Friday 3 April 2015, 8pm
First London show in over a decade for the redoubtable Neil Michael Hagerty. Best known for his work as one half of Royal Trux, with whom he forged a furnace-blasted, gasoline-drenched take on rock'n'roll that has influenced countless bands since, Hagerty has not once looked back since the band split in 2001. With a body of solo work that seemingly plunges ever further into the charred embers of his distinctive sonic palette with every release, Hagerty has always remained several steps ahead of his imitators, making this rare date at OTO one not to be missed.
As guitarist in Pussy Galore Neil Hagerty re-invented long hair and blue jeans. As one half of Royal Trux he forged a guitar/vocal/boogie paradigm unheralded in contemporary music. The Trux legacy is worldwide in the 21st Century rock landscape and on display on the wastebands and hairstyles of rich kids and fashion people everywhere. The mercury sound of Royal Trux however will never be imitated. Somewhere past Sonny and linda Sharrock, out past the fuel rig blast of time, Hagerty's textural shifts are Uniquely, harmolodically hung. Since the Trux split Hagerty has left the rip of his playing on numerous releases both as collaborator and producer, heard best on the Weird War LP and recent work by Edith Frost. NMH has also written the novel Victory Chimp an acclaimed tour-de-force of solid gone science fiction. However it's on his self-titled debut album Neil Michael Hagerty that he lays it down as, unquestionably the finest guitarist of his generation and as one of the all too few true truth seers in everlasting r'n'r. – Richard King (for Domino Records)
