Genre-bending Dutch punks The Ex have announced that they will be celebrating their 33 ⅓ birthday by holding festivals in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
The London dates will be held over three nights at Cafe Oto and will see the band joined by a rafter of special guests, including Stewart Lee and Steve Beresford on MC duties along with Brass Unbound and a collective of Ethiopian musicians.
The band are routinely phenomenal live – hell, when John Robb saw them in Manchester two years ago, he said: "They are the most interesting musical unit in the world today […] Go and see the Ex and you will hear rhythms you have never heard before, you will find yourself dancing to some free jazz wildness in 13/8 time; you will find yourself grinning to a piece of white noise, you will shut your eyes and get lost in the brass skronk."
Here are the Cafe Oto dates – tickets are available for the individual nights or you can buy a three-day pass for, fittingly, £33.30:
NOVEMBER
Thu 29 – with Jackdaw With Crowbar and Stewart Lee (MC)
Fri 30 – with Ethiopian Musicians, Trash Kit and Steve Beresford (MC and piano)
DECEMBER
Sat 1 – With Brass Unbound and Api Uiz