DIRTY SUNBEAMS’ GIG OF THE MONTH:
DEAN & BRITTA + DEARY, The Trades Club (Hebden Bridge) – Thursday 21st August, 2025
As co-founder of jangly, reverb-coated hypnotrons, Galaxie 500, Dean Wareham’s name is already gilded in the lore books of great alt-90s guitar bands.
The hugely influential trio, who burned bright through three iconic albums from 1987 to 1991, mixed the crust of The Velvet Underground with early shoegzae fuzz and spawned a generation of admirers – not least, Sea Power, who play a joint set with Dean the night before this, on Wednesday 20th August.
Following his break-up of Galaxie 500, Dean formed Luna with former members of The Feelies and The Chills. Britta Phillips joining on bass and vocals a few years later. Dean and Britta have been pretty much inseparable ever since, creatively and personally – they married in 2006 during the recording sessions for their excellent Tony Visconti-produced album Back Numbers.
At The Trades Club, they will be performing a special collection of songs from their back catalogues, including Dean’s latest album That’s the Price of Loving Me.
Support band Deary – a London dream-pop duo on Sonic Cathedral – are also well worthy of your undivided attention. More>
THE DIRT + THE ACTIONISTS, The Puzzle (Sowerby Bridge) – Friday 1st August, 2025
The Dirt are a couple of captivating Pennines-based Anglo-Japanese noise makers, much admired here at Dirty Sunbeams HQ. Their sound leverages heavy guitar loops, laced with distortion and fuzz punchy percussion, and a splattering of fast-firing socio-politico lyrics. And this, dear friends, at The Puzzle, is the launch gig for their new album, the wonderfully-titled Monkeypunch, on Sister 9 Recordings.
As if that weren’t enough to get you running to Sowerby Bridge in a giddy lather, support comes from Halifax art-punksters The Actionists – that is, performance poet Keiron Higgins and dance producer and former Eurovision Song Contest dabbler Ricardo Autobahn. More>
JIM JONES ALL STARS, The Trades Club (Hebden Bridge) – Thursday 7th August, 2025
One of the most thrilling and exciting live acts on the circuit today. Fronted by legendary testifier Jim Jones – formerly of Thee Hypnotics, Black Moses, The Jim Jones Revue and Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind – his latest project sees him swan-dive into a spicy gumbo of nu-rock. More>
DRAGGED UP + CALLIS, The Grayston Unity (Halifax) – Saturday 9th August, 2025
Formed in 2018, Dragged Up channel off-kilter art punk through a fuzzed-out psych garage lens. Led by Eva Gnatiuk, with Simon Shaw and Stephen Mors, they’ve drawn comparisons to The Velvet Underground, Dead Moon, Death Valley Girls and C86.
Or, in the words of Iain Key at Louder Than War: “No matter how many times you listen, you are still unsure of what turns will be taken, meaning that each experience, so far at least, has offered something new. There’s influences far and wide on show, from the streets of New York, Patti Smith, to The Slits and the Raincoats.” More>
KING CREOSOTE, Unitarian Church (Todmorden) – Sunday 24th August, 2025
Kenny Anderson, known primarily by his stage name King Creosote, is an independent singer-songwriter from Fife, Scotland whose middle name might as well be ‘prolific’. He’s now released nigh on 40 albums. His latest, I DES from 2023, cropped up in numerous end-of-year lists. In 2011, Anderson’s collaborative album with Jon Hopkins, Diamond Mine, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Scottish Album of the Year Award. More>
THROWING MUSES, The Trades Club (Hebden Bridge) – Monday 25th August, 2025
Quirky alt-indie darlings and scenester bigwigs of the 80s and 90s, Throwing Muses started life in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1983. Formed by Kristin Hersh and her stepsister Tanya Donelly, and known for their unique, angular, and often intense sound, the band was the first American act signed to the British label 4AD. They released their latest album, Moonlight Concessions, in March 2025 via Fire Records. It followed their acclaimed Sun Racket from 2020, a heady set filled with tough and tender tales spiked with surreal imagery. More>
INSTANT WORLD MUSIC ORCHESTRA, The Puzzle (Sowerby Bridge) – Sunday 17th August, 2025
Set your clocks! It’s a 4pm start for this one. As part of The Puzzle’s ‘Summer Sunday Afternoons’ season, Richard Ormrod’s 20-strong Instant World Music Orchestra are in town to play triumphant groove-led jams, taking you on a whistle-stop musical tour of the globe. They’ll touch down in Jamaica, India, Brazil, Cuba, South Africa, Ethiopia, the Balkans, Japan, Trinidad, New York and all points inbetween. More>
THE GOLDEN GUN FESTIVAL – 2 DAYS, The Golden Lion (Todmorden) – Friday 29th-Saturday 30th August, 2025
A collaboration has long been mooted between these two fine establishments – The Golden Lion and The Gun in Hackney. The latter, in its prior wonky music iteration, sadly trades no more, but its spirit lives on in the form of ethos, attitude and most importantly, musical events in fun places. This one has been in the pipeline for a while. Two days of mayhem guaranteed, featuring Decius, Conor Thomas, Lena Willikens, Nick Stephens, Nathan Gregory Wilkins and Psych Milligan. More>
ASFIXIA SOCIAL, The Blind Pig (Sowerby Bridge) – Sunday 10th August, 2025
Born in São Paulo, at the heart of the underground scene, Asfixia Social is a sonic movement blending punk rock, rap, ska, metal and Brazilian rhythms. With explosive energy and lyrics addressing social and political issues, the band stands out as one of the most authentic forces in the alternative music scene. More>
D TOWN BLAZERS, The Grayston Unity (Halifax) – Saturday 30th August, 2025
D Town Blazers consists of a couple of super old friends, reconnected after a number of years, with a mission to create something pretty darn fresh. They are Dan Hudson (producer, drummer, synths) and Vinny (vocals, composition, writer). D-Town is, ultimately, an experimental offering embracing electronic, synth, hip hop and dance – and demands to be heard live. More>
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