Earlier this month we attended the inaugural ‘Slack Sunday’ live music event which was put on at the Daltons venue on Brighton Beach by Slack City Radio’s ‘Vince & Jo have a Radio Show’. There was a trio of decent quality acts on offer that evening, these being The Stealers, Bacci Pouch, and Shady Baby and the price of entry was a mere £3:00.
This afternoon, the second installment of ‘Slack Sunday’ has been announced, and the date for your diary is 2nd February 2025, and oh my word, they have certainly pulled out the stops this time around! If you’re an Adam & The Ants fan, then you seriously need to read on….
OK for starters, they have only gone and secured the services of the one and only David Barbarossa who was the Adam & The Ants drummer for their ‘Dirk Wears White Sox’ debut album, and who was instrumental in creating the highly influential and innovative tribal drumming style. He was famously sweet-talked by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren to leave ‘The Ants’ and to form Bow Wow Wow with guitarist Matthew Ashman and bassist Leigh Gorman and then they recruited Annabella Lwin. The first Bow Wow Wow single, ‘C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!’, for which Barbarossa shared songwriting credit with McLaren, Ashman and Gorman, holds the distinction of being the world’s first-ever cassette single!
After this, Barbarossa went on to session drum for Beats International, who famously featured Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim), and then Barbarossa team up with Flowered Up keyboardist Tim Dorney, Andy Todd, guitarist Johnny Male and Nigerian-born lead singer Saffron to form Republica. Their debut album ‘Republica’ was released in July 1996 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts. The single ‘Ready To Go’ peaked at No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart, and ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’ peaked at No. 7.
Barbarossa now has a brand new venture called Third House, which is an alliance between him and Umair “Spider” Chaudhry, who is known for his work in Silent Weapon and Walls Of Freedom. Last month, the duo released their debut EP titled ‘Inside Outside’ – Check it out HERE.
Not only will ‘Slack Sunday’ feature The Adam & The Ants drummer from 1977–1980, David Barbarossa, with his Third House venture, but also Will Crewdson who is known for his guitar work with Adam Ant, as well as The Selecter, Johnette Napolitano, Gaye Bykers On Acid, Rachel Stamp and Flesh for Lulu.
Will Crewdson too has a new venture on the go and this is called Scant Regard and is a solo one-man whirlwind of pure unadulterated guitar driven energy. Will rams home all his experience into this mind-bending apocalyptic amalgamation of epic soundtrack proportions. He deftly merges the early electronic pioneering flavours of Fad Gadget, Cabaret Voltaire and Nitzer Ebb with the classic twanging guitar sounds of Duane Eddy and Link Wray, adding to this a smattering of post punk energy and attitude to wrap it all up in a blood stained bow.
The 2023 Scant Regard EP titled ‘Everything Better Than Everything Else’ can be located HERE. This could well be Will’s most eclectic offering yet. It also features a couple of guests alongside the completely solo tracks. ‘On The Warpath’ is a crazed industro-funk workout featuring Mary Byker (Gaye Bykers On Acid, Pop Will Eat Itself, Apollo 440) on lead vocals. ‘Ride Alone’ which came to Will in a dream incorporates the dulcet tones of Maggie K De Monde (Scarlet Fantastic) on backing vocals.
Other highlights include the opening dystopian nightmare of ‘When The Gate Slams’, the wistful yet paranoid closer ‘I’m Gonna Give Your Love Away’ plus a couple of classic twangy Scant instrumentals in ‘Uneasy Access’ and ‘Last Ditch Attempt’. The electro-pop bliss of ‘Can’t Fight Forever’ should also get a mention.
This year Will Crewdson followed up ‘Everything Better Than Everything Else’ with ‘I Was A Punk Before You Were A Punk’ single (January 2024), ‘I Feel Love’ single (February 2024), ‘Against Your Better Judgement’ 4 track EP (July 2024) and ‘That’s My Name’ single (September 2024). Check out his releases HERE.
The third and final act for February’s ‘Slack Sunday’ will be none other than Brighton’s Bones Ate Arfa who follow in the godlike footsteps of Queens of the Stone Age, Gorillaz, TySegall and Them Crooked Vultures. Their debut single ‘Asbestos’ roots the band in their desert garage rock sound while bringing in influences of industrial 90s metal and psychedelic punk. Back in August they dropped their 6-track ‘Akimbo People’ EP. Check out their releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Tickets for the new ‘Slack Sunday’ event, happening at Daltons on 2nd February and featuring Third House, Scant Regard and Bones Ate Arfa are priced at a mere £3:00 and are on sale now from HERE.
