Brighton lo-fi jangle merchants Porridge Radio have, since being feted by The Guardian as one of the 40 Best New Acts of 2018, supported the likes of Florist, Speedy Ortiz and, more recently, the excellent Wave Pictures (which isn't bad for what began as a solo project based out of lead singer Dana Margolin's bedroom).
Moving
out of the bedroom and into the garden shed, the four-piece (or
five-piece, depending on what band bio you read) recorded and released their debut
album Rice, Pasta and Other Fillers in 2016,
a refreshingly DIY collection of quirkiness that covers love, life and
the boredom in-between.
With new material recorded for their forthcoming second release Porridge Radio will be hitting the road in April, touring the UK and sauntering into Portsmouth on Friday 12th for a gig hosted by Southsea's own Calamity Cratediggers. Legendary sweat-box The Birdcage (above The Festing pub) is the venue and London's Hussy have been announced as the first support act (further artists TBA), with advance tickets available now for a bargain £5.
Austerity. Welfare reform. Cuts to public spending and services. These are, as Lee Hazlewood sang, cold hard times. Every day more people find themselves in the situation where feeding themselves and their families is a struggle. There is a continuing rise in food poverty across the country and Portsmouth is no exception. Organisations such as The Trussel Trust and the Portsmouth Food Bank provide a sterling service to our community but unfortunately their resources are limited.
To help raise much-needed funds the fine folks of Strong Island Recordings, Velvet Candy and Crocodile Nightmares have joined forces, combining community spirit with music and art to create the Interstellar Food Drive. This cosmic celebration of in-sounds from the out-there takes place at both The Dockyard Club & The Coastguard Studio on Saturday 11th August.
This one-day, two-site mini festival features an impressive line-up of left-field sounds, featuring Portsmouth's own psych merchants Melt Dunes, psych quintet Number 9, the freaky pop of Pregoblin, psych from Sad Palace, garage pop/rock from Skinny Milk, Mystic Peach and The Scrubs, the heavy psychedelic sounds of Black Helium, shoegaze from Superdrone and Dad Hair's post punk. Both venues will feature a kaleidoscopic light show courtesy of Velvet Candy, plus there'll be an exhibition of work from local graphic artists (and, if the music gets you feeling peckish, there will also be a vegetarian BBQ with all profits going to the Portsmouth Food Bank)
Tickets are £8, plus booking fee, available via Billeto.
Further reading
Latest statistics on emergency food supplies given to people in crisis (from The Trussell Trust)
Food Poverty "You think it doesn't happen to normal people" (from Cooking On A Bootstrap)
Child poverty "Hungry pupils fill pockets with school food" (from BBC News)
Jack Monroe "Poverty doesn’t discriminate" (from The Independent)
