Charles Hayward

Charles Hayward is an English drummer/singer/composer and was a founding member of the experimental rock groups This Heat and Camberwell Now. He also played with early European improv group Mal Dean's Amazing Band and gigged and recorded with Phil Manzanera in Quiet Sun as well as a short stint with Gong. Since the late 80's he has concentrated on solo projects and collaborations, including Massacre (with Bill Laswell and Fred Frith), Monkey Puzzle Trio and Albert Newton (with Pat Thomas and John Edwards). The project This Is Not This Heat has recently completed a 3 year series of performances in UK, Europe, US and Japan.

Throughout a nearly 50 year career Charles has developed idiosyncratic attitudes and insights into a wide range of soundwork, spanning improvisation, song, sound as sound, using order and chaos as creative energies. He curates a six monthly series of performances, workshops and installation called Charles Hayward Presents on behalf of Lewisham Arthouse for Albany Theatre. Recent releases include ‘Objects of Desire’ cassette on Blank Editions and the piano centred song cycle ‘Begin Anywhere’ on Klanggalerie & God Unknown Records.

“As impassioned and animated offstage as behind his massive drumkit, Charles Hayward radiates a genuine intensity. He first came to wide attention as drummer with the highly influential This Heat as the embers of Post-Punk simmered off into wilder experimental tangents. He has released a dozen solo and colaborative albums, and puts on rare solo live shows which pull the raw muscular percussion at the heart of Rock into new shapes with devastatingly powerful results.” – Freq

"Telepathic magic……. Hayward is one of the most life-affirming people who stalks this dark globe." - SOUND PROJECTOR

Chris Sharkey

'fiercely inventive, powerfully independent' - The Guardian

Chris Sharkey is a musician from the North-East of England primarily interested in the intersection of improvisation and electronic sound.

Based in Leeds since 1999, Chris has dedicated the last 20 years to making forward-thinking new music that blurs boundaries between improvisation, production, composition and the associated genres of these often separated fields.

He is an active national and international artist, performing with Charles Hayward (This Heat) , Jack Wylie (Portico), Roller Trio, Anton Eger’s Æ, Joshua Blackmore’s SiZE, Acoustic Ladyland, trioVD, Shiver, The Geordie Approach, and as a solo artist.

Jack Wyllie

Jack Wyllie is a Multi instrumentalist and composer. He has released on labels such as Babel, Realworld, Ninja Tune and Buffalo Temple. He is member of Portico Quartet and Szun waves as well having released several EP’s of improvisations with Luke abbott and Adrian Corker. Jack plays a heavily effected saxophone using guitar pedals to add atmospheric washes of delay and reverb. Portico Quartet have always been an impossible band to pin down. Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, the group have created their own singular sound. They have been nominated for the mercury music prize as well as topping several end of year lists in the likes of time out and crack magazine. Szun waves is a partly generative improvised trio with Luke abbott and Lawrence Pike, they have their second album out on leaf later this year.

Max Hallett

Max Hallett is best known for drumming in the trio The Comet Is Coming alongside bandmates Shabaka Hutchings on saxophone and keyboardist Dan Leavers, who he also has a drum and synth duo with called Soccer 96.
Soccer96 play everything completely live, with no laptops, sequencers or software of any kind. They create brutal, frenetic energy, Tron-like soundscapes and super-fresh polyrhythms. "Distilled reduction meets epic intent."

Tom Herbert

Tom Herbert is a bass player in Mercury Music Prize nominated bands The Invisible and Polar Bear, as well as vocal/double bass duo Moats & Thrones. He was also was a founding member of the British jazz-punk band Acoustic Ladyland. The Invisible have released three albums and are currently signed to Ninja Tune. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2009, produced by innovative electronic musician Matthew Herbert, it was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and was the 'iTunes Critics Choice Album Of The Year'. Their third album 'Patience' was released in June 2016 to critical acclaim, including a five-star review in The Guardian. Tom is also currently on the teaching staff at The Royal Academy of Music.

Pete Bennie

Pete Bennie is a bass player known for Tout and the London based post jazz outfit Morviscous. Peter studied music at Goldsmiths university and has gone on to work with numerous bands. He is currently developing a solo instrumental project that will be released via Trestle Records later in the year.

Bex Burch

Bex Burch is the band leader of Vula Viel. A trio consisting of Ruth Goller on bass and Jim Hart on drums. She is a percussionist with a classical training at the Guildhall School of Music. Bex focuses her compositional output to the Gyilli Xylophone, an instrument she built herself under the tutelage of Ghanaian instrument makers. First visiting Ghana as an undergraduate, on the recommendation of a Ghanaian friend, she settled in the north, with the Dagaare People to begin an apprenticeship with Thomas Segkura, a professional maker of Dagaare xylophones, or Gyilli. Vula Viel have developed a strong following over the last few years, gigging regularly and releasing a well received LP in 2017 titled Good Is Good. They are currently finishing work on a new record.

''Beautiful... Dance to it, make love to it, consume it, stare at the clouds to it ....that music deserves good reactions'' Iggy Pop, 6 Music