JOHN, Tunic, Lavoro

Fri. Oct 20, 2023 at 8:00pm EDT
19 and Over
19 and Over
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19 and Over
Event Description



“Limitations are key for us,” says John Newton, drummer and vocalist in JOHN. “I never view being a two-piece as a minus - it’s a key idiosyncratic element of what the project is.” 

For the last decade, the duo of Newton and Johnny Healey have constantly redefined and expanded the role, function and parameters of what a guitar and drum two-piece can be, with a sense of balance, contrast and duality fundamentally at the heart of JOHN. They are an outfit who on the surface are stripped back to a bare bones essence, a format perhaps lazily synonymous with just primitive rock, yet their work is richly layered and multifaceted - resulting in something that eschews and evades easy genre categorisation. This is crystalised in the band’s name too. It may appear to be a simple play on the pair’s name but, as ever with the band, search harder for deeper meaning and you’ll be rewarded with something that contains not only artistic thought but also a mission statement that has been integral to the band’s creative process over the last decade. “It’s a statement against colouring the music with superfluous attachments,” explains Newton. “It says: ‘we're not going to be sensational’. It doesn't mean to say it's not intensely theatrical but I think there's enough theatre in the actual energy that's on the stage.”

The band have a rich history of independence and doing things for themselves and as a result they have shaped every aspect of JOHN with great thought and detail. They formed their own label Pets Care Records and built up such momentum that they were invited to support bands such as IDLES, Mclusky, Viagra Boys and METZ and by the time of their second album, 2019’s, Out Here On The Fringes, they found themselves in Top 40 of the UK Independent Vinyl Chart and recording a live session for the esteemed US radio station KEXP. 2021’s album Nocturnal Manoeuvres proved to be an even more formidable trojan horse, finding it’s way into the Top 75 of the UK album chart, and subsequent standalone 7” Theme New Bond Junior (released in March 2023) gained the duo a coveted No.1 in the UK Vinyl Single Chart.

In their spirit of momentum, JOHN open yet another chapter, releasing brand new single Trauma Mosaic accompanied by the news that the duo will be making their US/CA live bow. Having developed a reputation as one of the most uncompromisingly powerful propositions on the UK live circuit over the past decade - and one with a fiercely devoted cult following - it marks a thoroughly well-deserved next step for one of the country's most beloved indie-rock institutions. A surface level glance may only reveal the basic function of an ostensible two-piece rock band but undertake a full service and you’ll discover a wealth of complexity, technicality, skill and function. Or quite simply, as Healey himself says, “we're not just a rock band. There's more to it than that.”

with Tunic, Lavoro

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Venue Details
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The Baby G 1608 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON m6k1t8
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