All of us at tQ are very excited to reveal the first name for our 15th birthday concert that Rough Trade Records are hosting for us next month.
Taking place at London’s Electric Brixton on September 5, the event will feature an appearance from Lankum, alongside a lineup of other Rough Trade bands who are yet to be announced. When we compiled the votes for our albums of 2023 so far list, Lankum were far and away the number one group for False Lankum. Our Patrick Clarke praised the record as "astonishing" and added that "the immediate experience of listening to False Lankum is intense; one minute you’re barraged like a raft in a tempest, and the next floating along serenely in a stretch of calm, warm water. Zoom out, however, and you’ll find a record that captures the sublimity and scale of an entire ocean."
Don’t just take our word for it, either, as a couple of days after our birthday bashm Lankum will be one of the artists vying to win the 2023 Mercury Prize, alongside their Rough Trade labelmates (and tQ album of 2022 winners) Jockstrap. You can get tickets for the birthday event at Electric Brixton here. All money raised will go towards making sure that tQ can continue into the next 15 years. We’re hoping to announce more names in the coming weeks, but you can probably guess some of them (your first clue – it isn’t Sleaford Mods) deploys eyes emoji – don’t delay, take a punt, see you next month.
We’re eternally grateful to Geoff Travis, Jeanette Lee and all at Rough Trade Records for this support, and for these kind words: "We love reading The Quietus. It is a hugely important site for music writing. We can’t afford to live without it. When we heard that they were undergoing financial difficulties, we just wanted to help. By putting on a night of music to raise some money for them with the very generous help of some amazing artists, we thought that would help. See you there!”
TQ founders John Doran and Luke Turner said: "Over the past 15 years, we at The Quietus have written and published countless words on Rough Trade artists past and present, had our minds melted at their gigs, and in 2022 made Jockstrap’s debut, I Love You Jennifer B, our Album Of The Year. We’re therefore honoured that Geoff, Jeannette and all the good people of Rough Trade Records have stepped in to support us and that some of our favourite acts of recent times have agreed to play. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate our birthday."
