We’re delighted to present an incredibly special matinee show with influential alt-country outfit Giant Sand on Sunday 28th April!
Giant Sand has been the primary outlet for the stylistic curveballs and sun-damaged songcraft of singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. In three decades he’s managed to mash elements of rock, country, blues, punk, garage, lo-fi, jazz, gospel, avant-garde noise and flamenco gypsy music…
“A wandering troubadour in search of treasured happenstance, Howe Gelb is an enigma, an inspiration, and some kind of genius” – The Quietus
How do you write about a musician who has spent more than 30 years defying musical conventions? You could trot out all the cliche rock-critic terms: seminal, hyperbole, incendiary, eponymous, masterful, achingly poignant, priceless, alt-country, old-school, outlaw. Some of those might even fit if you shoehorned them into context.
Howe Gelb long has been saddled with such titles as “godfather of alt-country” and “elder ambassador of desert rock”. When confronted with such accolades, he clears his throat, amused and a little embarrassed, and he ponders. His summer-sun squint turns into a twinkle when he finally asks his questioner, “What do you think of it?”.
Giant Sand emerged in 1983 and released that group’s debut album, ‘Valley of Rain’ in 1985. In the 25 years since, he has released an estimated 40 albums or so. He’s not sure of the exact amount. Since his first record release came about by handing his demo tape over “in a less then lucid state” to a touring band’s manager passing through Tucson in the early 80s, so had Howe continued the tradition by accepting the demos and facilitating the first release of Grandaddy and M. Ward along the way.
Over the course of the last decade, Howe Gelb and Giant Sand have continued to evolve, skipping from genre to genre, revisiting old songs and continuing to build and evolve a unique body of work. 2018’s ‘Returns To The Valley Of Rain’ and 2019’s‘Recounting The Ballads Of Thin Line Men’saw the band re-record seminal albums, shining a new light on the songs and celebrating the band’s rich catalogue. Howe Gelb, residing in Tucson (Arizona), continues to look forward, innovate and reinterpret the great traditions of our musical history – where he goes next, we will simply have to wait and see.
“There are few bands extant today that approach music with the utter guilelessness of Giant Sand. Not to imply that the trio ever lapses into savantry — the members know exactly what they’re doing — but under the direction of singer/guitarist Howe Gelb, Giant Sand espouses a play-free-or-die aesthetic that straddles hippiedom and punk” – Trouser Press
“The story of Giant Sand is a story of immense talent deliberately unfocussed. Conflicting impulses, relentless experimentalism and an addiction to irony have kept Howe Gelb’s consistently interesting outfit on its toes” – Independent
