes. On a snowy week in February 2021, they headed to guitarist Tom Hill’s south London studio, the Bookhouse, to record.
Rather than tracking live with minimal overdubs as before, the band made sure to craft and layer the songs in the spirit of the long-gestating demos. “I feel that songs with hundreds of tracks like 'Mixxed' and 'The Flow' represent the album the most,” says Tom, who engineered and produced the record. “The thicker, more expansive, yet softer sound is something we hadn't considered in the past. But it feels to me like this is the first record where we’ve discovered our true intention.”
Listening to Cracking of the Bulk, it’s hard to argue – these are nothing less than the most developed and diverse set of songs in Modern Rituals’ catalogue.
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OTHER HALF - Norwich based Other Half (consisting of Cal, Alfie and Soapy) met through a mutual love of the UK DIY punk scene, driving a really long way to shout at people and (broadly) vegan slop. The band marry sneering punk and sardonic storytelling with an unabashed love of the heavier and goofier tropes of rock music, borrowing just as much from the bar-band swagger of The Hold Steady as they do from the discordant squall of The Jesus Lizard.
The band released their debut album, Big Twenty, via Venn Records (Gallows, Bob Vylan, Marmozets & more) in 2020. A sprawling, violent slice-of-life, the release garnered praise from various outlets, with The Line Of Best Fit calling Big Twenty’s vivid world ‘volatile and dark, but also enthralling to hear’.
Live, the band draw from the energy of post-hardcore luminaries like Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi whilst never straying too far from the hooks of bands like Pixies and Les Say Fav.
Entry requirements:
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MODERN RITUALS - For a band who’ve tended to flesh out songs in the practice room and track live, the writing and recording of Modern Rituals’ third album Cracking of the Bulk was a disparate and protracted process. In cramped apartments and a secluded annex, sharing files over the internet and working on parts in solitude, the band have folded subtler tones into the racket of last album This is the History.
Writing for Cracking of the Bulk began at the end of 2019, in singer Harry Fanshawe’s small Bristol flat, with rough versions of ‘Western Cut’ and album opener ‘Mixxed’. Lyrics cover “frustrations with friendships, and claustrophobia from a stable but trapping living situation,” says Harry, themes clearly mirrored in the bleak grind of ‘Western Cut’s verses, but more surprising considering the gentle, breezy layers of ‘Mixxed’.
With the onset of the first 2020 lockdown, Harry relocated to the countryside annex once occupied by his grandmother – a perfect space to demo. “Having my big amp set up, with no one to complain about noise, meant I could go in and just write guitar songs,” says Harry. Recording alone and sharing tracks via Dropbox, rhythms were tapped on tables and sticks – an improvisation still present in Cracking of the Bulk’s final form. As time went on, the ennui that coloured earlier lyrics lifted, replaced with positivity for what could be waiting the other side of lockdown. Songs like ‘The Flow, “are about appreciating what draws you to your circle of people and in turn ensuring you appreciate them,” says Harry.
By late spring, Harry and partner Jess Pratten (who created the artwork for Cracking of the Bulk, along with that of Modern Rituals’ two previous full-lengths) had returned to Bristol. The new season brought rain and night-time adventures; the wistful ‘Dog Jerky Haiku’ came from this time, a melancholy folk song full of trees dripping rainwater and birdsong. Once back to old routines, though, that earlier claustrophobia began to creep back in. Tracks as diverse as ‘Nails of Love’, a driving indie rock number, and ‘Sonder’, a murky, droning sludgefest, are influenced by existing in an increasingly overcrowded and unaffordable environment, and the anxiety in losing control during external fast-paced change.
Recording delayed by the later 2020 lockdowns, the band spent downtime honing parts in their homes. On a snowy week in February 2021, they headed to guitarist Tom Hill’s south London studio, the Bookhouse, to record.
Rather than tracking live with minimal overdubs as before, the band made sure to craft and layer the songs in the spirit of the long-gestating demos. “I feel that songs with hundreds of tracks like 'Mixxed' and 'The Flow' represent the album the most,” says Tom, who engineered and produced the record. “The thicker, more expansive, yet softer sound is something we hadn't considered in the past. But it feels to me like this is the first record where we’ve discovered our true intention.”
Listening to Cracking of the Bulk, it’s hard to argue – these are nothing less than the most developed and diverse set of songs in Modern Rituals’ catalogue.
________________________________
OTHER HALF - Norwich based Other Half (consisting of Cal, Alfie and Soapy) met through a mutual love of the UK DIY punk scene, driving a really long way to shout at people and (broadly) vegan slop. The band marry sneering punk and sardonic storytelling with an unabashed love of the heavier and goofier tropes of rock music, borrowing just as much from the bar-band swagger of The Hold Steady as they do from the discordant squall of The Jesus Lizard.
The band released their debut album, Big Twenty, via Venn Records (Gallows, Bob Vylan, Marmozets & more) in 2020. A sprawling, violent slice-of-life, the release garnered praise from various outlets, with The Line Of Best Fit calling Big Twenty’s vivid world ‘volatile and dark, but also enthralling to hear’.
Live, the band draw from the energy of post-hardcore luminaries like Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi whilst never straying too far from the hooks of bands like Pixies and Les Say Fav.
Entry requirements:
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