Seminal London post-punk combo Folk Devils have announced a special live show, their first in eighteen months, at The Water Rats in King’s Cross, London on Friday April 17. It’s co-hosted by PC-Press, the boutique publisher responsible for acclaimed books on Killing Joke, Massive Attack and Test Department, to celebrate the release of an Ian Lowery biography by Ian Fawdon called ‘Born To Swing’. In honour of Ian Lowery, their special guests will be legendary second wave punk band The Wall, who were originally formed in Sunderland in 1978 by Lowery and his art college friends Andy Griffiths, Joe Hammond and Bruce Archibald. Lowery left in 1979 to form Ski Patrol, and subsequently the Wall’s line-up shifted several times over the ensuing decades. The current line-up of The Wall have become big favourites at Rebellion Festival and other punk rock festivals and features early member Al Gregg and new bandmates Steve North, Dave Kennedy and Clive Bennett.
Lowery died in 2001, aged 45, is generally considered to be one of the great unsung heroes of the British post-punk scene, and the book aims to capture his brief and turbulent life. He was known for his dark, humorous and cutting lyrical content, an acerbic wit and often cantankerous stage persona. He went on to form Folk Devils in 1983 with Kris Jozajtis and Mark Whiteley (the core members of the current line-up). He later formed King Blank and The Ian Lowery Group with guitarist Nigel Pulsford, who later found fame with alt-rockers Bush.
The Water Rats
328 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8BZ
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