Well I never! After playing just two Sussex concerts over a period of more than 10 years, (namely Hastings in 2010 and Brighton in 2021), Transmission: The Sound Of Joy Division have announced that they will be doubling their tally, as they are set to return to the same Brighton venue this summer as well as performing for the very first time in Lewes early next year.
It has amazingly been more than 40 years since the release of Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album, which hit an unsuspecting world on 15th June 1979. The cover artwork was certainly iconic and can still be seen on the high street to this very day. It was the inspiration of artist Peter Saville, who ‘borrowed’ the image of a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It was sadly the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis’s lifetime. It’s a classic album! As was the follow up ‘Closer’ which was released on 18th July 1980. This album too was adorned with a truly memorable cover, especially as Joy Division’s lead singer/songwriter Ian Curtis had passed away two months to the day earlier and the image had already been selected prior to his departure. A strange coincidence!
‘Closer’ is adorned with a photo taken of the Appiani family tomb, as seen in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno in Italy. The subject matter was sculpted by Demetrio Paernio in 1910. It is a very moving piece indeed and one that has stayed with us via the album cover for over 40 years now.
Obviously it is impossible to now see Joy Division playing live, but a very close approximation is the Joy Division tribute band ‘Transmission: The Sound Of Joy Division’. I attended their Brighton concert last year and can confirm that although the new players do not strive to look like the originals, they DO sound like them! Read the account of that concert HERE.
The band will be dropping back in at Patterns in Brighton on Saturday 30th July 2022 and you can purchase your tickets HERE.
Transmission: The Sound Of Joy Division will also be performing live at The Con Club in Lewes on Saturday 28th January 2023. Tickets for that performance can be purchased HERE.
Further details on Transmission: The Sound Of Joy Division can be found HERE.
The support band for both of the above concerts will be The Velvets, who are dedicated to reproducing the sound and atmosphere of a Velvet Underground gig from the 1960s.
The Velvet Underground are considered by many to be the most important and influential alternative rock band of all time. Championed by Andy Warhol and seriously underappreciated, perhaps until Punk came along.
Concentrating on what could be considered the classic halcyon period for the band and interspersing both Nico and Lou Reed vocals with the experimental nature of many of those early recordings, The Velvets concentrate on a “Live” sound and pay little attention to any attempt at visual similarities to the original members (barring the odd pair of shades!).
Classic tracks performed by the band include ‘Waiting For The Man’, ‘Venus In Furs’ and ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’.
Catch The Velvets live for just a taste of what it must have been like to attend one of those early Velvet Underground shows.
