In one month’s time, This Is Not This Heat will take to the Howard Assembly Room stage. A direct descendent of the late 70’s seminal outfit This Heat – the London-based trio of Charles Hayward (drums/vocals), Charles Bullen (guitar/vocals/tapes), and Gareth Williams (organ/bass/tapes) who broke new and exciting musical ground with their exploratory and innovative sound and who have influenced generations of artists since from Animal Collective to Caribou and Sonic Youth to Massive Attack – This Is Not This Heat feature two of the band’s founding members, Hayward and Bullen (Williams sadly died of cancer in 2001).
To mark the 40th anniversary of their first ever gig, Hayward and Bullen reconvened last February for the first time since 1982 (when This Heat had folded, leaving a recorded legacy of two albums and an EP). Joined by contemporary luminaries such as Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Daniel O’Sullivan of Grumbling Fur, and appearing as This Is Not This Heat the two men then performed deconstructed and expanded versions of their earlier work in what was by all accounts a quite remarkable reunion.
Now in yet another wonderful coup for the Howard Assembly Room, Charles Hayward and Charles Bullen are coming to Leeds on the 27th of May to play what will be one of only three live UK shows scheduled for this year. On this occasion, the pair will again be joined by O’Sullivan, alongside Alex Ward, Merlin Nova and Frank Byng.
Reflecting last year upon the manner in which This Heat approached the creation of their sound, Charles Hayward said that “It was all about trying to find something new”. Now more than 40 years later, expect their music to take a similarly unique and experimental turn.
There is sure to be a maelstrom of musical ideas, plenty of improvisation and spontaneous instrumentation and a final product that will probably owe as much to the cosmic jazz of Sun Ra and the progressive rock of the Canterbury Scene of the late 60s and early 70s as it does to those of post-punk peers such as The Pop Group and The Raincoats. It promises to be music that will transcend both time and place.
Photo and video credit: Dawid Laskowski (both taken at Cafe OTO in February 2016)
Tickets for this show can be purchased HERE
