Saturday 11 February 2017, 7.30pm
“Slapp Happy are a trio of incandescent talent, brilliant and witty and deeply knowledgable about the further reaches of art in the 20th century – which gives their work real authority. Performed in a way that's totally accessible, like the best cabaret.” – Robert Wyatt
Very special and extremely rare two-day residency from cult German/English trio, Slapp Happy! Consisting of keyboardist Anthony Moore, guitarist Peter Blegvad and singer Dagmar Krause, this will be the first time that trio have performed in the UK with Faust – who featured on their first two albums, 1972's Sort Of and 1973's Acnalbasac Noom.
“One of Britain's most original ensembles of progressive-rock in the 1970s.” – Scarufi
“Beautifully strange, and strangely beautiful.” – BBC
SLAPP HAPPY was a multinational (specifically British/German) Avant-garde pop group consisting of Anthony MOORE (keyboards), Peter BLEGVAD (guitar) and Dagmar KRAUSE (vocals). SLAPP HAPPY was formed in 1972 in Hamburg, Germany by British composer Anthony MOORE. At the time he was recording for Polydor, but was continually frustrated by the more popular direction the label was trying to woe his music. His music was sited as not commercial enough. Venting this frustration he proposed the formation of a pop group with his girlfriend (Dagmar KRAUSE) from Hamburg and an American friend Peter BLEGVAD. So Slapp happy was born. After much disputes and bantering BLEGVAD and MOORE convinced Krause of their inabilities to sing and she step up as their sing. And to this day remains as one of the distinctive characteristics surrounding the band.
Faust is an experimental rock band which came out of the Hamburg music scene in the late sixties. The somewhat offensive term “krautrock” has been applied to their music, and to the genre that ensued.
They first met in ’69: Arnulf Meifert, Gunther Wüsthoff, Rudolf Sosna, Hans-Joachim Irmler, Jean-Hervé Péron, and Werner ‘Zappi’ Diermaier. Three of the members, Jean-Hervé Peron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff had previously played in Nukleus, while Arnulf Meifert, Joachim Irmler and Werner ‘Zappi’ Diermaier were with Campylognatus Citelli. The original drummer, Arnulf Meifert left after the first album.
The band was loosely formed by 1971, but came together under the Polydor label (then under Deutsche Grammophon) after being introduced by leftist-journalist and Baader-Meinhof associate Uwe Nettelbeck who had been asked by Polydor to find a German band that could compete with the British and American bands that dominated the scene.
