SWELL MAPS C21

In December 2021, I organised a performance with ten musicians to perform Swell Maps music for two concerts on consecutive nights at Cafe Oto, a fine venue in Hackney, internationally renowned for it’s live presentations of alternative music.  As well as performing a selection of the better-known Maps material, it gave me an opportunity to present material that had never been performed live before, such as “Bronze & Baby Shoes”, “Ghost Train”, “Jelly Babies”, “Wireless”, “Don’t Throw Ashtrays”, and “Collision With a Frogman”.  

It was a brilliant opportunity to feature some of Epic’s piano-based pieces, because we had Lucie Rejchrtova, a fine keyboard player, and Oto’s grand piano!  The other contributors:  Dave Callahan and Luke Haines (both guitar & vocals), Cos Chapman (lead guitar), Jeff Bloom and Ian Wadley (drums), Jasmine Pender (electric cello), Lee McFadden (bass & guitar), Jon Hodgson (bass), Gina Birch (vocals).  Both sets at Cafe Oto were recorded, and I mixed the performances for an exciting live album, which is now available on the Glass Modern record label. 

I got back together with Dave, Lee, Jeff, Lucie, Luke, and Gina, at Rough Trade East in March 2022, to perform at the launch party for my book on Swell Maps. The band are continuing to operate as a collective in concert, the usual line-up consisting of:  Dave, Lee, Jeff, Lucie, Chloe Herrington and myself.  This line-up recorded a new Swell Maps album called “C21”, with Luke as a guest on a few tracks.  This album is scheduled for release by Tiny Global Productions in Spring 2026.

Jowe Head

03-12-2021 Cafe Oto, London

04-12-2021  Cafe Oto, London 

24-03-22  Rough Trade East, London

03-9-22  Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow

04-9-22 Bannermans, Edinburgh

31-3-23 Paris, L’Echangeur

29-4-23 Cafe Oto, London

15-03-24 Moth Club, London

14-09-2024 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

26-10-2024 – Improved Sequence, Bologna

01-11-2024 White Hotel, Salford

02-11-24  Old Cold Store, Nottingham

30-08-24  Popkultur Festival, Kulturbrauerei Palais, Berlin

08-08-2025  Rebellion Festival, Blackpool

14-10-2024 Lexington. London

Cafe Oto, 3rd & 4th Dec 2021 / Images by Peter Tainsh

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